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Archives for January 2017

Northern Ireland: Catcalling is Not a Compliment. Men Know It.

January 26, 2017 By Correspondent

Elaine Crory, Belfast, Northern Ireland, SSH Blog Correspondent

Often in discussions about how to tackle street harassment, there are suggestions that it should be a criminal offense, perhaps even a hate crime. And in response, inevitably far too many men clamour to defend the practice and share collective horror at the idea that mere words should be a crime, that they should be restricted in this way because of “snowflake” women, taking offense to a bit of banter.

That’s disingenuous though, and I think men know it. Street harassment, the verbal kind consisting of catcalling or comments on appearance, are not genuinely motivated by a desire to get to know the woman. They are about social status and control.

“All the world’s a stage”, Shakespeare once wrote, “and all the men and women merely players”. When we’re young and finding our way in the world, it certainly can feel as though we are trapped in roles, reading lines we have not written for ourselves, particularly where gender roles are concerned. For young men under patriarchy, this often consists of vigorously demonstrating their red-blooded, usually heterosexual, manliness; a performance of manhood, as much for the benefit of their male peers as for any young women. Gender theorists have argued for decades that gender is performative, and never is it more obvious that in adolescence. So, some young men find themselves catcalling women, laughing along with the dubious behaviour of the ‘alpha’ of their group as he skirts acceptable behaviour, playing a role for all he’s worth. With time and self-awareness many young men grow out of this and distance themselves from that kind of black and white thinking. Many, however, do not.

These are the men clogging newspaper comments sections with fury when catcalling is called out for what it is. They are the ones who use alcohol as an excuse to get a little too loose with words and sometimes with their hands on a boy’s night out. They are the ones who defend “locker room” talk and the behaviour it implies as “alpha male boasting”. They know that it’s about social control, but they will not admit it. They don’t expect women to turn and swoon as they tell sexual obscenities from doorways and moving cars. A recent viral video, where a woman pretends to take a man up on his sleazy offer, shows this amply. That’s not what they want, anyway. They want women to look down and scurry away, feeling ashamed and self-conscious. Or to shout angrily, maybe even with tears in her eyes; to feel violated and exposed.

They want you to know that your appearance in public makes you their property and that they are the real owners of the streets, you are allowed there on their terms only.

It’s not a compliment, and they know it, including because they don’t only dole out “positive” comments. My own very first experience of street harassment taught me that. I was only thirteen and already bowed by self-consciousness. I carried myself as though to shrink through a crack in the pavement. I was crossing the main square in my small town when I found myself in the path of three young men, probably a decade older than me, and much taller and larger. One of them deliberately put himself in my path and dodged further into my way when I tried to walk around him. He leaned down and made a show of looking me up and down. “F*ck, you’re ugly”. He spat the words out. I scurried away. I wasn’t angry or defensive. I believed him. There’s that role playing again.

It took many years before I saw this for what it is, and many conversations with people who had had other abuse of that kind thrown their way while navigating the public sphere, including racial abuse, being called fat, homophobia and transphobia, even abuse on the basis of belonging to a visible subculture like goth or punk. I get it now; these men think they own public space, and we must meet their aesthetic standards in order to take up space there. Our job as activists against street harassment is to show them how wrong they are.

Elaine is a part-time politics lecturer and a mother of two. She is director of Hollaback! Belfast, co-organises the city’s annual Reclaim the Night march, and volunteers with Belfast Feminist Network and Alliance for Choice to campaign for a broad range of women’s issues.

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Filed Under: correspondents, street harassment

Romania: Street Harassment in Winter Time is Business as Usual!

January 25, 2017 By Correspondent

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

First of all, this is my second time as a SSH Blog Correspondent and I am so happy to have this honour.

I am in charge of Hollaback! Romania and I am working on a PhD thesis regarding gender-based street harassment in Romania, so I am involved 24/7 in the awesome fight for safe spaces.  I really think that together we are powerful and fierce and we can support others to find their strength, too.

Right now in Romania we are having a tough winter. The weather is so cold and nobody wants to stay out for a long time. But still, street harassers do not take a break in winter. Business as usual, right?

Stories represent a vital tool in fighting street harassment and link together harassed people. I want to share three different stories of street harassment in this winter. The first story is mine.

I know already that women can’t have a break from street harassment, even if outside it’s -10 Celsius degrees. I remain a street harassment target (in my harassers’ eyes) and a fighter year after year, winter after winter.  A couple of days ago I was barely walking because of the glazed frost. Walking in winter time is quite an adventure if you don’t have a car or money for taxi. I was sick and moody but I had to go to work. I crossed the street, when a driver honked and then stopped his car near me, open the other door and ask me to go in the car with him! His lewd smile made me sick on my stomach. A 45-50 years old man harassing a young woman in the street instead of minding his own business.

I said, ”You are such an idiot! Leave me alone!” He was surprised because I had the nerve to answer him and then drove off. Harassers act powerful but they take this power from us. We are the ones to decide if we accept this, or we hold on to our power and fight them back.

Since the last year I have noticed many girls and women are posting their street harassment experiences on social media. This is quite a surprise for me, as a researcher and as a activist so I try to do my best in encouraging girls and women to do so: to use their voice and to tell their stories.

The second story is of Mihaela from Bucharest. She shared her story on the Hollaback! Romania Facebook page  using #harassmentinthebus (#hartuireinratb) on 8th December 2016,.

Her story goes like this:  ”Bucharest, Rahova neigbourhood. I was walking to the classes with the tram 32. Beside one seated lady was a man standing. At the next stop she left and I took her seat. That man comes near me and using the excuse he wanted to make room for another person to cross, he almost was brushing his groin to my face. I sighed loudly to show my disapproval. He backed off. I knew he did this on purpose but my first thought was, ”I am wrong to think this. I am the one guilty.”

Then, someone wanted to cross again and this time he did the same thing. I was so close to touching his genitals with my face. But this time he was not moving back from my face, so I started to show my disgust. Nothing! I badly wanted to scream at him to back off but I was afraid of his reaction and the reaction of bystanders as well. I was worried that people will say that I am the one wanting to get close to him and do something with him  …. So often the victim is the one to blame.”

Yes! The victim is the one to blame… Why? Because we are living in a rape culture, in a patriarchal society that teaches girls and women to be quiet, to know and accept their place and to please boys and men. Their voices, their experiences, their rights are not so important. And if men are sexist, violent or abusive, always the blame is on women.

So often I hear this from girls and women: ”I was too afraid … I don’t know, maybe it’s my fault.. Maybe I did something to make him react like this …” and so on. The blame is not on us, it’s on the perpetrators and harassers! Always! Full stop!

The third and the last story is of one of my friends and a former colleague, K., as she was leaving Bucharest. She is a feminist and is a strong woman. I care for her and I was so upset hearing this but I asked for her consent to write her story. When she said to me what happened to her, I was so surprised: she was harassed and sequestered by a taxi driver. I heard a similar story from another woman two years ago and it was very bad indeed. The good news is that we managed to fight for justice and that taxi driver is in prison… I know harassment and sexual violence are so common, so prevalent. But let’s back to my friend, K.

”It was New Year’s Eve. I was at a party in a local pub. I was searching for a taxi. I found one but because it was night, he overcharged me. I was in the cab with one of my girl friends. The taxi driver was ok, he was quiet and serious. I dropped off my friend in front of her house. Then, he drove to my place but when I wanted to get off, he blocked the doors. He wanted me to give him my phone number or my Facebook account and asked if maybe if I can go to a coffee with him at 6 am in that morning.  So I said to him, ‘Look, mister! I want you to let me out of the car. In the second place, you are working now, and your job is not to insist I give you my contact. Moreover, you saw I was with my boyfriend when I approached you.’

He was insisting even harder so I texted a message on Whatsapp to find someone to help me escape from him. I was a hostage in his car! I texted to a friend and he called me. He tried to make me feel ok. ‘Please, talk to me. In this way, the driver will know someone knows you are not safe right now,’ he said. So, I was talking to this friend and the taxi driver refused to let me go. After some time, he started to panic and opened the doors, but only after mentioning that ‘I don’t know what a good catch I am losing’. After I was home and safe, I talked to my boyfriend and he said to me that if he knew this, he wouldn’t let me go alone, but I think this is so stupid: in 2017, a woman is not able to ride alone?!”

Yes, maybe it sounds stupid, but this is the reality of many women and LBTQ folks: you don’t know if you are safe from harassment and violence even when you choose to pay and go for a taxi, instead of public transportation.

One day, I was talking to a friend and I made a funny but real comparison: “Harassers are like cockroaches!” because they are intruders, they are many, they are tough, they are everywhere. But we are the one to decide if we accept the harassers in our space or if we fight them back (not with insecticide, of course, but with action!).

Even when we are feeling too small or too weak to create a change, when we are scared and traumatized by our experiences, when we are all alone and we try to resist and fight this back, we can make it! Our bad experiences do not define who we really are. Our actions do! So it’s good to keep in mind that our actions can bring change for us and for others.

Stay safe, strong and be super-fighters against street harassment this winter!

Simona-Marie is a Ph.D. Student in Political Sciences, working on a thesis on gender-based street harassment in Romania. She is an activist and organizes numerous public actions (marches, flash-mobs, protests) against sexual violence and street harassment against women. Now she is part of an working-group trying to improve by public policies the situation of young homeless people in Romania. You can find her on Facebook.

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Filed Under: correspondents, Stories Tagged With: winter

Philippines: City of Stars Has ‘Anti-Catcalling Ordinance’

January 24, 2017 By Correspondent

Ken Rodrigo, Makati City, Philippines, SSH Blog Correspondent

More than being the Philippines’ Hollywood and Metro Manila’s largest city, Quezon City recently made its mark as the first local government to enact a law penalizing street-level harassment. Enacted last May, the ‘Anti-Catcalling Ordinance’ intends to protect and empower women by imposing a fine and prison term for acts constituting sexual harassment in public spaces. While only women (and girls) may be victims under the local law, the offender may be of any sex.

The ordinance proposed by lady councilor Lena Mari Juico is part of the Safe Cities and Safe Public Spaces Initiative of UN Women.

The ordinance divides violations into light, medium and severe.  A person may be fined or jailed up to a month for committing light violations such as cursing, catcalling, repeatedly asking the subject for a date or her contact number, or taunting a woman with constant talk about sex. With the same penalties as light, medium violations include stalking, making offensive mouth, hand or body gestures with intention to demean or threaten a woman.

Acts such as unnecessary touching, pinching or brushing against the subject’s body, public masturbation or lascivious exhibition directed at a woman, or inserting any object into the genitalia, anus or mouth of a victim regardless of sex constitute severe violations which carry a higher fine or jail term from one month to a year. Corresponding penalties are also provided for repeated violations.

Victims may file a complaint at the women’s desk of police precincts or seek assistance by calling the Quezon City Police Department (QCPD) hotline. Other implementation measures were also set such as strengthening the ‘barangays’ or community administrations.

The attention gained by the ordinance allowed Filipinos to discuss the important yet neglected issue of street harassment. Some were delighted by the city’s initiative and called other cities to follow suit. There were others who wished for the policy to be a national legislation. However, those who disapproved criticized the ordinance’s penal provisions arguing that a jail term is disproportionate to the offense, and expressed concern about the vagueness of the acts constituting harassment, the feasibility of implementation, and the possibility of the abuse of the ordinance by women against men. While the breakthrough ordinance spells hope for the anti-street harassment movement, it also reflects the movement’s struggle with breaking misogynist culture.

The City of Stars shines bright with this safe public spaces initiative. It champions women’s rights and serves as a model for other cities. Next, the national government should include street harassment in its human rights agenda in order to meaningfully promote safe cities and public spaces throughout the country.

Ken is a teacher of international studies at a university in Manila. After law school, she traveled to Denmark and eventually studied in Malmö University in Sweden where she earned her master’s in Human Rights. You can contact her at krnrdrg@gmail.com or on Facebook.

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Filed Under: correspondents, News stories, street harassment Tagged With: law, ordinance, philippines, quezon city

Making History at the Women’s March on Washington

January 21, 2017 By HKearl

Around 500,000 women and male allies marched in Washington, D.C. today — and 3 million marched around the world.

We know so many of you were part of that number and we thank you for showing up and taking a stand!! We had board members marching in Washington, D.C. but also in Los Angeles and Minneapolis, too.

In Washington, D.C., due to the massive crowd size, many of us who wanted to march together never found each other, but we had a small but mighty contingent. A big highlight was when our youngest marcher Susie — my cousin’s five-year-old daughter — got to meet her hero Katy Perry, who was marching by us. She got to say hi to Katy who graciously chatted with her for a minute and told her this was her first march, too. Susie handed her one of the Stop Street Harassment stickers!

Overall, it was incredible to see the range of diversity of people there, to hear how far people had come to be there, and to witness so much kindness. Everywhere we went it was so so crowded but no one was pushy, mean or aggressive. Everyone helped everyone. All of the Metro staff and police officers we encountered were kind and encouraging and we thanked them as we went by. On the metro, there was continuing rounds of cheering and chants and we marched and chanted as we slowly moved through lines to get above ground. I was also excited to see our anti-harassment Metro ads at the four different Metro stations I used!! Yes!!

Thank you so so much to everyone who came out. Now we have to keep up the momentum and hold our elected officials accountable, run for political office, stand up to bullies and hate, and be kind to one another.

 

 

 

 

 

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Filed Under: Events, SSH programs, street harassment Tagged With: DC, women's march

Join us at the Women’s March Tomorrow!

January 20, 2017 By HKearl

We’ll be present at several women’s marches, from Los Angeles to Minneapolis to the Women’s March on Washington in D.C.!! If you want to march with us and Collective Action for Safe Spaces in DC tomorrow, here is the info.

We’ll be working to bring attention to the street harassment and victimization that the most marginalized groups face, such as women of color, trans* women, women with disabilities, etc. See you there!

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Filed Under: SSH programs, street harassment Tagged With: women's march

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