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Archives for August 2016

USA: Calling Out Oppression in Order to Change It

August 30, 2016 By Correspondent

Deborah D’Orazi, LMSW, NY, USA, SSH Blog Correspondent

Earlier this summer as I walked in New York City after a date, I noticed a man on his bike swerving and inching closer and closer to me. I was slow to pick up on it at first. It was a warm summer evening and I was enjoying the long walk to Penn Station while listening to some music, happy that my date went well, when I realized the man on his bike looked like he either lost control or was not paying attention to who was in his path. Nervous that he would hit me, I kept moving out of the way, swerving in different directions and walking as fast as I could away from an oncoming collision. Just as I thought the bike would hit me, he swerved a tiny bit away from me and called out, “Hey Beautiful!” and made kissing noises while leaning in towards my face. I leaned away and ran as fast as I could away from him and towards the cross walk.

Forget feeling good about the date I just enjoyed or the beautiful weather. Forget the enjoyment I was reveling in from the new music to which I was listening. I was now constantly looking over my shoulder and around me to see if the man on the bike was following me. After a few blocks I felt reassured that he was not following me, but my headphones stayed out and I was now on constant alert just in case someone else decided they needed to make themselves known to me through harassment.

Further reflection on this summer, unfortunately, revealed many instances of misogynistic, racist, xenophobic, and homophobic harassment. Leslie Jones, of Saturday Night Live and “Ghostbusters” fame, was recently harassed, trolled, and attacked online and through twitter with misogynoir threats and the hacking of her personal information on her own webpage. While she stood strong after the first instance we have yet to hear from her after her personal information was leaked. A man was sentenced to a 40-year prison sentence in Georgia after dumping scolding hot water on a gay couple while they slept. Muslim women in France were harassed and ordered to remove their burkinis in public due to xenophobic and Islamaphobic fears.

Overall, these incidents reflect that street harassment is not just a one-time incident or something that someone can ignore. It is a building block of power and oppression that literally shapes how people view themselves and society. It also shapes how society will treat communities and individuals. These incidents of harassment are tools of oppression and are ultimately traumatic events. As Dr. Judith Herman explains in Trauma and Recovery:

“Psychological trauma is an affliction of the powerless. At the moment of trauma, the victim is rendered helpless by overwhelming force. When the force is that of nature, we speak of disasters. When the force is that of other human beings, we speak of atrocities. Traumatic events overwhelm the ordinary systems of care that give people a sense of control, connection, and meaning.”

We must recognize harassment for what it really is—trauma, an oppressive tactic, a power play, a tool used consciously or unconsciously to dominate and erase those deemed unworthy or powerless by society. Harassment creates trauma by causing an individual to lose and question a sense of self and community. That is why it is extremely important that we speak up and refuse to be silent in the face of such oppressive tactics. It is extremely hard and sometimes we will not be able to do so out of fear or some type of inability to do so.

We are only human, but the only change I see in fighting street harassment and other building blocks of oppression is by calling it out for what it is and continuing to speak and act. That is the only way change will occur.

Deborah is a recent MSW graduate who also received certification from American University’s Women and Politics Institute and Rutgers’ Center on Violence Against Women and Children. In addition to social work, Deborah is looking to pursue an MPP/MPA and she is also extremely passionate about the arts (theater, writing, film, television, fine art, poetry, performance art), history, and Hamilton.

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Filed Under: correspondents, News stories, Stories, street harassment

“It is unacceptable regardless of who does it”

August 28, 2016 By Contributor

I was walking downtown on my lunch break, and I saw an older man in a wheelchair who looked possibly homeless. I had a bad feeling walking toward him. I knew it was going to happen. I did my best to look studiously away, but predictably, the catcall came: “You’re too young to be that pretty.”

I was angry. I wanted to flip him off, kick him in the balls, do anything to let him know that that was wrong. Instead, in the response ingrained in women for our own safety, my instincts took over to keep me walking and ignoring. By the time I remembered that it was daylight in a public place and it would be safe to respond, I was probably far enough past him that he wouldn’t even see me flip him off. I realize this is a slightly different issue with the homeless in that they are in some ways exerting power the only way they can. That does not make it right. It is unacceptable regardless of who does it.

– SK

Location: Salt Lake City, UT

Need support? Call the toll-free National Street Harassment hotline: 855-897-5910

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

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Filed Under: Stories, street harassment

“I felt like they didn’t actually care how I was”

August 26, 2016 By Contributor

Some guys asked me how I was doing and after I walked by asked if I wanted to hang out. It made me feel kinda good when they said how are you, but when they talked to my back, I felt like they didn’t actually care how I was, just that I was a girl.

– Anonymous

Need support? Call the toll-free National Street Harassment hotline: 855-897-5910

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

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Filed Under: Stories, street harassment

“They attempted to slut shame me for being a survivor”

August 25, 2016 By Contributor

I was targeted by a group of people because a crime of sexual violence that was committed against me and they attempted to slut shame me for being a survivor.

– Anonymous

Location: New Jersey

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

I think we need to educate the public about shaming women for the violence committed against them as not being okay/cool or acceptable under any given circumstance.

Need support? Call the toll-free National Street Harassment hotline: 855-897-5910

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

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Filed Under: Stories, street harassment

Policing Women’s Bodies in France

August 24, 2016 By HKearl

In France, police are literally policing women’s bodies.

Via Guardian:

“Photographs have emerged of armed French police confronting a woman on a beach and making her remove some of her clothing as part of a controversial ban on the burkini.

Authorities in several French towns have implemented bans on the Burkini, which covers the body and head, citing concerns about religious clothing in the wake of recent terrorist killings in the country.

The images of police confronting the woman in Nice on Tuesday show at least four police officers standing over a woman who was resting on the shore at the town’s Promenade des Anglais, the scene of last month’s Bastille Day lorry attack.

After they arrive, she appears to remove a blue long-sleeved tunic, although one of the officers appears to take notes or issue an on-the-spot fine.

The photographs emerged as a mother of two also told on Tuesday how she had been fined on the beach in nearby Cannes wearing leggings, a tunic and a headscarf.

Her ticket, seen by French news agency AFP, read that she was not wearing “an outfit respecting good morals and secularism”.

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Filed Under: News stories, police harassment, street harassment Tagged With: burkini, france, muslim, policing women

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