Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Weekly Round Up: November 7, 2010

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Now Available: HarassMap and iPhone App

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For more than two years, activists in Egypt have been working on HarassMap, a tool that allows people to report their harassers via SMS messaging and email. Those reports are included on a map that will be used for prevention and policy making to end street harassment. It’s mentioned in my book and when I met with NYC activists Emily May (HollaBack) and Oraia Reid (RightRides) in June 2009 as part of my book research and mentioned it, they were inspired to start working on an iPhone app.

I’m happy to report that both HarassMap and the iPhone App are working and available!

Rebecca Chiao, one of the team leads of HarassMap, just sent this message via the HarassMap Facebook group:

“Thanks to everyone who tried out HarassMap! We need your feedback on how to make it better and more effective. We’re still working on messages, design, and adding more interactive sections on the site (a forum for women to share experiences and tips, self defense videos, etc.) [If you’re in Egypt], please make a report for every time you’re harassed. You don’t have to give your name, just tell us a little about what happened and where. Then send us your feedback on how easy it was to use, or what you would change.

Thanks to you, our tech partners, probono partners, volunteers and supporters for helping us to test the site. Make a report here.”

And from Emily May on the HollaBack website:

“Finally! We are so proud to announce that the iPhone app is in stores.  This app was funded by 356 donors, and we are so, so grateful for their support.  Download it today, here! The Droid app will be coming out within the next few days, stay tuned!”

Read the great NYTimes article that just came out about it.

So if you can and if they are applicable to you, please start using these methods to report your harassers!

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In Bangladesh, students protest eve teasing, police talk strategy

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I just came across two articles about eve teasing in Bangladesh:

Protesters, Image via BBC

1. School and college students held a rally in Dhaka to protest against ‘eve teasing’ and the sexual harassment of women in the latest in a series of protests following a number of suicides and killings involving women subjected to bullying and harassment. The protesters are urging the Bangladesh government to take proper steps to curb sexual harassment and provide better protection for women.

Via BBC News:

“Unable to bear the insults, some women have committed suicide. Activists say stalking and sexual harassment has led to the deaths of more than 24 people, most of them women, since the beginning of this year. In recent days, some who have spoken out against sexual harassment have been murdered. A 50-year-old woman died after a motorcycle was driven over her when she protested against the bullying of her daughter last week. A college teacher who spoke out against such bullying was also murdered.”

Outrageous!

“Following the suicides and killings, the High Court has asked the government to take measures to prevent stalking. Officials in the district of Tangail are now offering karate training to all female school and college students. Learning martial arts makes girls better able to protect themselves, they say.”

And will there also be trainings for boys and men to not harass girls and women?!

2. In the Daily Star, police talk about their strategies for dealing with eve teasing. Inspector General of Police (IGP) Hassan Mahmood Khandker requested the media to term ”eve teasing” as an offence so that harassers are held accountable. He said he is also considering assigning personnel to whom victims of harassment can send SMS for help.

Because there tends to be more harassment around festivals like Eid-ul-Azha, over 50 thousand additional law enforcers will span the country as of November 11.”A three-stage security arrangement will be designed to make sure the safety of people before, after, and on the Eid day,” Khandker said.

It is sad that it took suicides for people will take this issue seriously in Bangladesh (UNICEF even has programs there now, earlier this year the first jail sentences were given to harassers, and the government declared an Eve Teasing Protection Day). And now, in many ways, Bangladesh is doing more than many countries – including the US – to deal with this issue. Will it take suicides in the US before stakeholders pay attention? Apparently murders aren’t enough.

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A widow because of a street harasser

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Trigger Warning – Definitely a Sad Post 🙁

Street harassment sometimes ends in murder, a pointless end to a life.  The cases I’ve read about have been similar – the harasser kills the woman he was harassing. It is the worst way a harassment incident can end.

Yesterday on the HollaBack DC! site, I read about another harassment incident that ended in murder. This time the person killed was the husband of the woman experiencing the harassment. From HollaBack DC!

Yesterday we received this email:

Hey Holla Back DC, I’m an Arlington resident originally from New Orleans.  A friend of a friend was murdered in the french quarter over the weekend because some a-hole was yelling at his wife.  She ignored and the harasser didn’t like that.

The comments by Tigers119 tell the story of what happened beyond the shoddy TP reporting. I don’t expect y’all or any other hollaback outlet to publish anything, but I needed to share this story with people who actually care and WON’T try to blame the widow.

Even though this happened in NOLA, we recently spent time in New Orleans and wanted to share this with the DC community. Our hearts go out to the widow. Catcalling should NEVER lead to murder.

Here is the report from nola.com:

A 23-year-old Metairie man died from stab wounds Sunday after getting into an argument with a motorist in the French Quarter.

Coroner’s Office investigator John Gagliano identified the victim as Ryan Lekosky.

The incident occurred at the intersection of Dauphine and Iberville Streets, shortly after 3:30 a.m. when Lekosky and his wife were walking on the sidewalk when a man drove alongside them and allegedly began yelling inappropriate comments about Lekosky’s wife, New Orleans police said.

Lekosky’s wife confronted the man and the two began fighting. Lekosky was stabbed several times when he tried to break up the struggle, police said.

Continue reading.

This is truly devastating. And of course there will be people who will say she shouldn’t have responded, she aggravated the situation; it’s her fault her husband is dead. But it IS NOT. The harasser/murderer is at fault for starting the whole thing and then escalating it. If we always walk silently by when men harass us, if we learn to avoid public places where it occurs, then the harassers win. We have the right to be in public and it is our right to confront our harassers, if we wish, to tell them so.

My heart goes out to her, a widow because of a street harasser.

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Weekly Round Up: October 31, 2010

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Story Submissions Recap:

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

In the News, On the Blogs:

Announcements:

10 Tweets from the Week:

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