Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

On July 13: NYC Area – share your stories!

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Filmmaker Charla Harlow and researcher/author Holly Kearl (me) are teaming up to hold TWO discussion group on street harassment on Saturday July 13, 2013, in Brooklyn, NY, hosted by the Brooklyn Movement Center and we’re looking for participants.

Discussion Group 1:

Community members of the Bed-Stuy Neighborhood area are invited to share their experiences and stories with street harassment in the area, 12 – 1 p.m. EST.

Discussion Group 2:

Queer women of color from anywhere in the New York City region are invited to talk about their experiences and stories with street harassment. 2-3 p.m. EST.

Info:

The discussion groups are part of  Stop Street Harassment‘s “Documenting Street Harassment in America” initiative that includes a 2,000 person, nationally representative survey and 10 discussion groups with different demographics across the country.

They’re also part of the Harlow Project‘s Anti-Street Harassment initiative.

The discussion groups will be held at the Brooklyn Movement Center, 375 Stuyvesant Ave  Brooklyn, NY. (Directions). Light refreshments will be provided.

Note:

The sessions will be both tape recorded and then transcribed and videotaped, but to make it a safe space for participants to share their stories, they can have their names be anonymous if they would like.

RSVP:

If you can attend one of the sessions, please contact me, Holly, at hkearl@stopstreetharassment.org, by the end of the day on Friday, July 12, and let me know which one.

More info about the study:

Read more about the SSH study. I hope to complete the rest of the discussion groups this summer, conduct the survey in the fall, and release a report in early 2014.

Questions or concerns? Contact me at hkearl@stopstreetharassment.org or Charla at info@harlowproject.com.

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“I just wanted to go home”

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I was out with my boyfriend and before I was even able to pay for our parking a man started yelling at me from across the street. I ignored it initially, not even turning around and look at him. My boyfriend was still getting out of the car when it started, but yelled back at the stranger when he walked up. I flipped the man off for his rudeness, which I think made him uncomfortable (the goal I’d hoped to achieve), and he yelled a few more things while walking around the sidewalk.

Though I was glad to have done something and glad for the support from my boyfriend, it still bothered me a lot and for a while I just couldn’t bring myself to hold hands with my boyfriend or even make eye contact. I just wanted to go home. Luckily we went to an art gallery where I could wander around alone for a while.

I hate disrespectful men like that and I hope he’ll live his life lonely and sad until he learns to act respectfully to others.

– Anonymous

Location: Uptown Charlotte, NC

Share your street harassment story for the blog.

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Egypt Sexual Assault Story Links

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Trigger Warning

I am devastated by the enormous number of mass sexual assaults – when one is too many – that have occurred at Tahrir Square over the last few days. This is unacceptable. To learn more about what’s happened, and the brave people who are working to keep women safe, here are a few of the many recent news stories:

* Guardian, “80 sexual assaults in one day – the other story of Tahrir Square“

* The Daily Beast, “Egypt’s Plague of Sex Attacks“

* Your Middle East, “Almost 100 women sexually assaulted in Cairo, says HRW“

* MSNBC, “As Egyptian unrests grows, sexual assaults rampant“

* Think Progress, “How Activists Are Fighting Back Against The Egyptian Revolution’s Sexual Assault Problem“

* Al Jazeera, “Women sexually assaulted in Egypt protests“

* The Irish Times, “Guest post: On the ground in Egypt“

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“Long live the struggle of Egyptian women”

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Trigger Warning

Between June 30 and July 3, nearly 100 women were subjected to mass sexual assaults by mobs of men at Tahrir Square in Egypt, the Human Rights Watch reported.

Later on July 3, @OpAntiSH tweeted: “So far (July 3rd, 1:30 am) we got 68 reports of mob assaults, we intervened in 46, & have at least one rape case.”

Volunteers with OpAntiSH and Tahrir Body Guard have stopped scores of attacks across those days. Today they are taking the day off, gearing up for more interventions tomorrow during the political protests planned.

On top of the violence, government leaders blame WOMEN for the attacks, saying they shouldn’t be there.

In response, a coalition of groups in Egypt issued a statement yesterday, this is an excerpt:

“The undersigned organizations and groups believe that the attempts of the authorities to use the incidents of sexual assault against the women to “smear” the opposition’s demonstrations mark the rock bottom of the official rhetoric of state institutions. The Egyptian authorities have failed to interpret the violent sexual assaults against women in spaces of demonstration as an extension to years of neglecting sexual crimes against women and the usage of these crimes by successive authorities, starting from the regime of former president Hosni Mubarak up to the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood, to punish women for their presence in the public space. Rather than attempting to find solutions to the crisis of sexual assault, the Egyptian authorities use the assaults as a smearing tool against the opposition, in an attempt to portray them as a group of “thugs”.

The undersigned organizations and groups believe that the strategy of using sexual assault to “stigmatize” women demonstrators opposing Mohammed Morsi is irresponsible and will not contribute to eradicating rape and sexual assault. Sexual violence has become a stable feature of the streets of Egypt, and not necessarily associated with large crowded demonstrations. The approach adopted by the Egyptian authorities only contributes to the aggravation of the problem.

The responsibility of protecting peaceful protesters falls on the Egyptian authorities, according to international law. Egyptian authorities are also responsible for investigating incidents of sexual assault and rape, guaranteeing that perpetrators are brought to justice, and providing adequate, effective, prompt, and appropriate remedies, including the rehabilitation of survivors; which entails providing psychological care as well as legal and social services, according to international human rights law. The Egyptian authorities must bear its legal responsibility towards the survivors of sexual violence rather than using the incidents as political tools against the opposition.

Long live the struggle of Egyptian women.”

Agreed and co-signed. We stand in solidarity with Egyptian women and everyone who is working hard to make sure they are safe in public spaces!

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Meet Our 15 New Blog Correspondents!

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The SSH Blog has been growing by leaps and bounds (we had a record number of story submissions last month!). Contributing to that growth, today, the second cohort of SSH Blog Correspondents begins.

Meet the new correspondents by reading their bios.

They will each write monthly articles through December 2013 to discuss street harassment issues and activism in their communities.

This blog is all about documenting street harassment, sharing ideas for how to end it, and bringing more attention to this human rights issue and I’m grateful to the correspondents for being willing to share their time and talents to these ends.

I also want to give a huge THANK YOU to the first cohort of SSH Blog Correspondents who contributed monthly articles between January and June 2013. They wrote compelling articles about street harassment from Pakistan to Colombia and all across the USA. They were the pilot program and were patient with me as I figured out the process and system! I thank them for their stellar articles.

 

 

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