Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Archives for April 2015

Today’s Events – April 18

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Bangladesh

It’s the last day of International Anti-Street Harassment Week! Here are some of the actions taking place.

International:

Bangladesh: AUW Speak Up Club members will go out to streets of Chittagong with flyers and message boards to raise awareness about street harassment, to ask people to share their messages, to raise their voice, and to join the campaign.

Canada (Alberta): Hollaback! Alberta is holding “Street Harassment Happens Here,” where they will be walking through the high traffic areas of Whyte avenue, stopping every 5 minutes, and providing chalk & support to those who wish to participate. Participants are welcome to use sidewalk chalk to describe their experiences and/or feelings regarding street harassment on the sidewalk. It can be specific incidences that have occurred on Whyte Ave, or they can be general statements. Chalking can be a powerful way to share your experiences, reclaim spaces that are made to feel unsafe, and support those who are silenced by street harassment. [April 18, 1-5pm on Whyte Avenue in Edmonton between Gateway Blvd and 109th Street.]

Chile: OCAC Chile will host an event in a local park with performances and art [April 18]

Colombia: OCAC Colombia is hosting a an event in Bogota: SATURDAY 18 APRIL – 7PM: We will closure the week dancing, so you are invited to a pro-fund International Week Against Street Harassment spree. See you at la Redada, Carrera 19 No 33A-26 | SÁBADO 18 DE ABRIL – 9PM. Cerraremos la semana bailando e invitándoles a una farra pro-fondos Semana Internacional Contra el Acoso Callejero. Nos vemos en el Rehuso, en la Carrera 19 No 33A-26

France: Stop Harcelement de Rue Lyon will be holding a chalk walk [April 18 – 3 pm. Location: Montée de la Grande Côte]

France: Stop Harcelement de Rue Lille is holding a wall of shame: post-its are made available for passers-by to write insults and catcalls they were subjected to. The post-its are then glued to a giant board (this is the second wall of shame as the first one took place on International Women’s Day). [April 18 – 2 pm]

Nepal: The Nepal Mahila Ekata Samaj (Nepal Women Unity Society) will be chalk writing on street and bridge – Write the slogan and demand on street and bridge inform the public and masses abou the issue. [April 18]

Romania: FILIA: Centre for Curriculum Development and Gender Studies: is hold a public action in park to raise awareness and to share fliers with information about street harassment and also write chalk messages, discussing with people and ending the activity with a flashmob about the importance of bystander intervention and avoiding victim-blaming attitudes.

Serbia: Equity Youth Association will be hosting a week long campaign to educate locals about what street harassment is. This will include flyering and handing out graphics and info across the city with information from their recently conducted survey, and hosting a chalk walk with local university students in a city park that is notorious for being  a high-harassment area [Flyering April 12-18, Chalk Walk April 17th]

Turkey: Hollaback! Izmir will be hosting several events through the week, including a street harassment forum [April 12, 2-3pm at Caffenol Bistro], a banner-making workshop [April 12, 3:30-4:30pm] and panels and street activity [April 18, 2-6pm] Find more info here. 

United Kingdom: Hollaback! York will be holding their launch event during #EndSHWeek! Join them to share stories and learn more about their new community survey. [April 18, 1:30-3pm Fishergate Room the in the Priory Street Centre]

 

USA Events:

Maryland: STREETWISE is hosting a Basics of Self Defense Class. This 4-hour hands-on workshop will give you the confidence, knowledge and strength to feel empowered in a life-threatening situation. You will learn basic defense techniques on how to recognize, react to and survive an attack! [Saturday, April 18, 2015 @ 10:00am – 2:00pm  at Fitness Craze – 223-D Brierhill Drive, Bel Air, MD 21015] INFO

Nevada: Hollaback! Las Vegas is hosting a Self-Defense Workshop with Israeli Martial Arts. The workshop is FREE but spaces are limited. To register, email gabrielle@RCCLV.org with the subject line “self defense workshop” [Saturday, April 18th 11am to 1pm]

New York: dianINQUE will be hosting community outreach via chalk walks and flyering on April 18 and 19.

North Carolina: SSH campaign manager Britnae will be hosting a charity yoga class at Durham Yoga Company. Street harassment takes a toll on our mental well-being. Take some time to recenter and focus on self-love during this yoga class! We’ll be giving out SSH-themed gift bags! Class is free, but 100% of proceeds will go back to Stop Street Harassment.  [Saturday, April 18, 6-7:30pm]

Massachusetts: Guerilla Feminism Boston will be hosting Reclaim Our Spaces: A Chalk Walk for Black Women, WOC, Queer, and Trans Women. Join them while they use chalk to share our stories, tell our truths and stand in solidarity for those we have lost to street harassment & gender based violence. Allies are welcome as long as they are active in their support of the communities mentioned above. [April 18, 3:30-5:30pm at the Mass Ave T Stop on the Orange Line, Boston]

Washington, DC: SSH, CASS and Batala! will host street action at U Street and 14th Street, 2-4 p.m.[April 18]

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Hollaback! York – The Challenges and Rewards of Starting a New Group

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Guest Blog Post for International Anti-Street Harassment Week 2015

We are launching a new branch of Hollaback in York, UK and getting set up and running has been a pretty positive experience for us so far. York is a fairly small city and isn’t really known for its activism, so we had been worried at the start that there wouldn’t be many people wanting to get involved. But the response has been really great – it just goes to show that street harassment really is something that affects almost everyone and once you start the conversation, people are always keen to join in. The two universities in York have recently launched anti-sexual harassment campaigns and zero tolerance policies, and seeing people in our community take sexual harassment seriously makes us really hopeful that things can change in York to become a much safer space for everyone.

Having said that, we have had a couple of challenges, including being denied permission from the council to do a chalk walk during International Anti-Street Harassment Week. We were really looking forward to that; chalk walks from other anti-street harassment groups are always really popular, as they are a great quick and fun way to spread awareness that prompt the public to ask questions and get involved. So we are having to get a little creative and find some alternatives instead!

Our favourite part so far has been the incredible network of support from other anti-street harassment sites and blogs all over the world, all sharing and learning from each other and working together to build our knowledge and understanding of such a complex issue. However, what we are really looking forward to is making a difference to people in York when our site is officially up and running. Street harassment can be a dangerous and humiliating experience and we are keen to get stuck in with anything we can do for our community to show some support, provide some comfort, or empower someone to speak out.

We have found out that there are plenty of ups and downs in this work, but we are definitely looking forward to more of it!

This piece was written by the Co-Director of Hollaback York

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Afghanistan: I Will Fill You With Lead

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I screamed with all my might so that of God or one of His followers might help me. But everyone just kept watching.

Guest Blog Post for International Anti-Street Harassment Week 2015

About seven months ago, one afternoon I was walking out of a class I taught with enthusiasm and full of energy and headed home. On the way, I decided to stop by a super market to purchase somethings I needed.

When I exited the store, I saw a big car with black windows parked near the entry door of the market. There were two men inside the car. They immediately began inviting me to their car and calling me names. I ignored them. I looked down and continued walking home, but before I knew it I noticed one of the men in front of me with his arms wide open as if he wanted to embrace me. I said something loudly because I was terrified. He moved out of my way and I kept walking. I then noticed two guards standing in front of a building very close to the market. I asked them why they hadn’t done anything to protect me and one of them said abruptly, “we are here to guard this office. Defending women and girls is not our job.”

I was debating with the guards when I found the black car near me once again. This time, they began saying obscene things to me. I got really angry and asked them, “are your sisters and mothers prostitutes that you assume all women are?”

One of the men got really enraged and got out of the car. He ran towards me and began slapping my face. Soon, he was hitting me everywhere and kicking me. I had not imagined this would ever happen so I didn’t know what to do. I began screaming in the hopes of God or one of His followers helping me. The most shocking thing was the fact that both guards were still watching in silence. My screams brought a crowd of men and women around. People came of their houses and offices and began to watch me being beaten. The enraged man did not stop at hitting me. He ran back to his car and brought a big gun out with him. He looked at me and said, “I will fill you with lead.”

He loaded the gun, but his friend attempted to calm him down and ultimately stopped him from firing.

After that, they both got inside the car and left the area while yelling obscenities at me. The crowd was still watching me. Some people looked at me with pity while others with hatred and blamed, but they all had thousands of questions. Some asked me who the men where, what they wanted from me and whether I knew them. The same people who moments ago were quiet as rocks had somehow regained their voice and were questioning me. I do not remember what I told them. I just wished I could erase this day from my memory.

By Azada Faqiri, cross-posted from Dukhtarane Rabia (Daughters of Rabia): A blog on social justice in Afghanistan

Poster text: I screamed with all my might so that of God or one of His followers might help me. But everyone just kept watching.

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Sexual Comments Belong Exactly Where Sex does: Between People Who Have Given Explicit Consent

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Guest Blog Post for International Anti-Street Harassment Week 2015

A few months ago, I began a social experiment where I post on Facebook each time I experience street harassment as I go about my days as a working professional, graduate student, and a woman living in Washington D.C.. My goal was to see how my group of Facebook friends may react to my stories and how the interactions made me feel violated as many others who experience it do.

Most of the time, I receive an overwhelming number of ‘likes’ on my post, friends and colleagues showing their support and sometimes sharing their own stories of harassment in their own cities all over the country. But, there are also times when the comments to the posts are not as supportive. People have asked me what I was wearing during these events, if I was in a supposed “bad part of town”, and have even commented about the dangers of walking around a city. But most interesting to me, one Facebook user took this time to make a joke about how upset he was that he never gets this kind of attention when he goes about his day. Multiple people liked his comment.

I created this series as a way to share with my community just how much of an issue street harassment is in my city. But also, as a way to share my own experiences as a way to start a conversation about what effect street harassment can have on the person receiving such attention. Through my own commentary, I shared how street harassment has made me lose confidence, has made me feel over-sexualized and in many cases unsafe about what the person who is yelling at me is willing to do to me if they feel so comfortable saying such things in public about me and my body. And in just one comment, a person was able to make my entire social experiment look like I was bragging about how many people think I am pretty as I walk to work.

I named this social experiment “Cat-Call Shaming”, and I did so as a way to ground the movement in such a way that takes the shame of being cat-called and put it back on the person who is willing to draw unwanted attention to a complete stranger. Just like with other forms of sexual violence, my belief is that society promotes an injustice upon survivors of street harassment by placing the blame on the receivers of these unwanted comments as if that person is responsible for how all people act towards them. Someone who has been sexually assaulted should never be blamed for that experience, so why should a person be to blame for receiving sexual attention from a stranger on the street?

What upset me most was not the person who made the comment, but the number of people both online and in person who had a similar reaction to my series. It upset me that these were educated people, individuals who sat through sexual assault awareness training at their universities just like I had. These were people who were taught to always ask first, to make sure their partners are able to consent to sex, people who I had discussions about my own stories of feeling intimidated or coerced by partners after I had already said no. Yet, these were people who didn’t seeing anything wrong with street harassment, who told me that I should feel flattered about how often it happened to me like it was a badge of honor to be harassed by strangers.

Why is it that these people understood the danger of sexual assault yet could not understand why street harassment wasn’t just as much a social issue? How can a person believe that it isn’t okay to coerce someone into having sex but thinks it is perfectly fine to make sexual comments towards strangers they are attracted they see walking down the street? One of the ways that consent is taught in colleges today is grounded in the idea that we as individuals should always respect the boundaries that other people have set for themselves because each person has the right to decide how or when they choose to engage in sex. Teaching about sexual harassment can be approached in the exact same way. It can be taught that someone’s words are just as powerful as their actions, and that when you draw unwanted sexual attention towards someone you are disregarding the boundaries that they have set up for themselves. Sexual comments belong exactly where sex does, between people who have given their explicit consent to be touched or talked to in such a way.

By teaching not to rape without teaching not to harass on the street, we are telling the next generation of adults that it is okay to objectify other people as long as you are not touching them and this completely disregards the emotional and mental negative effects that street harassment can have on the person getting yelled at near the bus stop.

Jen Stutman is a GW Alumna and Former GW Students Against Sexual Assault Member

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Today’s Events – April 17

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Posted by CoHabita DF in Mexico City

Special Global Action!

ANYONE CAN JOIN — As part of International Anti-Street Harassment Week, Stop Telling Women to Smile is organizing an international wheat pasting night on April 17, 2015. The following groups have already organized action around this:
Canada (Ottawa): Hollaback! Ottawa will be pasting the STWTS posters [3pm, Bridgehead on Bank/Gilmour] INFO
Germany (Berlin): Hollaback! Berlin will post the STWTS posters [7pm, k-fetisch] INFO
Mexico City: CoHabita/Habitajes will paste 65 #STWTS posters along 45 stations on Line 1 of the Metrobus in Mexico City throughout the week and will join the STWTS Wheat pasting night.
Illinois: Volunteers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champagne campus are hosting a Stop Telling Women to Smile Day.
Iowa: The Ending Street Harassment in Iowa City group will post “Stop Telling Women to Smile” posters throughout the community.
Join them!! Here are the details! [AFTERNOON/EVENING APRIL 17] 
Virtual Events:
April 17 | 12 – 1 p.m. EDT: @NOWYoungFems will host a Tweet chat to discuss street harassment across the broad spectrum of gender-based violence and discuss a holistic strategy to violence on every level.
International Events:
Colombia: OCAC Colombia is hosting HARASSMENT IS VIOLENCE. We will march with the Tremenda Revoltosa Batucada Feminista, and beat the drums against all forms of violence on our bodies. We’ll wait you since 5pm at Colpatria Tower. | VIERNES 17 DE ABRIL – 5PM. EL ACOSO ES VIOLENCIA. Marcharemos junto con la Tremenda Revoltosa batucada feminista, haremos sonar los tambores contra todo tipo de violencias sobre nuestros cuerpos. Les esperamos a partir de las 5pm frente a la Torre Colpatria, en la carrera séptima con calle 26.
France: Stop Harcelement de Rue Lille is launching the “No harassment bar”. This is an agreement reached between the collective and a bar (of which the name will be announced that night) in order to make it a “no harassment zone”. We are hoping to reach agreements with more bars later on. [nighttime]
Romania: FILIA: Centre for Curriculum Development and Gender Studies: ”Anti-street harassment evening” – Evening documentaries/ clips and a debate about street harassment with people interested in the subject.
Serbia: Equity Youth Association will be hosting a week long campaign to educate locals about what street harassment is. This will include flyering and handing out graphics and info across the city with information from their recently conducted survey, and hosting a chalk walk with local university students in a city park that is notorious for being  a high-harassment area [Flyering April 12-18, Chalk Walk April 17th]
USA Events:
Illinois: Volunteers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champagne campus are hosting Walk a Mile [5-6p on Main Quad] and Green Street Hug-in [6-8p on 6th & Green Streets]
Minnesota: Hollaback! Twin Cities is hosting two chalking events at the University of Minnesota [12:30 to 2:30 p.m. Location TBD.] INFO.
Missouri: The UMKC Women’s Center will be chalking around campus all week, and invites students to stop by the center to learn more! [April 13-17]
Nebraska: The sociology, queer alliance and radical notion clubs at Hastings College will be holding a talk-in to discuss street harassment experiences and solutions.
Nevada: Hollaback! Las Vegas is hosting a Chalk walk Downtown Container Park [4pm to 6pm at the Corner of Fremont and 7th]
Ohio: The People’s Justice League will be leading a chalk walk to mark problematic areas on the Ohio University campus [6pm. Meet at the bottom of Jeff Hill on campus]
Ohio: The People’s Justice League will be hosting a screening of the film Cairo 678 [8pm at Donkey Coffee, 17 West Washington St., Athens OH 45701]
Washington, DC: Nigerian LGBT activist Bisi Alimi will be speaking at the DC Center [8:30 p.m.]
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