Stop Street Harassment

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Street Harassment in Trinidad and Tobago via Women Speak

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Simone Leid

On Women Speak, founder Simone Leid, offers a new online place for women in Trinidad and Tobago to share their stories of discrimination and read related news. Unsurprisingly, street harassment has already come up a few times.

On Feb. 5, a woman shared the following story:

“It was a morning like any other in 2005, except for the fact that on my way to work and as I approached Chacon Street, Port of Spain, absorbed in my own thoughts, a man grabbed my crotch and kept walking. I froze for several seconds, shocked and scared. There weren’t many people around and the few who were there said nothing, so I believe they saw nothing. Physically weak, I took the nearest taxi in silence…” (read more)

Also on Feb. 5, Ms. Leid wrote a post: Harassment is punishable by law!

“A person who pursues a course of conduct which amounts to harassment of another and which he knows or ought reasonably to know amounts to harassment of the other is guilty of an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of two thousand dollars and to imprisonment for six months.”

Good to know that street harassment is illegal there!

On Feb. 8, she featured an excerpt from an article about the commonality and “harmlessness” of street harassment in Trinidad and Tobago:

“But in my 20s I remember the sense of intimidation and fear that ran through me every time I passed a group of boys or men on the street. Would they just say ‘good morning’ or ‘good afternoon’ in that I’m-a-nice-guy way or would there be something disgusting today?”

And yesterday, she posted the video “My Bad Thing” by Chucky, writing:

“Men need to join in the fight against Street Harassment and build loving and supportive relationships with their women by standing up to other men and letting them know that disrespecting women is unacceptable.”

Yes, this is definitely true!


In watching the video, though, I wasn’t sure, is the main guy upset about street harassment because “his” girlfriend was targeted and otherwise he wouldn’t care? I know sometimes it seems like the only way to get guys to pay attention to this issue is by saying, look it’s happening to your girlfriends, sisters, mothers, daughters, and wives. But it’s not a lot of progress if they only care about the issue when it happens to women they feel some ownership over because it threatens their manhood.

Take a look at the video and see what you think it’s about.

I’ve already learned quite a bit about street harassment in Trinidad and Tobago and I look forward to learning more on Women Speak!

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Consent on the streets – tips about how to not be a harasser

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“How can I talk to a woman in public without being a harasser?” is a question I often hear from men who attend my talks about street harassment.

The question always makes me laugh a little because the answer is so clear to me, but the question also makes me glad to see them thinking about the issue and trying to apply it to their life. I know it’s a question many men have and so I offer some basic tips on my blog and in my book.

I had an opportunity to explore this question in a video interview with Ben Privot, founder of The Consensual Project (read his recent Male Allies blog post). We chatted about consent on the streets.

I think having these conversations, especially with young men, is so important. Most men don’t want to be harassers, but a lot of the messaging they receive in the media, from their peers, and from family is that it’s okay and required of them to be aggressive, rude, and sexually objectifying with people they encounter. And if they listen to those messages, they become harassers.

So something we can all do is talk to each other about appropriate ways to interact with strangers in public. What contexts or circumstances make some interactions fun and some scary? What words or actions do? How can we be respectful people without being boring?

I really enjoyed meeting Ben and learning more about The Consensual Project. If you’re at a college campus, please check out the organization. Via Ben’s website,

“The Consensual Project partners with schools and universities to bring students a fresh understanding of consent. The innovative curriculum, workshops, and website empower young people to incorporate consent into their daily lives.”

Fantastic! Consent is so important, on the streets, in bars and clubs, on dates, in committed relationships, and in the bedroom. And reaching college students is essential – did you know that college women are more than four times as likely to face sexually assault as any other group of women (RAINN statistic)? So thanks for the important work you’re doing, Ben!

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Who was the sexist & most violent of them all? Super Bowl commercial Bingo results

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This is a follow-up to my blog post from Friday.

I didn’t end up watching the Super Bowl yesterday, but my partner watched it at a friend’s house and he brought along the End-It Bingo sheet (created by Riverview Center which I found on the Men’s Anti-Violence Council blog).

My partner and his friends took the Bingo card seriously. Not only did they make a mark each time a commercial fit into a category, but they noted which company’s commercial warranted the mark. They marked off almost all of the squares on the sheet and added a few more categories. “Street harassment” became a category when Pepsi Max included it in one of their commercials.

Overall, my partner felt that the companies that produced the most offensive ads were Go-Daddy (no surprise there), Sketchers, and Pepsi Max. He said he was the most surprised by the Sketchers commercial, saying, “I didn’t think they’d take footwear to that extreme.” When I read through his Bingo card today, I saw that he wrote Pepsi Max the most times in the various boxes. Thumbs down to these companies!

I wasn’t sure how my partner’s friends would react to the Bingo sheet since it would bring up serious subjects during a fun event. But they were really supportive and actively participated. My partner said the Bingo card got them all thinking critically about the commercials and noticing how companies were trying to sell products. It also made them more aware of and appreciative of the companies that didn’t have to resort to violence or sexism in their commercials (the Volkswagen commercial with the kid in the Darth Vader mask was a big hit).

What were your thoughts about the commercials? Did you use the Bingo card?

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“El Tigeraso” – Maluca’s music video addressing street harassment

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Maluca, also known as La Maluca Mala, is a rising star in New York City. She is the daughter of Dominican immigrants who was born and raised in New York City. She says, “New York influences my music. Everyone who’s here…the style…the vernacular…inspires the kind of music that I’ve made, the lyrics that I write, the way I dress, the way I am.”

And the pervasive street harassment in New York City influenced one of her songs, “El Tigeraso,” which is set at Audobon and West 182nd Street, an intersection in Washington Heights, the heart of New York City’s Dominican community.

Via the International Museum of Women:

“The song’s lyrics were inspired by an issue many women deal with every day: cat calls and harassment on the street. [Maluca says,] ‘Dominicans call the bad boys on the corner who are up to no good – but who have mad swag – Tigeres. ‘El Tigeraso’ is the game or swag. Growing up, I would go visit my cousins or grandma uptown. Back then, you couldn’t get from one corner to the next without those ‘Tigeres’ trying to holler at you. It was kinda outta control. Especially if you walked down Broadway. So the song ‘El Tigeraso’ is poking fun at that whole situation.'”


Thoughts on the song and video?

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Street harassment snapshot: February 6, 2011

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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 from the past week on:

Street Harassment in the News, on the Blogs:

Events:`

Announcements:

New:

On-going:

Twitter:

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