HKearl, Author at Stop Street Harassment

Street Harassment Snapshot: August 7, 2011

August 7, 2011 By HKearl

Read stories, news articles, blog posts, and tweets about street harassment from the past week and find relevant announcements and upcoming street harassment events.

Street Harassment Stories:

Share your story! You can read new street harassment stories on the Web from the past week at:

Stop Street Harassment Blog

Hollaback Buenos Aires

Street Harassment in the News, on the Blogs:

"Eve teasing" in India — Via Deccan Herald

* Deccan Herald, “No safety for women anywhere…“

* Venus Genus, “‘I didn’t want to give a strange man…my phone number and got slapped for my troubles“

* Feministe, “The Politics of ‘Hello‘”

* Daily Bhaskar, “Youth murdered for objecting to eve-teasing of sister“

* Care2, “Should Seoul’s Subway Have Women-Only Sections?”

* Gothamist, “Upper East Side Serial Groper Strikes Again!“

* XO Jane, “True Tales of Street Harassment (And My Anger Issues)“

* Cluth Magazine, “Ladies Beware: Flasher Website Targets Black & Asian Women“

* The Times of India, “CISF leads drive to check eve-teasing in Delhi Metro“

* My High School Journalism, “Harassed on the Subway? Say Something!“

* SexGenderBody, “Growing into Street Harassment“

* IBN Live, “CISF undertakes anti-eve-teasing drive in metro stations“

Announcements:

New:

* Next Sunday, August 14, the Washington Post is publishing a major piece on street harassment in the magazine!

Reminders/On-Going:

* Do you have a stare that can turn #streetharassers to stone? Then participate in the Medusa Gaze Project! http://tinyurl.com/6fhh3tz

* Sign Mend the Gap’s petition to address subway harassment in Delhi, India

* Are you in Egypt? Use HarassMap to report your street harassers

* Have an iPhone? Download the Hollaback iPhone app that lets you report street harassers

20 Tweets from the Week:

1. butilovememore it’s not a compliment. its harassment. #streetharassment

2. ruthie_dee Reading tweets about #streetharassment… I’m SO angry that this happens to so many women and girls. Our bodies are not your property!

3. jennpozner Started w/me@ 12, too! MT @thehotnerd #StreetHarassment must stop, esp 2kids. Like pedophiles. Didn’t need 2know how nice my boobs were@ 12

4. Karnythia I see a lot of guys who are struggling with hearing about this, but #streetharassment is coming from men that you know too.

5. lashonp I’m thankful guys don’t grab my arm anymore. I’ve cut mofos w/words & wanted 2 do more yrs ago. #streetharassment is real & dangerous

6. resistasista #arentyoutiredof sexual harassment in the workplace and on the street #feminism

7. originalMiss_R Wlking thru southend hi street wiv shorts on equals HARASSMENT rite now

8. NajmMyriam Dear soldier standing on the sidewalk, just keep your mouth shut when i pass by! Sincerely, tired of street harassment. #fb

9. Bell_Bajao RT @womensweb: #whatareyoulookingat street sexual harassment needs no reason cept that a woman is around. presence = reason. cc @Bell_Bajao

10. ArriannaMarie Leaving the house, at one time, was a point of great anxiety b/c I hated to be subjected to the gauntlet of street harassment.

11. jAD0ReQUi @dreamhampton guys don’t understand how scary that is & the extra constant precautions we have to take as women because men don’t accept no

12. LilEsBella When you can’t walk down the street because some man old enough to be your grandfather is trying to touch you there’s a prob @dreamhampton

13. dreamhampton I was 5, in a bathing suit at a beach, when a grown ass man interrupted me from sandcastle building to tell me ‘damn! I wanna meet yr Mama!’

14. ttaraturk @dreamhampton I stopped riding the Detroit buss because some OLD dude exposed himself . I was traumatized. My parents couldn’t explain it.

15. dreamhampton As a mother of a teenager blk girl Id like to say: blk girl gets harrassed by adult blk men a trillion xs more often than blk boy do by pigs

16. Cx87 Why do some men think hollering at a woman is acceptable? How would they feel if it was their wife/daughter/mother? #streetharassment

17. thehotnerd #StreetHarassment needs to stop, especially toward children. No better than pedophiles. Didn’t need to know how nice my boobs were at 12.

18. PoshBirdGabi Did you know #streetharassment is not allowed in Libya? #hollaback @iHollaback #nwo

19. asrichardson I wish I could rt @dreamhampton‘s entire timeline. I’m enraged by the harassment women face but empowered by the sharing of our experiences

20. Crislex @dreamhampton I agree with you. Black women on a DAILY BASIS are dehumanized and degraded in broad daylight by their own counterparts. sick

Video clip: anti-street harassment march in Afghanistan

August 3, 2011 By HKearl

Here’s a dose of inspiration this Wednesday:

As I’ve written about before, on July 14, 50 women and men marched against street harassment in downtown Kabul, Afghanistan. To learn more about why and what happened during the march, here’s a good news clip from an Australian station. It includes an interview with the march organizer.

To gain even more inspiration from their march, here’s an article for The WIP that I wrote about the march, which includes quotes from an organizer and participant. Here’s an excerpt (full article):

“Carrying banners and signs with messages like, “We will not tolerate harassment,” “Islam forbids men from insulting women,” and “I have the right to walk freely in my city,” on July 14, 50 brave women and men marched together from Kabul University to the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission. As they marched, they handed out fliers to raise awareness about the problem of street harassment in their country.

Most of the bystanders stood shocked, openly staring as the marchers passed by. It is not common to see women and men marching together through Kabul, nor is it typical to hear people speak out on an issue like street harassment. Despite the presence of a police escort, some men even heckled the marchers and called them names. Others were supportive and took fliers or started walking with the marchers.Tabasum Wolayat, a student at Middlebury College in Vermont, said that she was both excited and nervous to participate in the march. “As an Afghan woman who is harassed on a daily basis in the public sphere, I thought, ‘it is me who has to fight for myself, my mother, and my sisters’ safety, dignity, and rights.’”

She noted that her family was very supportive of her participation, but some of her female friends were not. They worried about her safety.

March organizer Noorjahan Akbar, a 19-year-old student at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania, also received support from her family. Her entire family, including her mother and father who both have health issues, participated in the march with her. A few days after the march, Akbar said it had gone better than she expected and that she feels “so much stronger” because of the outpouring of support for their efforts.

In the spring of 2011, Akbar founded the Kabul-based group Young Women for Change (YWC) to help increase the political, social, economic and cultural participation of women across the country. Through discussions at their first meetings, it quickly became clear that the sexual harassment women experience on the streets hinders their participation in all these areas. In collaboration with another group, Hadia, they decided to launch an anti-street harassment campaign that began with the march.” (full article)

I look forward to reading about what the women do next!

Street harassment in Dillon, Montana

August 2, 2011 By HKearl

I’m on vacation this week. I was at Glacier National Park in northwest Montana over the weekend and now I’m en route to northern Utah to my grandparent’s cabin. Dillon, Montana, is about half way and is where we stayed the night last night. Just as I have every morning of the vacation, I got up and went running this morning.

When I was about a mile into my 7 mile run, trotting down the main road of the small town, I heard whistling. I turned around and saw two (very white) guys in their early twenties walking toward me. They whistled again when they saw I was looking at them. One of them yelled, “Mmm, I’d like to go running with you” in a creepy way.

I yelled, “Hey, don’t harass me!” at them. They were quiet for a few seconds, then one of them said, “Okay, have a nice day,” while the other one chimed in with an “I love you!” as I sprinted around a corner to get away from them.

I get harassed a lot when I go running, but usually it’s by men going by in cars and I rarely have an opportunity to respond. This time I did and it was empowering! Of course, later I thought of better things I could have said, but I’m glad I at least said something to stand up for myself and for women runners everywhere!

– Holly

Location: South Montana Street & East Sebree Street, Dillon, Montana

Share your street harassment story today and help raise awareness about the problem.
Find suggestions for what YOU can do about this human rights issue.

Street Harassment Snapshot: July 31, 2011

August 1, 2011 By HKearl

Read stories, news articles, blog posts, and tweets about street harassment from the past week and find relevant announcements and upcoming street harassment events.

Street Harassment Stories:

Share your story! You can read new street harassment stories on the Web from the past week at:

Stop Street Harassment Blog

Street Harassment in the News, on the Blogs:

Arab Spring women protest — Via Mideastposts

* Mail Online, “Wolf-whistling workmen face the sack after they ‘intimidated’ distraught woman“

* The WIP, “Young Women Launch Afghanistan’s First Anti-Street Harassment Campaign“

* The Tribune, “Delhi stages Slut Walk“

* Al-Masry Al-Youm “Egyptian rights group rejects ‘women-only’ taxis“

* Clutch Magazine, “Rant: “Your Man Don’t Let You Have Friends?””

* Indian Express, “Unhappy Hours?“

* Venus Genus, “Street Harassment Becoming a Social Norm? Oh Hell No!“

* Mideastposts, “Promise of Arab Spring Failing to Deliver for Middle-Eastern Women“

Announcements:

New:

* Find ideas for creative ways to respond to street harassers

Reminders/On-Going:

* Do you have a stare that can turn #streetharassers to stone? Then participate in the Medusa Gaze Project! http://tinyurl.com/6fhh3tz

* Sign Mend the Gap’s petition to address subway harassment in Delhi, India

* Are you in Egypt? Use HarassMap to report your street harassers

* Have an iPhone? Download the Hollaback iPhone app that lets you report street harassers

15 Tweets from the Week:

1. Kenya_D Until folks understand the ramifications of patriarchy, they will never fully grasp the factors that play into street harassment.

2. KimberlynnAce Wearing the same outfit i wore during the street harassment incident that inspired my thesis. Feeling strong. Here goes…

3. ruthie_dee Street harassment, BNP thugs and now half an hour in the BOILING Barnsley bus station. Save me twitter!

4. skyesidhe Don’t catcall me and say “don’t be shy” when i don’t respond. I’m not shy, I’m just not interested.

5. ljoywilliams Walking frm a mtg, guy comes up to me at a light says “Nice rack, can I touch” and reaches out to touch me.

6. ashcampaign Two builders have been fired for wolf-whistling at a woman. Am on Channel 5’s The Wright Stuff Extra today talking about street harassment.

7. MustBol: How to take legal action in cases of Street Sexual Harassment! http://bit.ly/qDPpDI

8. priscillason And then some people screamed at me to look at their car. What do I look like I’m open to cowardly street harassment godamn let me alone

9. ajuonline Bunch of guys hooting and shouting “Hey honey” to a foreigner tourist family with2 possibly minor/teen girls. Street harassment #MeraBharat

10. FrenchieGlobal DC reminds me of Cairo in that pepper spray is a necessity to deal with street harassment from the locals

11. reachoutlk http://twitpic.com/5wj4jb Break The Silence. A forum on culture, domestic violence + harassment on public transport. Join us!

12. hollabackdc know some1 or have u been sexually assaulted after having a drink or two at Logan Tavern? please DM us. thx 4 helping us out

13. j_zimms Having a dog really improves the quality of street harassment. Feel free to yell at me out car windows about how beautiful he is any time!

14. MvIslington News – Women suffer sexual harassment in Finsbury Park street – A charity worker fears for her safety http://bit.ly/owlb7d

15. UroojZia Serious ques: Do we have laws against sexual harassment on the street in #Pakistan? Need to register FIR. Have bike number, 2 eyewitnesses.

Win for bicyclists in Los Angeles

July 30, 2011 By HKearl

A week ago, the Los Angeles (CA) City Council passed a pioneering new law making it a crime for drivers to threaten cyclists verbally or physically, and allows victims of harassment to sue in civil court without waiting for the city to press criminal charges.

While the main purpose of the law is to try to protect cyclists from dangerous or aggressive drivers, the verbal threat part intrigues me. Could someone who is sexually harassed in a threatening way be able to sue under the law? It seems plausible.

This is not the first time a broader law meant to protect folks outside of cars from those inside could potentially give people who are street harassed legal recourse should they choose to take it. Last year in Independence, Missouri, lawmakers passed an ordinance making it illegal for people in cars to harass pedestrians and cyclists.

I’m interested to see what happens and how people use the new Los Angeles law.

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