HKearl, Author at Stop Street Harassment

Sexual Assault Awareness Month: 10 Ideas for Activism

April 1, 2010 By HKearl

Verbal gender-based street harassment would not be as threatening or scary if there was not a very real underlying threat of sexual violence. About one in six women will face sexual violence in her lifetime (roughly 17%). While most women will know the person who hurts them, the randomness of the attacks on those who do not can keep most women on guard when they are alone in public.

Ending sexual violence would make women feel safe in public and in general (though not always welcome in public if they’re still being demeaned and disrespected by verbal harassment).

Ending sexual violence is an abstract and seemingly unrealistic goal, but it is an important one. And we can each do small things to help achieve it. For example, in our daily life we can challenge sexism, always ask for consent with our sexual partners, and avoid using violence.

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) so I also want to highlight some of the many projects and initiatives you can become involved with to work to end sexual violence. The initiatives focus on raising awareness about the high rates of sexual assault and raising money to help fund essential programs focused on prevention and helping survivors. I’ve included a list of several of these below.

I hope this month everyone can do at least one thing – be it donating a few dollars to an anti-sexual violence organization or attending an event – to help bring us that much closer to the ultimate goal of ending sexual violence.

The National Sexual Violence Resource Center provides a variety of resources each year for Sexual Assault Awareness Month, including free reports and manuals and campaign materials. Their goal is to raise public awareness about sexual violence and to educate communities and individuals about how to prevent sexual violence. Order and use their items in your workplace, campus, or at a community event.
Organize or participate in The Clothesline Project, an initiative to bear witness to violence against women. Women affected by violence decorate a shirt and hang the shirt on a clothesline to be viewed by others as testimony to the problem of men’s violence against women. Read instructions on how to start a Clothesline Project in your community or on campus.
Participate in Denim Day in LA & USA. Make a social statement by wearing jeans on a designated day in April (this year it is April 21) as a visible means of protest against misconceptions that surround sexual assault. Order their Denim Day Action Kit and raise awareness at your workplace, neighborhood, or community. Encourage each person who participates to donate one dollar to Denim Day to fund prevention programming.
Are you a runner or walker? Sign up for a local race in April and fundraise for Jeans for Justice as part of their Justice in Motion program. All fundraising proceeds will go toward art-based educational initiatives about sexual assault at high schools and college campuses. (My parents and I are participating in this program by running a half marathon on April 11)
Organize or participate in a Take Back the Night March in your community or on campus and make a statement that women have the right to be in public and to go about their lives without the risk of sexual violence. Order a kit with resources for the event.
Organize or participate in a V-Day event. V-Day offers several performance and film screening options for groups to implement in their community in February, March, and April. The purpose of these events is to raise awareness about violence against women and girls as well as raise money for local beneficiaries that are working to end violence. There is no theater or producing experience necessary. Visit the V-Day website to learn how to organize a V-Day event.
Help start a White Ribbon Campaign in your community. By wearing a white ribbon, campaign members make a personal pledge to “never commit, condone or remain silent about violence against women and girls.” You can order materials to help challenge the community to speak out on the issue, learn about sexual violence, and raise public awareness.
During April you can order Men Can Stop Rape materials at a 30% discount. Order posters and hang them up in your community or workplace or on campus. Sign up for their summer training on prevention and involving men in ending sexual violence.
Are you on campus? Find out your campus sexual assault policy and participate in SAFER (Students Active for Ending Rape) and V-Day’s Campus Accountability Project. Submit your school’s policy for inclusion in their database. Want to improve your campus policy? SAFER offers various online resources and guides and they will even come to your campus to train you in how to go about improving the policy.
Volunteer or donate for a rape crisis center at the local or national level. Help raise money or donate to an organization like RAINN. (I’m coming up my second anniversary as a RAINN volunteer for their Online Hotline; it’s emotional but powerful and worthwhile work).

Thank you. You can make a difference!

Two street harassment surveys

March 31, 2010 By HKearl

Please help researchers who are studying street harassment by taking their online surveys!

#1: Via HollaBack NYC:

Louise Dreier, a graduate student at Columbia, is doing research on how street harassment affects the ways women use and exist in New York City and how the built environment affects street harassment.Lord knows this field needs more research, and quick! She has agreed to share her findings with Hollaback readers. Help her out by taking her quick survey!

(Note this survey is only for women in NYC to take)

#2: From Dr. Kimberly Fairchild and her students:

I’m conducting a study on the ability to predict another person’s actions and personality and we need participants. Our research suggests that even from limited information people can make accurate judgments about the dominant traits, emotional reactions, and behaviors of other people. The survey takes about 10 minutes to complete. If you are interested in participating, follow this link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/armstudy

(This survey is open to anyone. Also, note that it is a different study from the one I posted about a few weeks ago)

Welcome to 2006…or at least 2009, CNN

March 30, 2010 By HKearl

Warning – Possibly Triggering

On the CNN homepage is an article about the horrible Japanese video game RapeLay. In the game, players can grope girls on the subway and rape them in various locations. I covered this disgusting game twice last year, including linking to Equality Now’s call to action to write to various groups protesting the game. I also cover this game in my forthcoming book in the context of the outrageous problem of men groping women and teenage girls on the subway system in Japan.

I’m glad CNN is reporting on this issue because it’s a ridiculous, harmful game that should not even exist. But where were they last year when women’s groups and blogs were up in arms over it, or even better, in 2006 when it first came out? I get frustrated by how little or how late or how out of context (ie not addressing the context of misogyny and gender inequality these stories take place in) mainstream news tends to address egregious stories about men’s violence against women, usually taking place in real life, but also, as this story, shows, in virtual life.

Weekly Round Up March 28, 2010

March 28, 2010 By HKearl

Stories:

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

On this blog, a woman in Dawson Creek, BC, Canada tells how an older man stalked her for years when she was a teenager, a woman in Edmonton, AB, Canada, had a man follow her for several blocks before demanding she go out with him, a woman in Bogor, Indonesia, shares how men harass her while she wears a veil, a woman in France talks about the numerous times men harassed her during a few hours period last Saturday, a woman in Washington, DC, shares how men gawked at her and then pretended they thought she was ugly after she said “Ew” to them, a woman in Virginia was harassed on her way to work on the bus by a very vulgar harasser, and a woman in Washington, DC, was harassed on her way to buy coffee.
On HollaBack NYC a man shares how he and his female friend were photographed by a creepy guy on the subway and another woman yells at a bold harasser and gives advice to women on what they can do to report harassers.
On HollaBack DC! a man harassed a woman about her hair as she waited for the bus and another woman and her friend are harassed by a man masturbating near them while they chatted on a park bench.
On HollaBack Chicago a woman tells how a man propositioned her while she was riding her bicycle at 7 a.m.!

In the News:

Arlington (VA) County police issued a warning because 11 incidents of indecent exposure have been reported on a bike trail across the last two months.
UK’s Hackney Post features the new anti-street harassment campaign in the UK.
In the Washington City Paper, Amanda Hess answers the question “But how do I know if I’m a street harasser?”

Announcements:

The submission deadline for an anthology on Queering Sexual Violence is extended until May 1, 2010.
The Safe Delhi Campaign is looking for volunteers and interns.
Blank Noise in India is looking for new logo submissions
RightRides/New Yorkers for Safe Transit is hiring
If you’re interested in becoming a RightRides driving team volunteer, email volunteer@rightrides.org – orientations will be occuring throughout April.
HollaBack NYC is looking for volunteers with various skill sets to help them take their work to the next level.
Share why you “Holla Back” for the HollaBack NYC website.

Upcoming Events:

If you’re in the Washington, DC, area, HollaBack DC! is hosting or participating in several events across the next few weeks, check out the info on their site.
Sign up for Washington, DC, based Defend Yourself’s annual class on dealing with street harassers, being held on May 22.

Resource of the Week:

The Safe Delhi Campaign – working to make cities safe for women

Weekly Round Up March 21, 2010

March 21, 2010 By HKearl

Stories:

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

On this blog, a woman in Los Angeles is arrested after she sprays mace at an aggressive harasser (!), a woman in Georgetown, DC, tells a harasser to stop and he tells her she can’t tell him what to do, a woman in Georgetown, DC, gets an apology from a harasser, and a woman in NYC is harassed by a group of teenagers on the subway on St. Patrick’s Day.
On HollaBack NYC, a woman helps get a pervert at a diner kicked out, a group of women harass another woman using race-based slurs, a woman photographs a creepy guy on the train, and a group of men harass a woman from their car as she walks home in Brooklyn.
On HollaBack DC, a woman is grabbed by a man on a subway escalator, a guy threatens to walk a woman home, a man yells out to a woman from his car and then curses at her when she doesn’t thank him for the “compliment,” another woman gets into a dialogue with a harasser after he calls her sweetheart, and another man tells a woman he has condoms and all he wants is one night with her.
Street harassment stories on other blogs: “Rape Culture Hurts Everyone,” on Feminuity, “Street Harassment [in Morocco],” on Studying Abroad, and “Dear Creepers,” on Stories from the Realm.

In the News:

My Republica reported on street harassment in Nepal.
A man was arrested under suspicious of assaulting two transwomen in NYC with a metal pole.
Toronto’s The Globe and Mail printed an article entitled “Guys, catcalls are never cool” (I’m quoted in it).
Numerous news sources and blogs reported on research by Stephanie Chaudoir and Diane Quinn of the University of Connecticut that revealed that based on how women who are harassed feel, men who harass women in public give all men a bad name.

Announcements:

HollaBack NYC is looking for volunteers with various skill sets to help them take their work to the next level.
Share why you “Holla Back” for the HollaBack NYC website.

Events:

Resource of the Week:

Todd Denny’s book Unexpected Allies: Men Who Stop Rape

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