“In societies across the world, women are still openly harassed on the streets and in other public spaces. Leering, lecherous ogling. Unsolicited physical, or non-physical sexual contact. The world is watching. Join the movement and stop street harassment.” – Pascale Neuschäfer
Last year, South African filmmaker Pascale Neuschäfer created a powerful short film about street harassment in her community.You can read a Q&A with her about it.
Now she’s working on an anti-street harassment campaign. As part of it, she just launched a new PSA against street harassment. It was filmed during the SlutWalk in Capetown last year.
To get more of a feel for street harassment in Cape Town, here’s a story that was submitted to the blog past year.
Even more alarming, a few weeks ago, a mob of 50 to 60 men harassed and groped two teenage girls who were wearing short skirts.
When I mentioned this incident to Pascale, she said, “last year at that very same taxi rank, a young woman came to an even harsher fate, when she was stripped of her mini skirt (all recorded on CCTV cameras). Converse to this news stories: women in rural areas often face the same fate when they wear pants!”
Terrible. And those are just some of the many reasons why a campaign against street harassment is necessary.
Keep up the great work, Pascale! We support you.
