Comment: Whistling and Staring at Women is Harassment – And It’s Got To Stop– “According to research by the Australia Institute, 87% of us have experienced some form of physical or verbal street harassment, often before the age of 18. Internationally, this figure is higher, at 96%. While it may be tempting to dismiss such occurrences as “minor” or “harmless”, there is a substantial body of research that tells us this is not the case. The impacts of street harassment vary depending on the context, and range from the immediate, visceral responses of anger, repulsion and shock, through to longer-term effects such as anxiety, depression and, in some cases, post-traumatic stress disorder.”
TGI Friday’s Criticized for Parody of Viral CatCall Video – “”It is insulting to make a spoof of a person’s real trauma,” says Debjani Roy, the deputy director of Hollaback, which created the original video with Rob Bliss Creative. The founder of nonprofit Stop Street Harassment was “disgusted” that the restaurant chain was “trivializing the serious problem of street harassment just to sell appetizers.” “Their marketing team should know better,” Holly Kearl told the Daily News.”
Opinion: I Slapped My Harasser – So I’m a Bitch? – “The harm is the slippery slope that starts with something that might seem innocent, but actually perpetuates this idea that women exist only as objects for the enjoyment of men. It’s the slippery slope that starts with a man telling a woman to smile on the street and ends with him believing he’s allowed to pass judgment on every woman’s appearance. It’s the slippery slope that starts with catcalling and leads to ass grabbing and then maybe a girl is too drunk to consent, but the man who’s used to treating women like objects has sex with her anyway.”
Opinion: A Call to End Catcalling – “After a night out, I find myself holding my breath as I walk by groups of guys, just waiting for them to make an inappropriate comment. Granted, not every person catcalls; some do nothing more than drunkenly tell me to “have a good night.” However, it’s the other times that matter. It’s the times that my friends and I are outnumbered, and the guys think it’s a game to get our attention. It’s the times that guys continue yelling at us until we turn the next corner. It’s those times that make me scared of even the nice guys wishing me a good night.Before you catcall someone on spring break, no matter how little clothing they may be wearing, remember the threat you can possibly present and bite your tongue instead.”
Mobile Police Station to Check Eve-Teasing in the City – “In the wake of rising cases of eve-teasing and crimes against women in the city, police on Monday decided to start “Shakti Mobile” – a mobile police station. The police team for the same will comprise of three male and three female officers and they will be on duty for 12 hours from 8 am to 8 pm every day. Each team will include a sub-inspector and four constables who will take rounds of the city on both two and four-wheelers. Even though this initiative was launched on trial basis in January this year, police has now decided to have more than one team for it.”
Hollaback! At Rape Culture – “And street harassment doesn’t just happen in big cities or in certain neighborhoods. It happens on campuses around the country—on our campus. A 2006 study by the American Association of University Women found that two-thirds of students had been harassed on campus. Harassment was common in residential areas (39 percent of respondents), outside on campus grounds (37 percent), in campus buildings (24 percent) and in classrooms (20 percent). While female students were more likely than their male counterparts to experience harassment outside on campus grounds, male students were more likely to experience harassment in residential spaces, bathrooms or locker rooms. At Duke, stories of harassment—whether at Shooters or in the classroom—are shockingly common.”
5 Ways to Make the Internet Safer, According to the Brilliant Panelists of SXSW2015– “Though men and women experience online harassment in similar amounts, the harassment women face tends to be more severe in nature, more often including sexual language, stalking, and death threats. It’s clear that the Internet is a minefield of abuse for women, but it can also be the site of productive conversation in which women’s voices certainly need to be heard. And in order to engage in those conversations without fear, the Internet needs to become a safer place for women. Here are some ways to make it that way.”
German Teen Launches Global Feminist Trend– “Elonë Kastrati was sitting in a youth center in the hip Berlin district of Kreuzberg when something unusual caught her eye. There was a sanitary pad stuck to a window of the center, the 19-year-old student from Karlsruhe in Baden-Württemberg told The Local this week. “I started thinking about how society gets so offended by such normal things, pads,” Kastrati says.The idea then dawned on her to start an art project of sorts, to post the feminine hygiene products around town, labelled “with different messages pertaining to street harassment, sexual violence and sexism.”
This Woman Responds to Street Harassment in the Most Brilliant Way – “Brazilian resident Débora Adorno was tired of being harassed on the street and feeling powerless to do anything to stop it, so one day she decided to break out what she calls her “trademark toothy smile” (pulling back her lips and baring all her teeth). It worked!”
NPR Interview: Detained Feminists Highlight China’s Crackdown on Dissent – “In Beijing, five young feminist activists remain in detention nearly two weeks after they were first picked up by authorities. The women had been organizing a multi-city protest timed to International women’s Day. Their cause – bringing an end to sexual harassment on public transportation. They were planning to distribute stickers on buses and subway trains calling on police to do more.”
