Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Archives for March 2017

Six Ways Individuals Can Join Anti-Street Harassment Week

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We’re two days away from Meet Us on the Street: International Anti-Street Harassment Week (which falls within Sexual Assault Awareness Month)! Groups in 36 countries are taking part…are you?

If you are hosting an action or event, let us know about it.

If you don’t have plans yet, you can still get involved. Here are six ideas:

  1. Join the Global Tweetathon ALL DAY on April 4 (use #EndSH) or join tweet chats on other days.

  2. Request the Stop Telling Women to Smile posters and put them up in your community.
  3. Write sidewalk chalk messages or hand out/post flyers in your neighborhood.
  4. Share your street harassment story (online or in person).
  5. Post some of our shareable images.
  6. Donate $10 or more to help fund the National Street Harassment Hotline.

No action is too small. Help amplify each other’s voices on this topic and speak out!

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End of March News Round-Up

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Here are the street harassment-related news stories that caught my eye this month:

Women in Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Dominica, Guyana, Jamaica, and The Bahamas marched to protest sexual violence. #LifeinLeggings

Women wrote about street harassment in Australia, Italy, Pakistan, and the USA.

Women in India shared their street harassment stories using the hashtag #NotMyShame.

Female students at the University of Delhi (India) were locked in the dorm due to fears of sexual harassment at the Holi festival.

Tambourine Army is a new organization fighting gender-based violence in Jamaica.

Malawi police arrested 17 men for “inhumane and humiliating treatment” of a mentally ill woman in the street.

Mexico City has a “sexist” seat on the subway to raise awareness about sexual harassment.

Teenage girls in Wellington, New Zealand, protested street harassment and other forms of sexual violence outside Parliament.

A construction site in Peru posted a sign saying they are against street harassment.

CNN Philippines covered street harassment and related forms of sexual violence.

A survey conducted by United Nations Population Fund found that 90% of women and girls in Sri Lanka have faced sexual harassment on public transport.

TFL and Met Police in the UK launched a ‘Report It to Stop It’ campaign to raise awareness about how to report sexual harassment on the London transit systems.

A man in Florida called out a street harasser – that man then punched him and sent him to the hospital. The harasser/assailant was arrested.

Legislation introduced in New York City would require police officers to undergo sensitivity training on dealing with sexual assault and street harassment.

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USA: How Does Street Harassment Change Your Daily Behavior?

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Libby Allnatt, Phoenix, AZ, USA, SSH Blog Correspondent

There’s nothing quite like wearing an outfit again for the first time after you were catcalled while wearing it. While street harassment is obviously not about clothing (if it was then women wearing modest or traditionally “unsexy” clothing wouldn’t get harassed, and they do), it can be easy to attach feelings of violation and disgust to the shorts or a top or skirt or dress you were wearing when someone decided to encroach upon your safety and rights as a human.

It can also be difficult to return to places where one was once harassed. That street, that intersection, that park will always be filled with the voices of the ill-mannered, the sexist, and the violent that not-so-silently dot our neighborhoods.

According to Stop Street Harassment’s 2014 statistically significant national survey, street harassment caused 47 percent of women to constantly assess their surroundings. Four percent of all harassment victims made bigger decisions as a result of harassment, like moving neighborhoods or quitting a job.

An informal study by Cornell University and Hollaback! showed that 85 percent of women have taken a different route, 73 percent of women took different forms of transportation, and 70 percent avoid going out at night, all to avoid street harassment.

I personally know how taking public transportation in my city is more arduous than just buying a ticket and hopping on the train. I avoid it if I can, avoid taking it at night, and stare out the window in silence praying that no one speaks to me. I tug my skirt down to cover my legs and clutch my keys. I avoid the bus altogether because of what I’ve heard happen to my peers on there.

What makes me the saddest is the look of panic I see in others’ eyes when a girl says she’s walking home. “Text me as soon as you get there,” they plead, horrific possibilities on everyone’s minds but left unsaid.

“I wanted to go, but I also didn’t want to walk home that late,” is another frequent statement I commonly hear (and say myself) when women are discussing why they avoided a particular event or outing.

Male friends of mine have offered to walk me places at night if they know I’m going somewhere on my own. I always decline, and I’m both reassured by their willingness to help and sad because this is our reality.

Street harassment has emotional and psychological damage, as sexualization of girls and women can lead to depression, anxiety and eating disorders. It makes leaving our homes feel less safe.

Anyone who has been harassed and gone home shaking knows this feeling. Anyone who been harassed on the way to work or school and has to shake it off and act like they didn’t just feel scared for their lives knows this feeling.

Because it’s never just a catcall. It always has the potential to escalate to something much worse, because it has.

My female friends and I adorn our keychains with colorful and sparkly pepper spray, as we try and pretend they’re accessories rather than self-defense weapons. Much to the dismay of my loved ones, I often leave my pepper spray at home. A part of me doesn’t want to admit that we need to be armed to move about in public spaces lest we become another victim, another statistic.

Surely many men often feel frightened at night as well. Many forms of crime, like robbery and assault, don’t discriminate based on gender. But the reality is that sexually-charged threats to bodily autonomy are a different animal to navigate, and usually reserved for women. I don’t know many men who tremble when they hear a shout on their walk home. I don’t know many men who grip their keys between their fingers, trying to determine if they would be capable of gashing out the eyes of someone twice their size if they had to. I don’t many men who alter their daily lives because catcalls, gropes, stalking, and rape are genuine possibilities.

While caution should not be thrown to the wind (I will continue to get the hell out a place where someone is making me feel uncomfortable, and perhaps I will swallow my pride and start carrying my pepper spray), I feel disgusted at a world where women have any burden to bear that men do not.

The other day, I returned to a spot where I was harassed that I had been avoiding for some time. I sat. I took up space. I enjoyed the world around me – the air, the sky, the birds, the city. I won’t let harassers keep me inside, and you shouldn’t either.

Libby is a student at Arizona State University. Originally from Salt Lake City, Utah, she is majoring in journalism with a focus on print and she is minoring in psychology and women’s studies. You can follow her on Twitter @libbyallnattasu and Instagram @LibbyPaigeA.

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The “Sexist” Seat on Mexico City’s Subway

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Via The Pool:

“A new campaign hoping to tackle sexual harassment in Mexico has introduced a ‘sexist’ seat on the metro exclusively for men – complete with chest and penis. The seat was created to make men feel as uncomfortable as women on public transport and, judging by the accompanying video, it worked. Men are seen to consciously avoid sitting on the seat, or sitting on it without realising, only for them to quickly jump up and move. In front of the seat is a message to men, reading, ‘It’s uncomfortable to sit here, but it doesn’t compare with the sexual violence that women suffer in their everyday lives.’ The anti-harassment message has since gone viral, with the hashtag #NoEsDeHombres.”

I was in Mexico City a few weeks ago for the UN Women Safe Cities Global Leaders’ Forum and we heard from many Mexico City leaders, including the mayor, about their efforts to make public places safer for women. What struck me was that nearly every effort they discussed, such as women-only transit options and the distribution of thousands of whistles, put the onus on women to try to stay safe. What I appreciate about the “sexist” seat is that the message is directed at men. While no, the seat by itself is not enough to change the cultural norms that allow sexual harassment to occur, I think it is an example of a unique and attention-grabbing way to start discussions with men about sexual harassment in public spaces and why men must help stop it.

That said, would-be harassers are not the only ones who ride the subway and consideration should be made for survivors of sexual assault and others who could be upset by it.

UPDATE: I did an interview for BBC News on this initiative.

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Statement of Support for Jordyn Haime

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Image via The New Hampshire Digital

Jordyn Haime, a University of New Hampshire (UNH) undergraduate student, conducted a local street harassment survey among her peers and shared quotes and stats from it in a display on campus (with support from the campus sexual assault dept.) and it was going to be up for International Anti-Street Harassment Week. But campus administrators had it taken down within hours because the language was “offensive” (e.g. what street harassers said). You can read more here and read Jordyn’s great op-ed.

When I reached out to offer help, one thing suggested was for SSH to write a statement in support of Jordyn. Last night, the SSH board of directors drafted this statement.

STATEMENT OF SUPPORT FOR JORDYN HAIME

Stop Street Harassment (SSH) applauds Jordyn Haime, a University of New Hampshire (UNH) undergraduate student, for her recent campaign about gender-based street harassment.

Her campaign began with documenting the street harassment experiences of her classmates and peers through conducting a survey. The results of this survey were powerful in revealing that the rate of street harassment locally was similar to that nationally.

Ms. Haime’s next step, taken with support from the campus Sexual Harassment and Rape Prevention Program, was to share quotes from the survey — quotes detailing the real life experiences UNH students endured — in a display on campus alongside statistics, facts and resources. This is commendable. Sharing stories, engaging in public education and raising awareness efforts are crucial steps to take toward creating community-driven and localized solutions for safe public spaces.

If people were offended by reading the street harassment stories, imagine what the person who was targeted felt when she or he experienced it first-hand. How can we work to stop these comments from being spoken if we try to hide that they are said at all? Instead of censoring campaigns to raise awareness about street harassment — an issue that, as Ms. Haime says, she and others normally regard as something that “just happened to them” — the administration should celebrate one of its student’s efforts to bring attention to such an important issue.

Street harassment is offensive. It is deplorable. It is uncomfortable. It can cause real emotional harm and even pose health risks when it’s extreme and/or repeated. It is a human rights violation and a form of gender-based violence. But this does not mean we should ignore it or that it is too controversial to discuss.

SSH supports Ms. Haime and anyone else who works to bring attention to the issue of street harassment, especially when those efforts are done in such a thoughtful, measured, and well-researched manner.

Signed,

SSH Board of Directors
March 30, 2017

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