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Aug. 11 Street Harassment News in the USA

August 11, 2014 By HKearl

“The Psychology Behind Street Harassment—And How You Can Stop It,” Shape.com

“Coping with catcalls: How some women brush off street harassment,” TODAY Show

“Buzzfeed’s video about street harassment is a must-see,” Washington Post

“Viewpoint: Street harassment is a female college student’s reality,” USA Today

“#ThatsWhatHeSaid Takes on Street Harassment Because Seriously, It Needs To Stop,” Bustle

“Man Knocked Unconscious After Defending Group of Women From Catcallers: Police,” NBC

“Women could learn to cope better with unwanted sexual advances — or men could stop making them,” Salon.com

“These Are The Things Men Say To Women On The Street,” Huffington Post

“#YouOkSis: Online movement launches to combat street harassment,” the Grio

“This Street Harassment Satire Teaches Women To Always Smile Like Lunatics,” Fast Co Create

“This is why you should stop telling us all to smile,” Metro UK

Construction worker Dylan Craine gives his advice for dealing with harassment by construction workers.

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Filed Under: News stories, street harassment

Aug. 2014: International News Round-Up

August 11, 2014 By HKearl

Peru:

“Peru’s Council of Ministers on Wednesday approved a bill amending Criminal Code to punish street harassment with the aim to protect children and women. The announcement was made by the newly-appointed Prime Minister, Ana María Jara, who expressed confidence that Congress will approve this initiative soon, as it is a “citizen outcry” intended to correct legislative omission. Meanwhile, the Minister of Women and Vulnerable Populations of Peru, María del Carmen Omonte, explained the bill amends sections 176 and 176-A of the Criminal Code to make street harassment a crime.”

Colombia:

“Over 60 percent of women are sexually harassed or assaulted while riding the Transmilenio. ‘Ya uno no se puede venir en falda ni nada porque los hombres nunca han visto unas piernas,’ or You can’t get on wearing a skirt or anything because these men have never seen [a woman’s] legs, one victim of inappropriate touching sarcastically told Noticias RCN. Luckily, the city of Bogotá is taking action. Its law enforcement branch created a team of 11 operatives who will be armed with Tasers and specially trained in recognizing and stopping sexual assault. Seven of the agents are female. Bogotá has a population of over 7,600,000, so that’s about 690,909 people per agent, but it’s a start. The very presence of the team could serve as a deterrent to repeat offenders.”

Turkey:

One of the most senior members of the Turkish government sparked an outcry on Tuesday, after declaring that women should not laugh loudly in public. The deputy prime minister, Bülent Arinc, one of the co-founders of the ruling Islamic-rooted Justice and Development party (AKP), made the comment while lamenting the moral decline of modern society. His comments provoked a storm on social media [and women posted photos of themselves laughing in public spaces].”

Mexico:

“The city government has implemented measures to try to make travelling safer or at least less horrific for women. The first three carriages on the metro are reserved exclusively for women and children, though this is not always policed. Since 2008, there have also been women only buses during rush hour, or anti-groping buses as they’re sometimes called. These are laudable and measures warranted in a country where violence against women is egregious, but clearly segregating women is not a long-term solution. Neither is sweltering in jeans and long sleeved tops on summer days in an attempt to protect yourself from harassment. Boys must be educated from a very young age to respect women rather than to want to own and violate them when they are older.

Being harried on the streets is at one end of the violence against women spectrum. More than 36,000 women have been murdered in Mexico between 1985 and 2010, according to UNIFEM and local NGOs. This includes hundreds of young women dismembered and murdered in Ciudad Juárez near the US border in the past few years. One women is raped in Mexico every four minutes, according to JASS (Just Associates), an international feminist organisation, that’s 120,000 a year. New laws to tackle the violence have not been implemented, which Amnesty International says has enabled impunity to persist. ‘The state of women’s rights in Mexico is alarming,” said Rupert Knox, from Amnesty International. “In recent years we have witnessed not only an increase in killings of women but a continuing routine lack of effective investigations and justice.'”

Brazil:

“Police in Brazil say the shooting deaths of 12 young women so far this year in the city of Goiania may be the work of a serial killer. The latest victim was a 14-year-old girl who was shot three times by a motorcyclist who drove up to her as she waited for a bus Sunday. Police inspector Murilo Polati told reporters Tuesday that all the victims were aged 13 to 29, had long hair and were in public places when killed. He says that in all the cases the gunman approached on a motorcycle, drew his gun, fired and fled without taking anything.”

Saudi Arabia:

“A Saudi survey has revealed that around 80 percent of people blame the rising incidents of sexual harassment in the country on the “deliberate flirtatious behaviour” of women.”

India:

“A community panchayat has banned girls from wearing jeans and keeping mobile phones claiming that they were having a “bad” effect on them and were responsible for eve-teasing [street harassment] incidents.”

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Filed Under: News stories, street harassment

“Seriously in what planet is this socially acceptable to even suggest”

August 10, 2014 By HKearl

A random shirtless man approached me on the skytrain platform with a “You need to get more sun” comment. When I said “What??” he re-stated. “You should go out in the sun more you are so white.” I gathered up my considerable heavy grocery’s and walked off the platform. I wish I had said something but was so mad I couldn’t even begin to think of a reply. I get these comments all the time. Just because I am a very fair skinned person doesn’t mean I should try to change my skin colour.

Seriously in what planet is this socially acceptable to even suggest. How this man feels enough ownership over my body to suggest to me a complete stranger that I alter it to suit his taste is beyond me.

– C

Location: Burnaby, BC, Canada at the New West skytrain station

Share your street harassment story for the blog.
See the book 50 Stories about Stopping Street Harassers for more idea

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Filed Under: Stories, street harassment

Assaulted in a taxi in Istanbul

August 10, 2014 By HKearl

I am currently staying in Istanbul on my own before I to head out to a much sought after Theatre Research Center a bit further down the coast. I have been away from home for just over a month in America (I’m Australian).

I managed to get some sleep after a long flight and then I caught a Taxi into Taksim Square to try and buy a mobile phone, a map and to orientate myself.

So all in all feeling quite vulnerable, not speaking the language, first day, jet lag but i have travelled as a foreigner on my own before and just tried to do my best in my jet lagged-lonely-confused-frightened-excited state. Id only been out for an hour or two before I felt my eyes getting heavy and jumped in a taxi to get home. Tomorrow id figure out the public transport but id accomplished enough for today.

Right away this driver picks up I’m not Turkish because I hand him my address on a card and tries to charm me by offering in broken English to take me on a tour of the city. (Hell no he’d already quoted me double what the taxi cost to get in there. Areshole. But i was tired and just wanted to get home)

2 minutes later he rests his hand on my leg and I take it off. “Don’t do that,” I say.

Why did i jump into the front seat. I don’t normally do it only the last taxi I had gotten into didn’t have seatbelts in the back and my struggling brain thought it would save the hassle and get in the front.

Then despite my chilly reception he takes the liberty to stroke my hair away from my ear.

Again. “Don’t do that.’ If I was at home. If I spoke the language. I f I knew what part of Istanbul I was in I would have gotten out but i was frozen in fear and what was probably the beginnings of shock. Blatant breaching of personnel boundary like this often induces a ‘possum’ or ‘play dead’ effect so I try not to beat myself up too much considering what came next, I couldn’t have known.

His final disgusting move is to notice my seatbelt is loose and try and help me adjust it.

This is just two minuets of him sliding his hands over my breasts ignoring my saying ‘stop’ and forcefully pulling his hands off.

I’m home about 2 minutes later and throw some money at him to be rid of it.

Then the shock kicks in and for the next 24-48 hours I don’t want to leave my apartment. I don’t think I did. I burst into tears all of a sudden and I don’t want to wear anything remotely appropriate for the scorching hot weather here.

It was the worst introduction to a country ever. And its almost a week later and I still have guard up for any male anywhere near me me.

Luckily I had all my friends and family back home skyping with me for the immediate next 12 hours after the assault while I was working through the shock and some friends of friends here in Turkey met up with me a few days ago to help me find my feet here in the city.

They are truly champions and although I am still working through the shock, fear, anger etc of the incident I am really grateful to get to see the wonderful sides of human, men and women who rushed to my support and gave me every possible resource to recover.

– EJ Brennan

Location: Istanbul Taksim Square

Share your street harassment story for the blog.
See the book 50 Stories about Stopping Street Harassers for more idea

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Filed Under: Stories, street harassment

#JusticeforRenisha

August 9, 2014 By HKearl

Finally, #JusticeforRenisha!

Via ABC News:

“A Detroit jury found Theodore Wafer guilty of murder today in the shooting death of unarmed teenager Renisha McBride on his porch. [She was knocking on his door, asking for help after crashing her car]….

McBride’s parents, Monica McBride and Walter Simmons, said they were pleased with the verdict, but said they never would have had to be in this position if Wafer had called 911 the night their daughter showed up on his porch.

“Me and Walter know who she was,” McBride said of her daughter. “She was not violent. She was a regular teenager…Her life mattered.”

Also, related, here is a really important op-ed about girls of color and why we can’t shortchange them by solely focusing on programs to help boys of color, via Girls for Gender Equity

“Renisha McBride, a young black woman from Detroit, knocked on the door of Theodore Wafer seeking help. The 19-year-old had run her car off the road and was hoping that someone in the home would give her a hand. Instead, Mr. Wafer, a white man, took her life, shooting her at close range from behind a locked door.

Like Trayvon Martin, who was shot by a neighborhood-watch volunteer, Renisha was unarmed at the time of her tragic death.

Following the acquittal of George Zimmerman, the man who killed Mr. Martin, President Obama and many of America’s leading philanthropies were inspired to start My Brothers Keeper: an unprecedented effort that now has attracted more than $300-million for a public-private partnership dedicated to responding to the racism that is devastating the lives of so many men and boys of color.

But questions remain: What if the epidemic levels of domestic violence against women of color were taken as seriously as violence committed by strangers? What if violence targeting all people of color—Renisha McBride as well as Trayvon Martin; women as well as men—inspired action?

Philanthropy has a key role to play in answering those questions and responding to the problems of systemic racism in our country.”

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Filed Under: News stories Tagged With: Renisha

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