Romania: Call for Submissions for Book Chapter

Simona-Maria Chirciu, Bucharest, Romania, SSH Blog Correspondent

This is a call for book chapter submissions. The topic: Sexual Harassment – Lived Histories & Street Harassment as a Urban Discrimination

Remembering and writing about personal experiences of sexual harassment is sometimes easy and maybe other times it is very hard. But either way, it is good to speak up for yourself and make your experiences matter!

I want to present to you two interesting projects in Romania that aim to tackle sexual harassment and urban discrimination against women.

1. One of them is an editorial project and before the 1^st May 2015, you can send your contributions, regardless of your origin country or your gender.

We all have a sexual harassment history (unpleasant, of course!) so I want to share with you some important information about a call for book chapters. I’m very pleased with this project and I’ve already submitted my contribution. I really think there is importance in sharing with others the hard and heartful experiences of sexual harassment so we can raise awareness about this problem.  As most of us know, sexual harassment comes in many forms (street harassment, workplace harassment, school harassment) and happens all the time. We are not its victims, but its survivors and need to act as such!

So, “Sexual Harassment. Lived Histories” is an editorial project that aims to gather and uncover sexual harassment experiences for women and men in Romania and the world over. The purpose of this collective volume is to enhance the visibility of sexual harassment stories and experiences worldwide and to offer a framework of its causes, effects, need for proper and viable solutions.

I really think that sexual harassment in general and street harassment in particular are invisible problems, so we need to put some light on it!  I invite you to read the call for book chapters and write down, if you want, one or some of your stories! Let your own voice be heard. Your voice matters! This is more than a reflection exercise and is emotionally healing as well.

Let’s raise awareness on sexual harassment together, despite the distances and differences between us!  Deadline for this call is 1^st May 2015.  For more important information, you can find information here.

2. The other project is “Urban Discrimination” and it was created by two feminist NGOs from Romania, Bucharest – FRONT Association and Society of Feminist Analyses AnA. The project is open to people who want to participate actively and it aims to respond problems such as “Is the Capital of Romania an European city who pays attention to gender equality problems, inclusion, diversity? Is Bucharest a sexist, homophobic or transphobic city? Is it a city safe for girls and women of all ages? Are women represented in the public-urban space? Are they finded in the collective memory of Bucharest?”

We all know urban spaces are not safe places! The Urban Discrimination site has a map where women can pin the places where they were sexually harassed and share their experiences for raising awareness and to make this problem more visible.

I only can say I am glad that in Romania feminists are present and working hard in addressing and stopping sexual harassment! We must work and fight for our right to be safe and free!

Simona is the Vice President of a feminist NGO – FILIA Center and a PhD student in Political Sciences, working on a thesis on street harassment in Bucharest. You can follow her on Facebook.