Archives for May 2019

Visit the Monument Quilt This Weekend

May 30, 2019 By HKearl

*The square I made for the monument quilt in 2014!*

DC-area folks, the Monument Quilt on the National Mall is here this weekend! It’s been 6+ years in the making, and I made my square as an ally in 2014!! I also wrote an article about it for the Women’s Media Center that year.

“The Monument Quilt, a project of Baltimore based FORCE: Upsetting Rape Culture, is a collection of over 3,000 stories by survivors of sexual and intimate partner violence and our allies, written, painted, and stitched onto red fabric. Our stories literally blanket highly public, outdoor places to create and demand space to heal, and resist a singular narrative about sexual violence. The culminating display is coming up May 31 – June 2, 2019, on the National Mall in Washington, DC. This will be the only time that the quilt will be viewed in its entirety.”

Location: National Mall, between 10th and 15th streets; Fri., 1-9 p.m., Sat., 9 a.m.-9 p.m., Sun. 9 a.m.-4 p.m., free.

Read a Washington Post article about it.

New Statewide Study on Sexual Harassment and Assault in California

May 23, 2019 By HKearl

Following up on our latest national research about sexual harassment (including street harassment) and sexual assault, here is a statewide report on California.

The headline figure is that statewide, 86% of women and 53% of men reported experiencing some form of sexual harassment and/or assault in their lifetime.

When we looked specifically at sexual harassment across all public spaces, 77% of women and 35% of men had experienced it. Read the full report here!

CALCASA and UCSD Center on Gender Equity and Health (GEH), took the lead on the statewide study, with support from SSH, RALIANCE, and Promundo.

Take Our Survey on Street Harassment and Age

May 9, 2019 By HKearl

Recently, I’ve read a few street harassment stories in which women recount their first experiences of street harassment at ages as young as 11. Their harassers? Older teenagers or adult men. Based on the hundreds of stories I’ve read and heard over the years, I know this is pretty typical and pretty alarming.

I hope that if more people realized the predatory nature of so much street harassment — adult men preying on teenagers (and younger) — there would be much more outcry and efforts to try to stop it.

To that end, since our latest national studies (2018, 2019) show that a public space is the most frequent site for sexual harassment, I have created an informal survey for YOU to take about your first street harassment experience. How old were you? How old was your harasser? How did it affect you?

I anticipate using the results in blog posts, articles, factsheets and talks going forward. Anyone, anywhere is welcome to complete this short survey. Your answers will be anonymous, but you can choose to leave your email address at the end if you’d like to be contacted with the results.

THANK YOU!

Related, check out this op-ed at Essence penned by Girls For Gender Equity‘s CEO and our ally Joanne N. Smith, “#MeToo Isn’t Just for Adults.”

And if you missed it, be sure to check out (and share) our latest national study from April 30! Full Report | Two-Page Executive Summary | Press Release | Survey Questions | Street Harassment Factsheet