SSH Grows Up

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 21, 2012
Contact: Holly Kearl
stopstreetharassment@yahoo.com

Stop Street Harassment Plans a National Study on Street Harassment
The New Nonprofit Aims to Document the Problem

WASHINGTON, DC – Stop Street Harassment (SSH) today launches a fundraising campaign to conduct a national study on the prevalence of street harassment. The organization, which just incorporated as a nonprofit, will survey both men and women ages 18-30.

The few studies that exist on this subject show that at least 80 percent of women experience street harassment, especially when they’re young. Street harassment negatively affects the lives of harassed people; those who experience it feel forced to limit their activities, change their commutes, or even move. More research is needed, however, to better document the problem in the United States and to understand its causes and the impact it has on people’s lives and on society as a whole.

“After researching it for five years, there is no doubt in my mind that street harassment is a human rights violation,” said Holly Kearl, founder of Stop Street Harassment. Kearl began her work on the topic by writing a master’s thesis in 2007 and later a book in 2010. “I believe that a national study is necessary to prove once and for all that this is a problem—not a minor annoyance, joke, compliment, or the fault of the harassed person—and I am excited that SSH will undertake it.”

SSH plans to work with an advisory team of PhD-level sociologists, demographers, and political scientists as well as anti-street harassment activists to develop the survey, and GfK Custom Research LLC will conduct the nationally representative survey.

For the past four years, SSH has been a website, blog, book, and the group behind International Anti-Street Harassment Week. Its work has been cited by the United Nations, New York City Council, USA Today, New York Times, Washington Post, ABC News, and more.

Now, it moves forward as an organization focused on ending gender-based street harassment by removing barriers that make public places less safe for women and all LGBQT individuals. As a nonprofit, SSH plans to conduct research, organize awareness campaigns, create curriculum, organize conferences and seminars, and engage in global and community-based outreach on the topic of street harassment.

To contribute to the study fundraising campaign, visit the SSH Razoo page to make an online donation, or send checks to SSH, P.O. Box, 3621, Reston, Virginia, 20195.

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Stop Street Harassment is a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending gender-based street harassment worldwide. On its website, visitors can access lists of statistics, articles, films, and campaigns around street harassment as well as ideas for action. Stop Street Harassment provides people with a place to share their stories and organizes International Anti-Street Harassment Week annually.