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Archives for June 2015

Apply to be a 2015 Safe Public Spaces Mentoring Team or Sponsor a Team!

June 29, 2015 By HKearl

APPLICATIONS NOW AVAILABLE FOR OUR 2015 SAFE PUBLIC SPACES MENTORING PROGRAM! DUE JULY 15, 2015

What is it? Our mentoring program empowers people to consider what efforts might decrease street harassment in their community, and then propose and carry out a project. Across four months, selected activists receive advice, network connections, input, and up to $350 for expenses from SSH.

In 2013 and 2014, we worked with a total of nine teams in eight countries (Afghanistan, Cameroon, India, Kenya, Nepal, Nicaragua, Serbia and USA).

Afghanistan
Afghanistan

As three examples:

* In Afghanistan, college students held workshops on street harassment for hundreds of high school students. For all of the students, it was their first time having the space to talk about the issue, share their feelings, and brainstorm change.

* In Serbia, activists surveyed more than 600 college-age youth. Publishing their findings had two immediate impacts. 1) The college psychologists decided to take action around the issue. 2) Members of the Board Commission for Gender Equality of the City of Nis decided to conduct another survey.

* In the USA, the BikeWalkKC group in Kansas City, Missouri, worked with a number of groups to see the passage of an anti-harassment ordinance in their city.

The projects will begin on August 15 and run through December 15.

SPONSOR A TEAM!

Street harassment can cause people to feel unsafe in public spaces and also can make them feel powerless and unsure what they can do. Your sponsorship of $10+ can help give someone their power back and let them take action to address and work to end street harassment.

The amount of money we raise will determine how many teams we can fund this year. 100% of your money goes to the selected teams. Help make a difference today!

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Filed Under: SSH programs, street harassment

Late June 2015 News Roundup

June 29, 2015 By HKearl

Here are some of the stories relevant to street harassment I’ve read the last two weeks:

Canada: “OC Transpo to launch new online tool for reporting harassment”

“OC Transpo will launch a new online tool to make it easier to report harassment on its buses next week — nearly two years after promising it.

The goal of the new tool is to collect reports from passengers and witnesses, some of whom may choose to remain anonymous, about incidents of sexual harassment or other “unacceptable or illegal behaviours,” OC Transpo says in a report prepared for the transit commission.

According to OC Transpo, it will be the first transit agency in Canada to permit such anonymous reporting when the reporting tool goes live on June 17.”

Canada: “No, That Canadian Study Didn’t Simply Say Teaching Young Women Self-defence Will Stop Rape”

“This workshop can empower women to assert their boundaries and defend themselves if needed, but it’s not only about self-defense. It’s also about teaching women to recognize and respond to common dangerous situations, which more often involve people they know—not strangers in the bushes.

Known as the “red zone”, women in university are at heightened risk for sexual assault in the fall semester of their first year. A new poll by the Washington Post found 20 percent of women and five percent of men who attended college in the past four years report being sexually assaulted.

Historically, society has placed the onus on women to prevent sexual assault: Don’t walk home alone at night, don’t wear short skirts and all that. In recent years, public pressure from rape survivors and their allies has forced universities, police and politicians to look at the issue differently.

Slowly the onus has begun to shift away from women to prevent attackers from raping them and instead onto attackers to not rape women.

Consent and bystander intervention programs are also on the rise on college campuses.

It’s in this context that Senn and her co-authors researched the efficacy of a resistance program to prevent sexual assault.

The workshop they developed is one more tool in the rape-prevention toolbox. “

Egypt: “The App that wants to make Egypt’s Streets Safer for Women”

“This Ramadan, spliced into the TV soap operas that are popular during the fasting month, Egyptians will also be seeing some confrontational ads about sexual harassment. The ads launched in early June by HarassMap خريطة التحرش الجنسي, a local Egyptian organization, is part of a campaign that began last month called “Harasser = Criminal.

The public service announcements, each about a minute long, show how women are harassed in public spaces. One clip, which shows a man touching a woman on a bus, has gathered nearly 100,000 views to date.”

An auto rickshaw displays campaign posters, via The Indian Express

India: “She’s not #AskingForIt: A campaign to stop sexual harassment in public places”

“It is seven in the evening and a girl is standing at a bus stop. Few boys whistle at her and pass comments. But the bystanders are mute. Why? Apparently the girl was asking for it. Will she tell anyone about what happened?

These are the questions Breakthrough India, a global human rights organisation, is asking people around the country. Their campaign ‪#‎AskingForIt‬, which began in March this year, coaxes people to act, and stop sexual harassment in public places.”

Latin America: “Latin American women fight back against harassment”

“Costa Rica, Mexico and Peru have passed laws against street harassment that include, in Peru`s case, prison sentences of up to 12 years for the most extreme offenders.

Lawmakers in Argentina and Chile are considering similar bills.

In Chile, nine in 10 women have experienced some form of sexual harassment in public, and 70 percent say they have been traumatized by it, according to a 2014 study by the Observatory Against Street Harassment.

An Argentine study found similar numbers.

In a sign of the growing indignation, the Observatory has spread from Chile, where it was founded, to Colombia, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Uruguay.”

Nepal: “Police on High Alert against Human Trafficking”

“With growing incidents of children, girls, and women trafficking on various pretensions following the April 25 quake and subsequent aftershocks, Dhading police have maintained special surveillance over such possible criminal acts in the district….

Policewomen from various police cells have been deployed to inquire about the destinations of travelling children, girls, and women, reasons for travelling, their relation with the persons accompanying them, besides other information, said Area Police Office Gajuri Inspector Hemanta Bhandari Chhetri.

As many as 46 children who were rescued from Nagdhunga while being taken to Kathmandu were handed over to their parents. Police had arrested seven persons in connection with the incident.”

USA: “Catcallers to be challenged by Anti-Harassment Cyclists”

“Community organizing group Brooklyn Movement Center is launching its first “Anti-Street Harassment Bike Patrol” in Bed-Stuy and Crown Heights aimed at calling out people who hassle women on the street. Once a week, volunteers will bike in groups of four to intervene in situations sparked by unsolicited remarks….

[The] patrol aims to change the culture around street harassment instead of criminalizing the behavior, Arellano said. Organizers see the patrols as a “building tool” to educate the community….The group held its first orientation on Wednesday and will host another meeting in the coming weeks, organizers said. For more information, contact the Brooklyn Movement Center at (718) 771-7000.”

USA: “How Sexism Affects Everyday Health”

“Researchers have documented the link between concerns about physical safety and psychological harm. Consider, for example, that before puberty, boys and girls experience depression and anxiety at similar rates, but, upon puberty, when street harassment, awareness of physical vulnerability and rape begin, girls are up to six times as likely to suffer from anxiety as teenage boys.”

USA: “NY Lawmakers Set Penalty For Improper Subway Touching”

“New York lawmakers have voted to establish the crime of improper touching or other sexual contact aboard the subway or other public transportation after an increasing amount of complaints from young women…The misdemeanor also applies to public buses or trains and carries a penalty of up to one year in prison.”

USA: “The Clever Way Women Are Striking Back Against Body-Shaming Ads”

“Hey, ladies: On your way to and from work, you might want to think about dropping a few pounds—or maybe getting a boob job or butt injections. Those are just some of the messages advertisements for plastic surgery or diet products send to women who ride public transportation through signs that commonly line the interiors of buses and subway cars. It seems some feminist activists in New York City have had enough. They’re slapping stickers that proclaim “This Oppresses Women” on body-shaming promotions on the Big Apple’s mass transit systems….

“It’s hard to ignore [the advertisements] when you’re sitting on the subway and a guy is like, ‘Hey, baby, what’s up?’, and then you see these pseudo-naked women for the plastic surgery ads, and you’re like, ‘OK, this has to be connected,’ ” Munger told MTV News. “But then you realize the ads are contributing to how men treat you all the time, especially in New York, because it’s such a pervasive part of your life. You see these ads every single day in your face on the subway, on the street; it’s kind of ridiculous.”

USA: “Why Many Rape Victims Don’t Fight or Yell”

“Most victims will freeze, if only briefly. Some will fight back, effectively. Some will resist in habitual, passive ways. Some will suddenly give in and cry. Others will become paralyzed, become faint, pass out or dissociate.

Few who have experienced these responses realize that they are brain reactions to attack and terror.

They blame themselves for “failing” to resist. They feel ashamed. (Men especially may see themselves as cowards and feel like they’re not real men.) They may tell no one, even during an investigation. Sadly, many investigators and prosecutors still don’t know some or all of these brain-based responses.

None of these responses – in women or men – entails consent or cowardice.

None is evidence of resistance too insufficient to warrant our respect and compassion. They are responses we should expect from brains dominated by the circuitry of fear (just as we should expect fragmented and incomplete memories).”

USA: “Iowa City police arrest man for attacks on women”

“Sgt. Scott Gaarde said between May 27 and June 8, the police department took five reports from women who described being accosted by a man in or near Willow Creek Park. The victims reported the suspect would ride past the women on a bicycle, then approach them from behind and grab them…

Based on their investigation and cooperation from the victims, Long was charged this week with four counts of assault with intent to commit sexual abuse, an aggravated misdemeanor. He was taken into custody on Wednesday and transported to the Johnson County Jail.”

USA: “Study shows how men overcompensate when their masculinity is questioned”

“The researchers note that while women may display a similar dynamic when it comes to femininity, in general, the anxiety about not meeting gendered expectations is likely more severe among men since gender norms have expanded more for women — as the study puts it, “masculinity is more easily threatened than femininity.”

And the ways in which it may be reasserted when threatened are also way more harmful. This study joins a huge body of research on the dangers of threatened masculinity. While the overcompensation in this case is pretty benign — lying about their height, avoiding stereotypically “feminine” products — other research has hinted at how damaging it can be. In one study, men whose masculinity was threatened were more likely to hit a punching bag and, in another, to sexually harass a female interaction partner, and, in another, to blame the victim in a rape case.”

USA: “Anti-Street Harassment PSA”

“A music video inspired by Bollywood depicts a woman walking down the street. This short public service announcement makes a statement about street harassment in New York City through a re-appropriation of the lyrics of Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy”.

Global: “Can New Laws Stop Men From Harassing Women in Public?”

“Whether the legislation provides the culture change or the culture change spurs the legislation isn’t clear. There does, however, appear to be a real link between the two, and an ability for each to lean on the other as a means of building into our social fabric some kind of awareness of the damage wrought by street harassment.”

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Filed Under: News stories

Spain/Ireland: On dress codes and street harassment

June 29, 2015 By Correspondent

Rebecca Smyth, Spain, SSH Blog Correspondent

Feminism and related activism require a huge amount of personal reflection and exploration. This is a reflection. My opinions are open to reconfiguration and nuancing. You are entitled to agree or disagree in part or completely. I’d be really interested to hear back from people as to what they think and feel on some of the issues raised here.

There’s been a lot in the media (well, on Buzzfeed…) lately about high school dress codes in North America and students’ challenging them.* It’s something I’ve been following with keen interest for many reasons, not the least of which being that it’s almost completely alien to my Irish school experience.

Image via Ireland’s SchoolWear House, www.schoolwearhouse.ie/

The vast majority of schools in Ireland require their students to wear a uniform. It’s just the norm for us. There’s a lot to be said for school uniforms: they’re convenient (it’s half seven in the morning and you can get dressed on auto-pilot); they can keep costs down for parents (lots of supermarkets and cheaper high street shops stock school uniform-type skirts, pants and shirts at those low, low prices we all love and not-that-deep-down know to be the product of egregious human rights violations in someplace far, far away); and they tend to eliminate, or at least, ameliorate bullying related to clothing, fashion, style and what have you.

And yet, perhaps, dear reader, you can sense my hesitation. I genuinely feel there are many positive aspects to uniforms, not least those enumerated above.

But I hated it. Hated it.

I hated that there was no avenue for personal expression. I hated that we had to wear a tie. I hated the lumpen jumper and tent-like skirt and bin-bag-like school jacket that swamped me. I hated that pants weren’t an option, as though girls automatically must wear skirts. I hated what seemed to me to be arbitrary demarcations – formerly raven-haired students could have bleach blonde hair as it was a ‘natural’ colour, but anything more outré was out. Dubarrys were fine but Doc Martens weren’t. One set of ear studs in the traditional ear-stud place were acceptable, but other piercings and larger earrings most certainly were not. Nail varnish was banned on health and safety grounds, but you’d be sent to the loos with all sorts of huffable chemicals to remove it. ‘Subtle’ make-up was permissible but ‘too much’ and to the loos with you with a stack of make-up wipes. That last one was probably the least heavily enforced.  I think it was out of deference to the fact that many people wear heavy make-up to hide their skin and the adolescent travails it can suffer.

Now, before y’all get up in arms about this, I want to put it firmly in context. This is pretty much the norm, give or take a few specifications here and there, for school dress codes in Ireland. Furthermore, I cannot commend highly enough the staff of my former school who very much have the best interests of their students at heart. Finally, and something that international readers may be intrigued by, it was an all-girls school. None of this was to do with ‘distracting’ boys – at least not within the school walls.

Nevertheless, it certainly conforms to and perpetuates many of the stereotypes that underpin dress codes in businesses worldwide and those North American schools. As Shauna Pomerantz, an associate professor at Brock University says in an interview with Buzzfeed, ‘appropriateness’ is defined in terms of class- and race-based values, namely that “[Y]ou have to look like a middle-class, heterosexual white woman.”

And this is where I really have to start challenging myself, because I am all those things, and one of my style icons is Audrey Hepburn.**  So I am very much of the less-is-more, the eyes-or-lips-but-not-both, the legs-or-boobs-but-not-both school of make-up and style. To a point. That’s what primarily works for me and my appearance and body type and gender identity. But that doesn’t mean it’s right or good or works for everybody, nor would I be arrogant enough to assume so.   And I have to call myself out on this regularly because unfortunately I have internalised the prejudices that float around us just like everybody else. If you want to wear a ton of make-up in whatever configuration you see fit, you should be allowed to. If you want to wear whatever clothes it is you want to wear, you should be able to. Unfortunately though, there is a catch.

That word.

Should.

I sure as hell don’t like it, but we are judged on our appearance and the way we present ourselves to the world. We shouldn’t be, but we are.

How do we go about challenging this? Are there limits to how far we should go?

I don’t want to reclaim the word ‘slut’. I just want it binned. But I think the Toronto-based Project Slut is really on to something big. I don’t think crop tops are the ideal choice of clothing attire for anywhere except by the pool or at the beach, but I sure as hell don’t think someone should be stared at, harassed or raped for wearing one elsewhere. I think ideally your foundation should match your skin tone, but I think it’s messed up that ‘skin colour’ usually means ‘white people’s skin colour.’

I also wonder if all this stuff is a big, steaming pile of misdirection – a symptom being mistaken for an illness.

Unless we recognise that dress codes, ‘slut shaming’, ‘beach bodies’ and all the rest are about controlling and regulating the already disenfranchised, we’re going to keep missing the point.

Street harassment has nothing to do with what you’re wearing or not wearing. I know this from personal experience and far too many stories of other people’s experiences.

Enforcing rigid dress codes and reiterating ideas of what is appropriate and inappropriate that have their basis in racist, sexist, classist and heteronormative ideas perpetuate the false connection between how we present ourselves to the world and how the world should treat us.

Other than thinking and talking and writing about this, I don’t know how best to tackle it. If anyone has any better ideas, please enlighten me!

For further reading, here are a few articles from BuzzFeed.

* One important issue I don’t touch on here, at least directly, is that of natural hair. I am white. I am Irish. I have read about and followed with great interest and anger the hostility, snide remarks and suspensions meted out to people of colour of all ages who wear their hair naturally or in locs or braids and myriad styles. I don’t feel it’s my place to say anything other than I think natural hair and natural styles are beautiful. And I don’t mean that in any exoticising, othering, oh-my-God-can-I-touch-your-hair way. I just mean it’s beautiful and the fact it’s seen as ‘unprofessional’ or ‘not in keeping with school dress codes’ is disgusting.

** Also Santigold and St. Vincent and Karen O and M.I.A. but I wouldn’t be quite confident enough to wear exact replicas of their finery nipping to the supermarket. Someday, someday…

Rebecca is currently living, working and stumbling through ballet classes in Barcelona. Originally from Kilkenny, she has a degree in European Studies and a Master’s in Gender and Women’s Studies from Trinity College Dublin, and will be doing an LLM in Human Rights Law in Edinburgh this fall.

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Filed Under: correspondents

The Netherlands: Female hitchhikers defying highway harassment (Part 2)

June 29, 2015 By Correspondent

Julka Szymańska, the Netherlands, SSH Blog Correspondent

This article is the second installment in a two part series, you can find the first set of portraits here.

8.28.12 badlands national park, pine ridge reservation, sd 003Sophie.

A real people’s person, 22 year old Sustainable Agriculture student Sophie is based in Germany when she is not away on one of her hitchhiking adventures. One of the core reasons for wanting to hitchhike is her love for being around many different kinds of people, another revolves around the journey from festival to festival during summer’s festival season. In the middle of nowhere you can more easily find a ride than a train- or bus station.

Harassment while thumbing is familiar for Sophie, she recalls: “During my third time hitchhiking, I was in Romania with a friend when we had just waited for two hours in the scorching hot sun. Finally a car stopped and a Romanian guy offered a ride, but we were having troubles with the language barrier. He took me aside and after some attempts at understanding each other it became clear he only wanted to take us in exchange for sex. Of course I declined, but I felt really embarrassed and unsafe. I would not have known what would have happened if my friend wasn’t there with me and I think every girl should be informed that this can happen. I was a little bit too naive. This incident was a warning for me, now I communicate more with drivers before I get into their car.”

Knowledge and experience in hitchhiking is a factor Sophie thinks a lot about these days; she wants to be prepared for all the challenges she might face. She doesn’t carry pepper spray, because using that in a closed car can literally backfire and the only knife hidden in her shoe is a utility knife with a safety switch, so she herself won’t be cut by accident. Another method to feel safe for her is reading a lot of resources by more experienced hitchhikers, like blogs, guides and documentaries.

“I’m proud when I hitchhike alone, the sense of self confidence and freedom feels great. I wear practical clothes, nothing sexy and I meet a lot of nice people on the road who go the extra mile for a young woman alone. They compliment me and respect my character for being out there on my own, I love that,” Sophie cheerfully laughs.

Diana.

Diana is a 24 year old woman of the world; originally from the United States, but currently living in Thailand. She first hitchhiked in Japan with a friend who taught her the ropes, following this nice introduction to hitchhiking she started doing it alone. After utilizing her fluency in Spanish on the road in Chile, many different countries would be next on Diana’s list.

Her experiences with harassment during hitchhiking are fortunately limited, unfortunately that can’t be said for other travels or destinations. In Australia she had to face a lot of micro-aggressions (such as being called “a spicy Latina” and men even groped her a few times. And during an emergency couch surf for a night in Paris her host expected her to have sex with him, which resulted in her locking the guest room she stayed in and leaving at sunrise to get away from the creep. Similar situations happened more than once, but always were resolved safely.

“The controversy surrounding women’s safety when hitchhiking is very frustrating”, Diana sighs, “In my opinion it perpetuates the patriarchal notion that women are weak and aren’t able to take care of themselves. Which is not the case, because I’ve been hitchhiking alone many times and I even introduced another girl who never hitchhiked before to the world of it. ”

She explains that traveling alone isn’t the problem. “It’s really suffocating for women to be told that we shouldn’t do it, people should just stop harassing and preying on women. Women aren’t asking to be prayed upon. As a feminist I’d want women to be safe, that is their right, this includes exploring the world and hitchhiking is an amazing way to do that.”

Diana lives by a proverb in Spanish that translates to something along the lines of “Go with a good vibe”. She endorses passing the ways of the hitchhiker on to new people who want to embrace this way of traveling, to both teach them by setting a good example and give them more self confidence; to ultimately simply share the vibe.

At the end of the road.

All in all I think we can conclude that no matter the risks of hitchhiking and the warnings women in particular receive about it, a lot of women aren’t repelled from raising their thumb at the highway, either alone or with a traveling companion. Many women use strategies to ensure their own safety, just like hitchhiking men do, although perhaps a little more consciously. Harassment does happen, but not as often as many people think, nor more often than in other public places, such as the street, trains or other public transport or behind the doors of a building. The responsibility of stopping highway harassment and any street harassment in general lies with the people doing the harassing. Women can only do so much to ensure their own safety and are armed with their intuition and wits to cope in a world that can be considered outright hostile to women. Despite this animosity, every single woman is brave for going on with their lives and doing what they want to do with it in the face of harassment. And that demands nothing less than utter respect.

Are you curious about hitchhiking after reading these courageous women’s stories? If so, be sure to check out some of these resources on the subject of hitching rides risk-aware and as safe and comfortable as possible.

  • Hitchwiki: The guide to hitchhiking the world.
  • A Girl And Her Thumb: A blog about hitchhiking while female.
  • Women On The Road: An inspirational website dedicated to women who travel.

Julka is a 25-year-old feminist activist and soon-to-be Cultural Science student with a generous amount of life experiences -including street harassment – and even more passion for social justice.

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Filed Under: correspondents

“I began to have an absolute meltdown”

June 28, 2015 By Contributor

I was walking back to my house after just strolling around the neighborhood. I walked past my neighbor’s house (right across the street a few houses down), and there’s a teenage boy sitting in his driveway. I’m 17, so I assumed I knew him, and waved. He said, ʺGood afternoon,ʺ to which I told him good afternoon as well. He said, “You’re so pretty.ʺ

I didn’t think anything of it and said, “Thank you.ʺ

I kept walking, and he made a kissing sound behind me, and I ignored it. Then, he said, ʺYou’re so fine, mm come back hereʺ or something along those lines.

I whipped around and shouted, ʺHey, F*CK you!ʺ and flipped him off. He started kinda laughing, and then said, ʺHey, don’t be a f*cking bitch!ʺ and some more obscenity, and I began to walk faster. I was feet away from my house and he stood up and came towards me. I booked it back inside, and told my brother. He went to talk to the kid, but the kid wouldn’t answer the door. I was so angry and ashamed, I immediately started playing in my head what I could’ve said better, or what I could’ve done differently. I have anxiety and PTSD from being sexually assaulted, so I began to have an absolute meltdown. It took me awhile to calm down afterwards.

Optional: What’s one way you think we can make public places safer for everyone?

We could teach males in sex ed that catcalling and harassment are NEVER okay; I live in Virginia, and my boyfriend told me when he did sex ed all through middle and high school, they never mentioned catcalling or given any lectures about harassment or rape.

– Virginia Kuebler

Location: My neighborhood in VA

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

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Filed Under: Stories, street harassment

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