Archives for June 2015

Marching in Argentina, Phone App in Brazil

June 4, 2015 By HKearl

A few more important news stories —

Argentinian women are rallying under the hashtag ‪#‎NiUnaMenos‬ against an alarming increase of femicides in the country after a pregnant 14-year old was murdered by her boyfriend.

Via BBC:

Additionally, yesterday people across Argentina, Chile & Uruguay marched in the streets in outrage over violence against women!

Via All Africa:

“A team of four young women coders from Porta Allegra in Brazil has won the IGNITE International Girls Hackathon with an anti-harassment app called Não Me Calo, which means “I will not shut up”.

Não Me Calo allows users to review restaurants based on how they treat women. The data then helps other patrons decide which restaurants are safest for women, and publicly encourages restaurant owners and government officials to fix harassment hotspots.”

Via MSP Magazine:

Our amazing board member Lindsey Middlecamp, founder of Cards Against Harassment, is featured this month and this is my favorite quote from her article: “We’re acculturated to see street harassment as a petty annoyance, but it reflects some fundamentally concerning cultural themes. If people would see a woman on the street as a person with her own motivation and intent, if women were allowed to make noise, take up space, and pursue their own path freely, the world would be a better place.”

USA: Andrea Gibson’s Powerful Poem That’s Meant to Be Used

June 4, 2015 By Correspondent

Michelle Marie Ryder, USA, SSH Blog Correspondent

In the United States, 65% of women have been harassed in public. Each wolf-whistle, obscene gesture and violating touch has the power to transform our world. For many of us it’s hard to forget the first time we were harassed, as evidenced by a recent popular hashtag #FirstHarassed.

No matter how confident we might start the day, we struggle to keep an ocean of fear at bay the moment we step outdoors. Everyday we navigate a sea of uncertainty that limits our mobility and sense of safety. Short of a cure, we find ways to cope.

Personally, I never leave the house without putting on my best Wednesday Addams resting bitchface. I evade eye contact with strangers to avoid being perceived as flirty; my gaze is restricted, my interaction with the social world strained and limited, some of its richness lost.

When I feel safe enough I speak up, tempted by the peace of mind assured by an effective counterattack. The first time I did I shouted a simple, liberating FUCK YOU! – drawing in a deep breath of air between the two words for extra effect. That was really all it took to shut up a clot of men (who hang out in groups of five because they each have one fifth of a personality, jokes comedian Eddie Izzard, who is frequently harassed in public for cross-dressing). At the time I had been walking alone, but thankfully had the anonymity of a crowd to slip into for protection.

But there are times when our friends, family members or lovers are with us, putting them in the awkward position of wanting to defend us but also being well aware of the threat of violence, of how easily catcalls can escalate into something more serious. So they, too, often feel compelled to suppress their anger and frustration.

Renowned slam poet Andrea Gibson speaks to these feelings of powerlessness with high-octane eloquence in her poem “To The Men Catcalling My Girlfriend as I’m Walking Beside Her.” Co-performed with Katie Wirsing, Gibson addresses the subject of the poem, the street harasser, directly, making this quite possibly the finest the-reason-you-suck-speech to ever grace the earth.

Gibson says this is the first poem she’s ever written that’s meant to be “used in the real world.” Carried like a weapon in our consciousness is what I imagine she meant by that. Carried like “Wolverine keys” girded for battle between clenched fists, “because what men fear most about going to prison is what women fear most about walking down the sidewalk,” proclaims a popular #YesAllWomen tweet.

Whether we’re carrying mace, a rape whistle, switchblade or scythe (I’ve considered them all), these weapons, like Gibson’s dagger-sharp wordplay, are symbols of the violence women face daily. They evoke with forceful lucidity our second-class citizenship. There is significant risk in defying this system, in defying the will of the harasser, even for those who might try to intervene on our behalf.

A 31 year old San Franciscan man, Ben Schwartz, was savagely attacked in 2014 when he asked a catcaller to stop making lewd comments to his girlfriend. He was stabbed nine times, the knife narrowly missing his major arteries and spinal cord. Michael Tingling, a Chicago father, wasn’t so lucky. He was killed shielding his 15 year old daughter from sexually degrading treatment on the street after picking her up from school.

Street harassment is not flattering, it is frightening. It is a barrier to true equality and a denial of liberties, writes Holly Kearl, founder of Stop Street Harassment. But the good news is there’s a lot we can do to fight back, to stop from sinking in the ocean of fear that greets us daily. From speaking up to taking to the streets to pressing for policy change, the fight is only just beginning.

Michelle is a freelance writer and community activist. She has written for Infita7.com, Bluestockings Magazine, and The New Verse News on a range of social justice issues, and shares her poetry regularly at poetrywho.blogspot.com.

“I was so humiliated”

June 3, 2015 By Contributor

Hi!
I just want to share my street harassment story. It was the end of my shift, exactly 5:30 when I arrived at the terminal. It was a Friday so I was already expecting that lots of people would be dying to ride a bus, since we have limited buses only. There is one baby bus but if it’s already full, it is your choice if you wanna ride- but standing, or you’ll fall in line and wait for the next one.

Since I was very eager and excited to go home, I just chose to stand up and ride that bus. I was in the middle of the aisle when the driver and the bus ticket collector advised me to go near the driver’s seat because many people would be standing and I might be uncomfortable if many men would surround me. Thinking that it was an act of concern, I went near the driver’s seat and stood up there. Suddenly, I heard the ticket collector talking to a man, looking at me. And then he said, ʺAsawa ho ng dirver yang nakatayo/ The woman standing is the driver’s wife,ʺ I was so humiliated because everybody looked at me. The driver is almost 50 years old, and I’m just 20. I looked at the ticket collector with a dim face, trying to compose myself. He looked at me, shaking his head and smiling. I took my phone, I acted like I was calling my boyfriend, just to somehow let them know that I’d be calling someone. He backed off. And then I talked to them ʺKuya, mahiya po kayo sa balat nyo.ʺ And then bumaba na ako. I felt so humiliated.

– Anonymous

Location: Coastal Mall/ Bus Terminal, Philippines

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

“I felt pretty anxious for the rest of the day”

June 2, 2015 By Contributor

The other day I went to go get something to eat with my friends after class and after we finished we started walking back to my friend’s house. They both bike to and from school so they were together about 50 yards ahead of me. We took a shortcut through the park and my friends decided to go ahead of me a little bit (about 200 yards). I saw them bike past a group of about 7 or 8 guys from my school who were sitting on both sides of the path. I didn’t want to make it obvious that I wanted to avoid walking past them alone (not a great decision) so I just walked right between them. This one guy had a mouthful of water and ʺpukedʺ all over the path and my leg and his friend was laughing and patting him on the back. I continued to walk and one guy called ʺthat booty tho’!ʺ to me and they all just started cracking up.

Personally, this was my first catcalling experience and I’m honestly very surprised about how calmly I reacted. I just kept a straight face and walked away and did not react. I didn’t want to give them any ammunition to use against me. I’m still slightly shaken up from it even though I know this is much less worse than what some other people experience regularly, but I know I’m not the one to blame and I keep telling myself that. I just really hope this never happens again because I get very easily scared and I felt pretty anxious for the rest of the day. I considered momentarily to change the way I dress to protect myself but I immediately realized I shouldn’t have to change my personality or the way I express myself to feel safe in a situation like this.

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

Always stick with a friend that can help you in an uncomfortable position or go to someone trustworthy who can help you and discourage young people from catcalling.

– Anonymous

Location: Berkeley, CA

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

What I’ve Been Reading: Early June 2015 Edition

June 2, 2015 By HKearl

Here are some of the articles I’ve been reading the past two weeks.

Korea Times:

“Concerned residents in the Haebangchon neighborhood, located next to Itaewon in Seoul, have formed a community awareness group in response to an increased amount of sexual harassment in the area. People Unite against Street Harassment (PUSH) was established in March this year.” Read street harassment stories in the Korea Observer.

Global Times (China):

“One of my friends from Chengdu, Sichuan Province, told me that she was groped by a man who covered her mouth to keep her from screaming out.

Apart from empty streets, crowded subway trains in China are also common places for sexual assaults to take place. There are numerous photos and videos on the Internet taken by bystanders of women being harassed in various ways, including men trying to take photos up women’s skirts.

Some reports state that up to seven in every 10 women have experienced some form of sexual harassment. Public transportation authorities in some cities have launched campaigns to crack down on sexual harassment on the subway, but they are not always effective.”

SlutWalk in Jerusalem (Photo: Gil Yohanan)

Y Net News:

“400 people embarked on a SlutWalk on Friday afternoon in Jerusalem, protesting sexual violence, sexual harassment and the objectification of women…

Tamar, a Jerusalem resident in her 20s, said she was taking part in the walk to protest against sexual violence. “It doesn’t matter what I’m wearing, my body is not public property. I’m not a sex object, I can dress however I feel like and it doesn’t give anyone the right to touch me, make offensive comments about me or talk to me disrespectfully,” she said.

Tamar said she experienced verbal sexual harassment in the past. “There is a lot of harassment on the street, a lot of terror. I have been harassed by men on the street since the age of 14. It happened in other cities in the country and actually anywhere in the world,” she said.”

Guardian:

“It’s never been my style, but dudes have been hollering, cat calling or cracking on women years before I was even born. I grew up in east Baltimore’s dope-boy culture, where the coolest guys attracted women by dressing nice, being popular and having conversations. Screaming at women and acting thirsty always looked stupid to me and always will. Seeing the look on that young woman’s face while she was walking with her child made me realize how scary it can be for a woman to walk down the street.

If we men are the problem, we can also be part of the solution…Us men are responsible for not only stopping guys from harassing women, but also telling others to do the same. For this is the only way to shift the culture.”

Herald-Review:

“Oregon lawmakers on Tuesday advanced a proposal aimed at closing a loophole in state privacy laws that recently let a man go unpunished after he took photographs up a teenager’s skirt.

The state Senate unanimously passed the bill, which would make it a misdemeanor to surreptitiously take photos up women’s dresses without their consent. A teachers union proposed the measure after a student took so-called upskirt cellphone photos of an educator and shared them online.

The Senate vote came three months after an Oregon judge ruled a 61-year-old man did nothing illegal when he snapped photos up a teen’s skirt in a Target store.”

Fortune:

“A driver contracted with U.S.-based online taxi company Uber Technologies was arrested near New Delhi on Tuesday, police said, after a woman passenger accused him of sexual harassment when she hailed his cab over the weekend.

Uber was banned in New Delhi in December after another woman passenger accused one of its drivers of rape. The company resumed its services in January after applying for a radio taxi licence, which it still awaits.”

Vice News:

“Holly Kearl, an adjunct professor of women’s studies at George Mason University in Virginia and author of two books about sexual harassment, said that many state laws haven’t caught up with technology, and that it often takes someone being acquitted for a crime before politicians are even aware laws aren’t adequate.

“One of the biggest weakness with many voyeurism laws is that they don’t include public spaces as places that people have the right to privacy,” she said. “Places like locker rooms or bathrooms are protected, but places like subways and parks often aren’t.”…Kearl said that while laws concerning voyeuristic photography become stronger, most would benefit from additional punishments for those who upload those images to the internet, something few laws currently address. And, as depressing as it might sound, we might not see any improvements to the law until more high-profile cases make upskirt photography impossible to ignore.

“This isn’t so common that it’s happening to someone every day,” Kearl said. “Until it is more prevalent, it might not gain traction or become a priority.”

Ravishly:

“It’s incredible how a short interaction can have such a huge effect on your day. Just one catcall can make me go from feeling fabulous to wishing I could curl up into a ball and disappear. It’s bad enough when I’m street harassed out by myself — I feel vulnerable and deciding how to respond can be hard. But it gets really complicated when I’m harassed and with my child.”

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