HKearl, Author at Stop Street Harassment

Anti-Harassment Petition: Please Mend the Gap

June 7, 2011 By HKearl

Harassment on public transportation is rampant. In Delhi, India, it’s no different. To address the harassment, many governments around the world have instituted women-only subway cars and buses (usually only during rush hour and without offering them often enough or in enough volume for all women to use them). The Delhi metro system is one example. The segregation is not working, however, and the harassment is as bad as ever. The Please Mend the Gap campaign is trying to change that.

Via an online petition site the organizers write:

“We believe that a majority of women do not feel safe while travelling in the Delhi Metro. We have spoken to a cross-section of Metro commuters who have shared with us their experiences most of which include instances of verbal and physical harassment mostly faced by women, specifically in the women’s-only compartment.

In fact, a few days ago, some of the members of our group who were traveling at night observed that the women’s-only compartment was populated with men who had occupied almost all the seats forcing the women to stand, leaving them with no choice but to actively demand the seats they were entitled to. The men were unapologetic and dismissive. Most shrugged off the women’s protest by claiming falsely that the women’s-only compartment turns general post 9 p.m..

Women who choose to travel in the general compartment are also harassed. There have been many instances where men have told women that they are not welcome in this compartment and should use the compartment reserved for them. This attitude has become so deeply entrenched in commuters’ mindsets that most accidentally refer to the general compartment as the ‘men’s compartment’. There have been times when authorities have driven out men from the women’s-only compartments, but without having imposed any fine whatsoever.”

Already, Please Mend the Gap activists spearheaded a flash mob on the metro to raise awareness about the issue. On June 1, they launched a petition with 10 demands for the transportation authorities to fulfill in order to make the system safer, and harassment free. The petition reads:

We the commuters on the Delhi Metro have the following suggestions to make to ensure a safer, friendlier and more respectable environment for women within the Metro premises.

1. Ensure regular announcement inside the Metro train and within the Metro stations stating categorically that, “Any person involved in, assisting in, or indulging in any activity that outrages a woman’s modesty, including but not limited to molesting and eve-teasing, will be punished with imprisonment and/or fine. The announcement should clearly state the Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code under which sexual harassment is a punishable crime.

2. Announcements like, “Men entering the women’s compartment will be fined Rs. 250,” should be made at regular intervals on the public announcement systems. Spot fines should be collected by DMRC Staff posted at the Metro Stations from men caught travelling in the women’s compartment.

3. Adequate training should be given to DMRC staff and CISF personnel stationed at platforms in handling of such cases with specific focus to sensitize the DMRC staff to handle victims with greater care and concern.

4. Every Metro Station should have at least one lady officer who is specially trained and equipped to handle such cases including registration of such offences, counseling the victim and the like.

5. The current system where one has to go to Kashmere Gate to file a FIR for cases related to the metro needs to be decentralized urgently. Every metro station should have a complaint cell conveniently and prominently located within the premises of the metro station and should be able to handle/register cases for the entire duration for which the metro runs daily, i.e. between 6 a.m. to 12 a.m. A system should also be evolved whereby the metro helpdesk/officials assist the victim in registering any case successfully.

6. Information Boards should be installed at every Metro station at strategic locations, such as near the ticketing counter, with detailed directions for lodging a complaint against an instance of harassment as well as emergency contact numbers of Delhi Metro officials, laws against molestation and other necessary information.

7. CCTVs must be installed inside the Metro compartments and information on how to procure CCTV footage, if and when required, should be made available to commuters at the earliest.

8. A section of the advertisement space available inside the Metro should be compulsorily reserved for displaying information relating to the legal assistance available to victims of molestation and harassment and remedies for the same.

9. The DMRC ought to provide details of helpline numbers and contact numbers/email addresses of important Metro authorities in the Metro Map Brochure and also inside the Metro train so that commuters are aware of the same and can contact the required persons in times of emergency. It has been brought to our notice by various commuters that some of the numbers are not functional. It is the prerogative of the authorities to ensure the helpline numbers are functional and are consistently monitored for efficiency and efficacy.

10. The DMRC ought to monitor, review and increase security arrangements and make authorities more accountable for lapses in security. It is our earnest request that our above demands be heard and implemented by the concerned authorities at the earliest. This will go a long way in ensuring that women feel safe commuting by the Delhi Metro and in fulfilling the DMRC’s mission of providing world-class service to the citizens of Delhi. This petition is drafted and supported by ‘PLEASE MEND THE GAP’, a citizen- led initiative to promote gender equality and commuter safety in public spaces.

Sign the petition and join their Facebook page for more updates on their campaign.

Street Harassment Snapshot: June 6, 2011

June 6, 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:

I accept street harassment submissions from anywhere in the world. Share your story! You can read new street harassment stories on the Web from the past week at:

Stop Street Harassment Blog

Hollaback Columbia, MO

Street Harassment in the News, on the Blogs:

Ruth’s Corner, “I’m wearing shorts. Get over it.“

INews880AM, “Slut Walk takes place in Edmonton“

MidDay, “Eve teasers drive girl to consume poison“

BBC News, “‘SlutWalk’ march in Cardiff but what is the message?“

Guardian, “Bidisha’s thought for the day: Charity muggers“

Washington Post, “SlutWalks and the future of feminism“

Women, Women Everywhere, “Street Harassment“

Bitch Media, “Takin’ it to the Streets: The Perfect Victim (Part I)“

Love Matters, “‘No groping’ on Bogota’s buses“

Mustbol, “I flashed a mob and I liked it“

Minneapolitan Mademoiselle, “On Street Harassment“

Love Stutter, “The Window Sex Project“

Mazzie, “To the girl who called me a fatass on the bus“

Announcements:

New:

Watch the new anti-street harassment film out of Nottingham, UK.

On-going:

* Help fund the Hey, Shorty! on the road book tour to end gender-based violence in schools and on the streets.

* Needed: your feedback on international anti-street harassment day 2011 & your ideas for 2012 http://tinyurl.com/44f7bef

* Fight Street Harassment with Your Spare Change http://t.co/TKeve2e via @swipegood

* If you live in Atlanta, Georgia, take a MARTA survey so Hollaback Atlanta can better tackle harassment on public transportation

* College students, enter the Hollaback essay contest, entries due August 1.

* 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. mariellagross Street harassment aint no joke

2. kdflygirl No street harassment 2day, bcuz I’m out with male friends. What a difference, loving my city right about now..

3. jennimiller76 it’s summer, which means #streetharassment

4. kaitmacmurray I was sexually harrassed on the street this morning by employees of Alpine Roofing in their company vehicle.RT if you are against harassment

5. HollabackOttawa Here is our obligatory HOLY F*CK IT’S HOT OUTSIDE post. And our obligatory WHY MUST #STREETHARASSMENT BE THE REAL SIGN OF SUMMER post. Ugh.

6. ChantigaloBEroc I need a service animal in the form of a bullmastiff. I think that would drastically reduce my stress and street harassment encounters.

7. RCTuri: I HATE street harassment. And some men have the AUDACITY to approach me when I have my children.

8. dcGirl_202 Street harassment so bad today I had two separate occurrences of dudes actually following me home. One on a bike, one in a minivan. FML.

9. jennpozner Tip: Saying God BLESS you! in a lewd tone doesn’t make your #streetharassment any less obnoxious. Nor more, what, spiritual?

10. FeistyFeminist1 Great. #streetharassment on Georgia Ave. My least favorite way to start a Friday night.

11. nermine_lawyer We should solve the problem of sexual harassment in the streets! I think old cloodbey street was a good solution in 1944! Let’s find one now

12. purplepeace79 Street harassment destroys women’s spirits, their self-esteem, & contributes to why so many women are distrustful of men

13. reagansleepy Yes, I appreciate your sexual harassment, 38 year old fat guy across the street. I totally wanna get in your pants.

14. NvrComfortable Men who see and want to end the harm street harassment does to women should talk to other men. That’s one of the only ways it’ll change.

15. HollabackEP #aintnothingsexyabout yelling “HEY! SEXY!” to women walking by. #aintnothingsexyabout street harassment, period.

16. shotlowr Going 2 #slutwalk la today was wonderful, it almost helped mitigate the #streetharassment I experienced outside my apartment when I got home

17. TheNotoriousYEG Just got sexually harassed on the bus by some fucking creep wearing a northlands security shirt. #streetharassment strong urge to punch…

18. HOLLAs are coming to Brasil, Wellington, and West Yorkshire on 8/10! Follow them now: @HollabackBrasil @hollabackWY @HollabackWgtn

19. thetrudz @sammieolivia @NvrComfortable Agreed. It is rarely safe to be friendly in public as it only heightens street harassment versus deterring it.

20. TheBlueStone It’s not just harassment & z disgusting words they impose on our ears 4no reason than just we happen to be women on the street #egymen #WTF

New film: “Do they think we like it?”

May 31, 2011 By HKearl

I’m excited to share another new film about street harassment (in the past few days I’ve shared ones from Cape Town, South Africa; Delhi, India; and Philadelphia, USA). This one is from England.

Here’s the description on YouTube:

“A short film about street harassment that was researched, designed, scripted, filmed, directed and edited by volunteers from Initi8 at Nottingham Trent University with guidance and support from Gill Court at Platform 51 Nottingham. The film was inspired by Nottingham’s International Women’s Day events with the aim of raising awareness of street harassment of women and how it makes them feel.”

I’m feeling overcome by emotion witnessing the outpouring of women and men speaking out this week from all over the world. Keep it up!! Keep sharing your voices, stories, and raising awareness that street harassment happens and that it’s not okay.

“No groping” on buses in Colombia

May 31, 2011 By HKearl

Via Love Matters in the Netherlands:

“We don’t need that kind of support,” runs the slogan on a poster showing a man thrusting himself up against a woman.

“We don’t want that hand,” reads another ‘no groping’ poster. They’re part of a campaign against sexual harassment on the buses of Colombia’s capital Bogota, set up by a group of women who’ve had enough of wandering hands and offensive sexual comments.

“During rush hour, when the buses are packed, the male passengers take the opportunity to stand close to women and feel them up,” says Marisol Dalmazo of the Latin American Women and Habitat Network in Colombia. “It’s offensive and restrictive to women.”

Marisol has been running a programme since 2007 in Bogota to promote neighbourhood women’s centres and make the streets safer for women and girls. And she’s the driving force behind a campaign to put a stop to one of the harmful side-effects of Latin America’s macho culture: street sexual harassment.

“It’s something that’s always happened and not only in Latin America,” she stresses. “It’s now important that we draw attention to the issue and make men aware that what they’re doing is sexual harassment and mustn’t be tolerated under any circumstances.”

“We put up posters at every bus station and bus stop,” she says. “The bus company employees help us – they even wear t-shirts with slogans against sexual harassment.”

Marisol and her organisation also act out role plays about sexual harassment on the bus. Women dressed as men perform scenes about groping, and then ask passengers what they think about the behaviour.

“We generally get positive responses,” she says. “More and more, people think sexual harassment should be condemned, that this kind of behaviour mustn’t be tolerated.”

I love how Marisol and other women took the issue of groping on the buses and street harassment into their own hands and even have bus employee cooperation in their efforts to prevent it. Their initiatives should be inspirational to people everywhere who are fed up and have had enough of sexual harassment on the streets, in the parks, on the buses and subways.

Find ideas for what YOU can do at an individual and/or a community level. Every action makes a difference.

Anti-street harassment film out of Cape Town, South Africa

May 30, 2011 By HKearl

This important new anti-street harassment video was created by filmmaker Pascale Neuschäfer. She lives in Cape Town, South Africa, and she agreed to answer a few questions about herself and the film.

Stop Street Harassment (SSH): Please tell me a bit about yourself and why you decided to make this film.

Pascale Neuschäfer (PN): I am a filmmaker and an actress and I made the promo with the help of my partner and some friends who are interested in gender rights issues and who feel comfortable speaking up about it. I became frustrated not only at the frequency with which incidence of street harassment happen, but at the fact that women are mostly told to ignore it. This included many of my friends (both women and men) who couldn’t see the inherent harm in catcalling. I think this attitude stems largely from ignorance (South Africa having one of the highest rates of gender-based violence in the world, including rape, corrective rape and murder) and from fear: the fear of a public humiliation, as well as the fear of augmented violence when confronting a harasser.

SSH: How has street harassment impacted your own life and what’s inspired your decision to speak out against it?

PN: A defining moment for me was being harassed by a 15 year old boy, who responded very aggressively when I confronted him about his behaviour (I posted this story on your blog a few months ago). Making the 30 second fictional short was an outlet for me, a woman to make the statement: women hate it when men harass us! There is nothing polite, or politically correct about it, because there is nothing polite about being harassed and I feel very strongly that women should speak up. However, I also think there are many women in the world who often cannot speak up (particularly in patriarchal societies like South Africa, where women are brutally murdered and raped, simply for being openly gay) and I think it’s important to engage in open debate about these kind of issues. I also believe that street harassment is just the tip of the iceberg to other, violent gender-based crimes.

SSH: Do you have any future plans regarding street harassment and film?

PN: I am hoping to get funding to make full-length documentary and to start a media campaign (including Public Service Announcements which highlight how violence escalates) , because I have found that even just speaking to my friends (men and women) has had a positive effect on the way we now either DO respond (if we didn’t previously), or in the way in which we CHOOSE to respond.

SSH: Wonderful. You’re doing amazing work with your film and I look forward to seeing what you do next!

For others who are interested in filmmaking and documentaries, check out more anti-street harassment documentaries and films and find tips for making your own!

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