Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Stop Blame

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One of the worst myths I encounter in my work to end street harassment is victim-blaming.

“Well, with the way women dress these days…” “What do you expect with the clothes you wear…”  “Don’t go out alone if you don’t want men to harass you…” and “What did you expect when you went out alone after dark?”

It’s such a big part of the conversation around street harassment that it takes up considerable space in my book about street harassment.

And what I find striking and alarming is the global nature of the victim-blaming, from India and Australia, to Brazil and Lebanon, to Egypt and the UK. And of course in the USA.

Stop Blame PosterEarlier this year, then, I was thrilled to read about Scotland’s television ad campaign that aired during the World Cup called Not Ever, which focused on countering the idea that a woman is “asking to be raped” if she’s wearing a skirt, drinking, out late, etc. I would love to see a similar campaign in the US during the Super Bowl!

Via @thefworduk, I just found out about a similar, brand new campaign in Wales called Stop Blame. While, like Not Ever, this campaign focuses on ending the victim-blaming of rape and sexual assault survivors and victims, the commentary is largely the same as the victim-blaming that survivors of street harassment (and any form of sexual harassment) face. It is an extremely important campaign and I applaud the Welsh government for producing it.

From StopBlame.org:

This campaign asks us all to challenge the endemic culture of victim blame.

Stop blaming the victim for rape and sexual assault committed against her.

Stop handing the rapist – the assailant – excuses that serve to make his behaviour more socially acceptable.

Rape is a crime in every sense of the word- emotional, physical, psychological and legal; the most intimate violation imaginable. No woman is ever ‘asking for it’.

Rape. Sexual assault. There is NO excuse. Let’s stop blaming the victim.

Yes!

Can every government around the world please have a similar campaign? They wouldn’t end victim-blaming, but they sure would help!

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The movie 678

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It’s no secret that public sexual harassment is a big problem in Egypt, for both Egyptian and foreign women. A new Egyptian film called 678, released this month, is putting the spotlight on this problem, as well as the problem of sexual harassment in the workplace.

Via Facebook

Via Gulf News:

In the film, popular actress and singer Bushra plays the part of an employee who suffers from harassment and is regularly molested while travelling to and from work on the public bus service. It marks the directorial debut of Mohammad Diab and is named after bus route No 678, which the heroine uses.

“The claim that the film harms Egypt’s image is a silly joke. Keeping silent on this phenomenon is what really harms Egypt’s name,” Bushra said in a recent interview.

Via The National:

Mohamed Diab, the director of the film, believed it to be among the most important movies he had produced.

Speaking at the seventh Dubai International Film Festival ahead of the gala screening of the film last night, Diab said: “I have made commercial movies before, but 678 was a risk. I have a strong belief in it and will continue its campaign, because it is not just a movie.” …

Egyptian singer Bushra, who was cast as one of the leading ladies, said the movie was about all women from all social classes.

“This film is about women’s rights, human rights and the invasion of privacy. We are discussing it from an Egyptian perspective because this is how we experienced it, but there is no doubt that this is a universal problem,” she said.

“Women of all ages and social class can [fall victim] to harassment, so the issue is how each relates and handles it,” she said.

Bushra also noted a surge of serious films which surpassed commercial motivation. “Politicians alone do not create change. It is high time for us actors and filmmakers to also participate,” she said.

Great!! I would love to see many more movies about sexual harassment that portray it in a negative light (instead of as a joke, compliment, or minor annoyance). Movies are powerful mediums for shaping public opinion. (Update: here is another article that describes more of the movie plot)

Another exciting new resource for changing the social acceptability of public sexual harassment in Egypt is HarassMap, which allows them to report harassers to a map tracking system.

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“He asked me if I was into S&M”

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A year ago I went with my mother to visit Chicago for my birthday. It was a weekend trip and the only thing that I could put down as harassment was when we were on the train going from the airport to our hotel.

There were no seats left and I was standing by the doors holding onto one of the metal poles. There was a man across from me and at first he didn’t say anything until about fifteen to twenty minutes later when he made a comment about a necklace I was wearing. He asked me if I was into S&M. The necklace was a pair of handcuffs that I had bought at Claire’s, of all places.

I was a little bit put off but simply responded, “No, I just liked the necklace” Thankfully he didn’t say anything to me until he got off about ten minutes later.

Later when I told my mother about the experience she said to me that I had to at least expect some comments because of what the necklace was. I don’t agree and I thought that what that man had said to me was inappropriate.

– Anonymous

Location: Chicago, IL

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.

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Street Harassment Snapshot: December 12, 2010

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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.

Story Submissions Recap:

I accept street harassment submissions from anywhere in the world. Share your story!

Street Harassment in the News, on the Blogs:

Upcoming Events:

Announcements:

New:

On-going:

Ten Tweets from the Week:

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“We can all be human rights defenders”

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Happy Human Rights Day!


I really like the Human Rights Day speech from the United Nations High Commissioner Navi Pillay. In her speech, she notes that there are many famous people who have made a difference in promoting human rights…

“But these inspirational figures could not have done what they did without the help of many others whose names we don’t know. Efforts to end slavery spanned 1,000 years, and still continue with adults and children being trafficked for sex and indentured labour. After a mammoth struggle that lasted more than 150 years, women have won the right to vote almost everywhere, but still lack many other fundamental rights.

We owe the progress we have made to the enormous efforts of hundreds of thousands of largely unsung heroes, known collectively as human rights defenders.

Human rights defenders come from all walks of life, ranging from princesses and politicians, to professionals such as journalists, teachers and doctors, to people with little or no formal education. There are no special qualifications. All it takes is commitment, and courage.

We can all be human rights defenders, and – given how much we owe to others for the rights many of us now take for granted – we all should be human rights defenders. At the very least, we should do our utmost to support those who do defend human rights. Every year, thousands of human rights defenders are harassed, abused, unjustly jailed and murdered. That is why Human Rights Day 2010 is dedicated to Human Rights Defenders and their courageous battle to stop discrimination of all sorts. We need to stand up for their rights as much as they stand up for ours.” (emphasis mine)

With 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo in jail in China and his wife and family members and friends banned from attending the ceremony today, it could not be clearer why it’s important to help the defenders of human rights when too often their opponents jail them – and in other cases murder them.

I also want to pick up on the part of the speech that I made bold: “There are no special qualifications. All it takes is commitment, and courage. We can all be human rights defenders, and – given how much we owe to others for the rights many of us now take for granted – we all should be human rights defenders.”

I feel choked up thinking about the many human rights defenders I know. I started to list them but I deleted my list because it is so long and I’d also hate to miss acknowledging someone. In one way or another, most people I know are doing something human rights-related and all of my role models are too (and that’s why they’re my role models).  They inspire me and keep me from losing faith in humanity.

Each person who shares their stories on this blog and does anything else to speak out against, raise awareness of, and work to end street harassment is a human rights defender. After all, it should be everyone’s human right to be safe and un-harassed in public spaces and to have equal access to them! So thank you for everything you are doing to make public places safe and welcoming for everyone. You inspire me to do as much as I can to make the world a better, more humane place.

If you need ideas for how you can do more to defend the human right of safe access to public spaces, check out my new blog page Do Something! which lists lots of ideas, many of them from other human rights defenders. And feel free to share other ideas in the comments section.

As Pillay said, making a difference only takes commitment and courage. Human rights are worth that effort.

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