Archives for November 2014

New Studies: Power and Inequality

November 3, 2014 By HKearl

Two new reports/studies illustrate important points relating to street harassment.

1. Street harassment, like all forms of sexual harassment, is about power/control, not about attraction or someone just trying to be nice to someone else. A new study provides more evidence that this is true.

“Adolescent boys who bully peers and engage in homophobic teasing are more likely to perpetrate sexual harassment later on, suggests a new study of middle-school students conducted by researchers at the University of Illinois and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention…

The association between bullying and sexual harassment may be indicative of a developmental pathway for some bullies and warrants greater prevention and intervention efforts in schools, said Dorothy L. Espelage, who is among the first researchers to investigate these problems in middle-school populations.

Primary prevention efforts may need to begin even earlier than middle school – in late elementary school – and focus on gender-based aggressive acts that precede sexual harassment perpetration, especially homophobic name-calling, Espelage said.”

The existence of a “bully-sexual violence pathway” among boys is shows that sexual harassment/street harassment is about power and itis behavior that can and should be prevented at a young age.

2. Street harassment reinforces and is a by-product of gender inequality.

The World Economic Forum released their annual Global Gender Gap Report a few days ago. Yet again, no country has achieved gender equality. Street harassment perpetrated by men against women is one more indicator and manifestation of this inequality. No country will ever achieve gender equality until street harassment ends and street harassment will not end as long as women are second-class citizens globally.

Harassment on Public Transportation News Round-up

November 3, 2014 By HKearl

In the last two weeks there have been several new articles and initiatives around sexual harassment on public transportation. Here’s a sampling:

GLOBAL:

YouGov polling conducted in 16 major cities worldwide asked participants about how safe they feel at night, their experiences with verbal harassment and physical abuse, the public response to abuse, their confidence in authorities, and their overall feelings of safety in the city. They then ranked the 16 cities safest (New York City) to least safe (Bogota). Read more here.

ENGLAND:

Via Independent:

“In September 2013 London launched Project Guardian, a collaborative effort by the British Transport Police, the Metropolitan Police, the City of London Police and Transport for London, to boost levels of reporting of sexual offences.

The Everyday Sexism Project, the End Violence Against Women coalition and Hollaback advised the police on the project, which saw 2000 officers receive special training and 120 officers – both in uniform and plain clothes – carry out daily patrols on the transport network. Since the launch of the initiative, there has been a 20% increase in the reporting of sexual offences, and a 32% increase in the number of cases where offenders have been charged or summoned.”

FRANCE:

Osez le Féminisme (Dare Feminism) launched a campaign on Friday in support of women’s right to be un-harassed on public transportation in Paris

Via rfi:

“‘When you are a woman on the subway in Paris, you are often the victim of different types of sexual aggression […] We have done a study in the metro this summer in Paris, and the study showed that three out of four women were adapting their behaviour or their clothes and their way of dressing when they were going to take the metro.’

The group asks that the RATP, the French public transportation operator, will join in the fight against gender-based violence.”

INDIA:

Via New India Express:

“Thus was born Safe Safar, a campaign started in 2010, to make travel in autorickshaws in Lucknow safe for women, by creating awareness among auto drivers. The campaign blossomed into a full-fledged, successful project that was awarded the IIM-L Manfest Prerna Fellowship Award-2013 by IIM-Lucknow.

“Our survey prior to the campaign revealed that while about 97 per cent of women were sexually harassed at some point of time while travelling in autorickshaws, drivers often chose not to stand up against the crime, considering it none of their business. So, we decided to address the crime at its root by making the driver aware,” says Zeeshan, 30, a postgraduate in social work, who has been extensively working on gender and youth-centric issues for the past four years.

Besides sensitising auto-drivers to play a pro-active role in ensuring security of women commuters, the campaign involved persuading them to stop playing pulsating music and removing pictures of scantily clad women from their vehicles.

Spanning two successful years, the campaign reached out to over 2,000 auto-rickshaw drivers while training 350 of them. Owing to its success, Zeeshan converted it into a full-time programme under his NGO Yeh Ek Soch, which he runs along with partner Shariq Ahmad.”

Sri Lanka: The psychological effects of street harassment

November 3, 2014 By Correspondent

Menusha Gunasekara, Matale, Sri Lanka, SSH Blog Correspondent

Yesterday I was terrified with fear and uncertainty. What was disturbing my mind, my confidence and my dreams was seeing my harasser that day. It was not an unexpected event since I knew the harasser lived in the same area I live; I knew someday I would see him again. Unconsciously, I was checking the vehicle number of every red-colored three-wheeler taxi that passed me in the road. I was trying to avoid seeing him, but yesterday I failed.

Two years ago I was harassed by a taxi driver. Not just one time but three times. Although my mother got involved and met with the perpetrator, I never felt I was safe at home. For almost one year I had nightmares about worst-case scenario related to this incident. It was producing a lot of anger inside me.

Many think of street harassment as just an everyday “normal event” but the psychological trauma from a single incident can ruin your life. Nobody would think my hesitation and my reluctance to go in the village area alone comes from the negative side effects of street harassment. On top of that, my knee injury puts me in a vulnerable stage reminding me that I cannot even run for my safety. As a result, after coming home from university, I feel like I have been sentenced to house arrest. The freedom I had to stroll wherever I want seems far away in Sri Lanka.

Moving on from the personal experience to the increased number of harassment incidents in public places, including public transportation, I am aware that my experience is not just a single event alone. Although after the Wariyapola incident there was public and media dialogue about taking actions and social awareness on street harassment, that voice has disappeared. The wave of media attention has gone until the next incident, and there is no steady attention to combat the gendered mentality or to support women who faced street harassment.

A few days ago, I learned about a new initiative from the Women & Children Bureau that allows you to report sexual harassment on public transportation. They have created a SMS service to collect data and an easy way to complain about harassment through the following number: 0716550000. Let’s think positively that this initiative will be reached by the public since many women use mobile phones. At least it is a better way to report to a responsible authority than by going to a police station.

Still, the support for mental trauma has not been addressed by any authority. Places where women can have easy access to counseling and advice to deal with the negative emotions that can hinder their productivity and self-esteem should be established. As the President Rajaphaksha recently claimed that Sri Lanka is a better place for women & children to live in Asia, I just want to remind the responsible authorities, NGOs and public that that statement can be misleading if the root of the problem of harassment is not addressed.

Public awareness and actions are the impetus for creating safe environment for women and everyone.

Menusha is a recent graduate of Asian University for Women, Bangladesh and holds a B.S in Public Health. She is an advocate for Peace and Human Rights, Women Issues and Environmental Protection. She can be reached via LinkedIn.

“College-aged men on the patio felt it was important to yell at me that I was ugly”

November 3, 2014 By Contributor

Drove through Taco Cabana one evening. I’d spent the day taking care of a sick relative. I was tired and I just needed to get something to eat. College-aged men on the patio felt it was important to yell at me that I was ugly. I was 48-years-old at the time. When I get up in the morning, my goal isn’t to titillate college-aged, beer-swilling man-children. How would they feel if someone acted that way to their mother? I was in a moving vehicle and I just kept going, but in retrospect I should have gone in and told the manager, or better yet, just thrown my soda at them.

Optional: Do you have any suggestions for dealing with harassers and/or ending street harassment in general?

Next time I am harassed, and unfortunately I know there will be a next time, I’ll tell the manager so they have the opportunity of making the harassers leave. If I’m in my car, I’m going to nail them with a soda.

– Anonymous

Location: Denton, TX

Share your street harassment story for the blog.
See the book 50 Stories about Stopping Street Harassers for more idea

USA: Benefits to Ending Harassment

November 2, 2014 By Correspondent

Daniel Burdick, CA, USA, SSH Blog Correspondent

My previous contribution to this blog entitled, “Men Harassing Women Represents a Loss for Everyone,” due to size limitations, contained little elaboration about why this title statement makes sense. The question could be asked: what possible effect could a few incidents of harassment make to those with apparently no personal involvement? Why should we men concern ourselves with the sophomoric behavior of a few other men towards women?

In the words of anthropologist Margaret Meade: “Every time we liberate a woman, we liberate a man.” (La Abogada,1967)

Please allow me to separate the topic of gender-based street harassment (GBSH) away from the general context of women’s equal rights, if this is at all possible. Simply, my intent here is to channel the GBSH dialog within an even broader context of social equality for all people.

Harassment is one of those bad behaviors that tends to be marginalized because the harm it causes is psychological, cumulative, and therefore intangible. We were all taught at the playground, often teary-eyed, the “Sticks and Stones” rhyme where “words will never hurt me.” Unfortunately, words are exactly what inflict us with a variety of mental health issues. Among the negative attitudes which promote turmoil in relationships is low self-esteem. When someone becomes convinced they have shortcomings regarding appearance and personality, they are very likely to over-compensate for it with various forms of clinical narcissism. (Not to be confused with narcissism, the vice.) This is highly evident in the current popularity and pervasiveness of self-improvement products and strategies.

A story of street harassment, the toll it takes away from our simple friendships, and the tyranny of the clothing industry… One of my car-free female friends was very late to attending a casual soiree one evening, much to my dismay. It was revealed later that while she was on her way, some strange male had made a judgmental, derogatory critique of the comfortable tights she wears while riding her bicycle. She responded by returning to her home in humiliation in order to change her clothes, and apparently experienced other changes there as well. This happened months ago, and now I know by how she has altered her dressing strategy that she may still bear the pain from whatever was said. I feel physical pain myself when I imagine this happening to her. Not all of us are able to find, much less afford, stylish clothing that fits our diversely-shaped bodies perfectly and thus free of attracting misguided commentaries of how we present ourselves, including other unwanted attention and victim-blaming. (The hyper-critical fashion-entertainment scrutiny of celebrities only amplifies this disturbing trend.)

Then there is a social media contact (another inspiration for my involvement with SSH) who occasionally vents understandable rage by posting online flames about the street harassers she regularly encounters when accessing public transit. Simultaneously, she is quick to disavow any sympathy or connection whatsoever for what she considers as “feminism,” at least openly among her friends and contacts in the social media forum. While I would like to ask her to elaborate further about this, I expect probable sarcasm and less-than-honest responses… as besides being pressed for time, she apparently must also bear more than her fair share of an emotional load to try explaining this to some guy who claims he is doing research for some blog article.

While I certainly respect this woman’s privacy and only seek to improve her situation by documenting her observations; although until she offers to share her thoughts openly and unsolicited, she represents a person unable to contribute to the human cause of equality – apparently due to the perceived social stigma of being intimidated by harassment. She is not the only woman I’ve encountered who actively seeks disassociation with “the movement,” which seems to be judged by some to exist for others who are somehow inferior to themselves. However, this person’s apparent method of coping with her harassers, while valid, is similar in endearment value as the car engine-revving, horn-honking and intentional tire-squealing.

I’m by no means a mental health professional, yet no one really has to be in order to identify many other methods we cope with issues caused by street harassment. The bottom line is the culture of street harassment and related posturing seems to affect both men and women toward acquiring overly competitive, detrimentally aggressive attitudes toward each other that make it difficult to initiate and share the intimacy and connections we all crave. Male friends often confide in me regarding their frustration with establishing equitable relations with women; yet it’s simultaneously and painfully obvious why women must often respond to even well-intended men with mistrust, the avoidance of contact, and even hostility.

Please consider the plight of women who enter the male-dominated fields of scientific research and academia. This is a crucial area where humanity desperately needs the brightest people who are not only trained intellectuals, but possess common sense and social balance. Research shows that many women who possess these qualities are realizing this career path isn’t workable for them, due to an atmosphere of harassment and gender-biased competition, among other reasons. One can only begin to imagine the loss of discoveries, breakthroughs, and other possible benefits to our existence that are lost. There are potentially so many fabulous minds that are oppressed, discredited, and forced away due to stupid, selfish remarks and innuendoes.

What I’m honestly trying to accomplish amounts to convincing other guys that we actually share an important stake (other than that hopeful side effect of attracting a mate of sufficient intelligence to enable establishing a survivable, sustainable relationship) within the context of street harassment, and that the quality of our lives and relationships will improve if we can somehow jump-start a process to stop street harassment from continuing its heinous oppression of women. I wouldn’t be out here trying to help put an end to it I didn’t think this was a realistically possible goal offering significant benefits.

Daniel is a longtime activist for peace, the environment, and social equality. He currently works as a design engineer and is an avid bicyclist.

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