Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Archives for November 2018

“Disgusting mouth and tongue gestures”

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I do home health care for work. I wear scrubs 99% of the time (today I was wearing scrubs). I walked out of a patient’s house after treating them and got to my car which was parked a very short distance away. I got into my car and rolled the windows down halfway to look up my next patient’s address. As I am doing this, a younger man wearing a baseball cap says hello and asks me something about directions to downtown. I politely say I am not familiar with the area and I am here for work and seeing my patients. He then asks me how old I am, I deflect with a “You should never ask a woman how old they are.”

He is not taking the hint that I have people to see and places to go. He then asks me why I’m in the neighborhood and if I wanted to f**k. Yes that’s correct he just straight up asked me that. My mind went blank for a moment as I was in utter shock at the statement. I said something along the lines of “No. And I need to get back to work.”

He then asked, “Why not? Why don’t you want to f**k?”

Again I said, “I need to go” and “you need to leave.”

He eventually took the hint but made a few disgusting mouth and tongue gestures before he drove off.

I felt immediately angry, pissed off, and frustrated. I also felt like I wanted to take a shower and go home instead of seeing my patients.

– Regina Spehalski

Location: Pasadena, Texas

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 ideas.

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“Set an example that we are not toys”

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I’ve always worked in male-dominated industries (20 years), whether it’s when I was working with boats or now, as a partner in a contracting company. Almost every day, whether it’s walking through a hardware store or walking through the parking lot to get there or maybe just walking in the boatyard, someone feels the need to make a comment or do that weird stop twisting stare at your butt as you walk by thing, most the time, it’s both.

I dress for comfort based on my job and I shouldn’t have to wear clothes that make me sweat or feel too uncomfortable to work in… I am now 35 with two daughters and I still get unwanted cat calls on a regular basis. It makes me feel unsafe and disrespected. It saddens me as my children get older that I’m noticing people starting to look at them in the wrong way as they walk past.

I’ve noticed a drastic difference if I am walking with my husband – there are little to no comments but as soon as I turn a corner alone it’s like I’m a target. I don’t know what these people are trying to accomplish. I can’t imagine anyone would ever decide to go and introduce their self or maybe even go to lunch after being treated in that way.

I am pretty thick skinned, but today I had two different situations that upset me. One involved three gentleman, and I thought, “What should I do instead of pretending I can’t hear them? What if I were to tell them that it’s not OK?”

And then I realize as much as I want to, if these people don’t have enough sense of boundaries to keep their mouth closed, then they may not have enough boundaries to not hurt me. It’s sad that women feel so uncomfortable so many times a day. It would be nice to be able to walk somewhere alone and not have to worry about who is watching me.

Sometimes going through construction sites or when I worked at the boat manufacturing facility, I felt like I was walking through a prison and I was a sheep amongst hundreds of wolves. I hope for change in the future for myself, my daughters and all women. People need to teach their sons what is and what is not OK and set an example that we are not toys – we are people.

I saw that New York they have no cat calling signs I don’t know how effective they are but maybe a little food for thought would help?

~ KM

Location:

Summerville, South Carolina — Lowe’s parking lot, stores everywhere

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 ideas.

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Sept & Oct 2018 News Round-Up

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Global: Plan International’s report, based on interviews with 21,000 girls around the world found street harassment is a pervasive problem.

Afghanistan: This filmmaker got her start fighting street harassment with her camera.

Australia: Girls should be involved in planning cities to reduced gender-based exclusion and street harassment.

Canada: 250 delegates from 25 countries came together in Edmonton in mid-October for the UN Safe Cities and Safe Public Spaces Global Leaders’ Forum.

Chile: Santiago’s first-ever vegan burger restaurant Vg Burger stands up against street harassment and all forms of bigotry.

Colombia: In a global survey of girls in cities, Bogota ranked as the worst and least safe for them.

Egypt: An activist was jailed for posting a video criticizing the government on their handling of sexual harassment

France: A man in France was sentenced to six months in jail for harassing and slapping a woman in July.

Indonesia: A ride-hailing business for women-only in Indonesia now has 800 drivers across 34 cities who make 300 to 500 journeys each day.

Ireland: Street harassment and running.

Japan: A man who took upskirt photos of 37 women is jailed for 16 weeks.

Morocco: A new bill passes on sexual harassment to mixed reception.

Pakistan: “She’Kab” is a new carpool service for women in Karachi.

Philippines: The senate approved a law against street harassment.

UK: One in three girls in the UK have been street harassed while wearing their school uniform.

UK: A nine-month inquiry into street harassment has caused some MPs to call for the government to address street harassment.

UK: Research suggest that most young men are ‘more likely’ to challenge sexual harassment since #MeToo.

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21,000 Girls Agreed…

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Plan International’s new report, based on interviews with 21,000 girls around the world, found that street harassment is a pervasive problem for them.

This is unacceptable – everyone should feel safe in public spaces. The real impact it has on millions of lives is is a big reason why we work to change the cultural acceptability of street harassment. We use research and story-telling to document it and then encourage community and government action to end it.

As the holiday season approaches, you can support us in your shopping by using our Amazon Smile link and you can donate to our forthcoming Giving Tuesday and Year-End giving campaigns in honor of the people in your life whom you want to feel safe.


If we raise enough money, we can fund a five-year update to our 2014 national study on street harassment in the US, oversee our 9th annual International Anti-Street Harassment Week, re-launch our Safe Public Spaces Mentoring Program and more! 

Recent SSH Activities

  • In September, we held our first board meeting with our newest board members – and held an in-person welcome session for the local DC-area members!

  • Board member Patrick McNeil took the lead on crafting a “We Believe Survivors” letter for SSH in light of the US Supreme Court hearings earlier this fall.
  • SSH volunteer Dr. Meghna Bhat represented SSH during the YWCA Week Without Violence campaign.
  • Board member Maliyka Muhammad represented SSH in New York at a Ladies First Astoria workshop on sexual harassment.

  • On Nov. 10, SSH Board members Lauren Pires and Ashley Badgley and I will present at Georgetown University’s WERC Summit in Washington, DC.

In the News:
It’s been one year since the #MeToo hashtag went viral and our study from earlier this year has been cited in many news articles, as has SSH’s work in general. Examples include: USA Today, Vox, Mother Jones, Daily Times – Pakistan, Times of India, San Diego Union Tribune, Lexington Herald-Leader 

Again, if you want to take action now, please consider a tax deductible-donation to support our work.

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“People don’t want to be treated as objects”

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One day I was coming home from my boyfriend’s house on the bus.

I had my earbuds in so I couldn’t really hear too much, but I started to hear what sounded like a voice.

I took an earbud out and the guy behind me was talking to me, telling me that, “I was a beautiful little girl and he would just love to bring me home”.

I got creeped out so I put my earbuds back in and he started talking louder and I heard him say, “good sexy girls don’t ignore their masters”.

So I moved to the front of the bus to go sit by a mom and children which is what I’ve always been told to do, and he followed me, then he tried to touch my butt.

I went and told the bus driver, and the creepy man yelled mean things at me as he was kicked off the bus.

It’s sad how if I had still been with my boyfriend none of this would have happened, and that we live in a world were this almost doesn’t even matter cause it happens so much.

I think ending catcalling starts with teaching younger children that it’s not okay. This should start by teaching them we are all equal and people don’t want to be treated as objects.

~ IB

Location:

In Oregon on the 4 bus line

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 ideas.

Share