Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

17-year sentence

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A man in San Francisco sexually assaulted a woman and – thankfully – now will be serving a 17-year, 8-month sentence (the maximum) for the crime. DNA evidence has linked him to the rape and strangulation of another woman in 2007 though no charges have been filed. Both women are transgender prostitutes, and, sadly, it seems we can add them to a long list of women targeted for assault and murder because (at least in part) of their occupation and to a long list of people targeted for assault and murder for being transgender.

The fact that the assailant is being charged is evidence of some social change though because I’m not sure he would have been in years past – or maybe he wouldn’t have been today in a less human-rights oriented city.

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15-year old girls help nab groper

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Here’s a bad story with a good ending. In Edmonton, Canada, a man groped two teenage girls on different occasions on a bus.

“In the latter case, the alleged groper slipped his hand onto the victim’s seat as she sat down, Tabler said. The girl told a friend about the incident, who recognized the man as someone who had touched her inappropriately at an earlier date. The girls both took pictures of the man with their cellphones and then called police.”

A few hours after the police released the man’s photo, he was arrested and charged with one count of sexual assault (not sure why it’s not two if he assaulted both of them on separate occasions). The man is 52 years old, the girls are both 15. What the hell.

(In an unrelated incident, the article reports that another man groped a 24 year old woman on the bus last week in the same town.)

What is great about this story is how the girls worked together in an empowering way, took photos of and reported the harasser and now he’s being held accountable for his unacceptable and illegal behavior. They are inspirational!

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Street Harassment Problem in Morocco

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Seriously, is there a region (besides maybe Scandinavia) where street harassment is not a problem? I just came across an article about how pervasive the problem is in Morocco.

“Many girls suffer molestation in the streets of Morocco which often turns into sexual harassment. And in most cases it becomes difficult for these girls to respond or even to report these violations to the authorities, because the relevant law in this aspect has not been ratified yet.”

Girls and women share their harassment experiences in the article and some men talk about why it happens, including blaming their targets by saying they dress provocatively (Puleaze. I’m beyond tired of that excuse.)

The article ends on a positive note though. It tells how Adib Abdel-Salam, a founding member of the Network against Sexual Harassment Cases in Morocco, advocates for the creation of a toll-free number to help women report their cases of harassment (workplace or street) and for an easier courts process to make it easier for harassment targets to use legal means to combat it. He also stresses the importance of education and promoting respect among people. In 2008, the Moroccan parliament discussed a draft law to criminalize sexual harassment but it hasn’t been ratified.

So it seems, like many other regions around the world, the Moroccan government is starting to recognize this problem and hopefully in time will  remedy it.

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Bangladesh Suicide Prompted by Harassment

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Ugh, so sad 🙁 The New Nation is reporting that a young woman in Khulna, Bangladesh, hanged herself due to her humiliation at being street harassed (or eve teased). The accused man has been arrested. I am so sorry this young women is dead. Horrible.

Of the problem in general, the author of the article writes, “The problem is very widespread. School and college girls and female garment workers top the list of victims. Eve teasing contributes to dropouts of girls from schools or early marriage.”

These are some of the issues I cover in my forthcoming street harassment book: how young women and poor women are the most vulnerable to street harassment — because they are in public alone more often and because street harassment is about power and they are generally less powerful than other women or men and thus easier “prey” — and that harassment can keep women from living free, authentic lives. There will be no gender equality anywhere in the world until this problem ends.

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Weekly Round Up Jan. 24, 2010

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Stories:

I accept street harassment submissions from anywhere in the world.
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In the News:

Announcements:

  • Want an easy way to report harassers from your phone or want to receive a report showing all the places harassment has recently occurred? Then vote for HollaBack 2.0! This is a proposed project by HollaBack NYC and RightRides and they’re in the second round of a competition for funding to make this a reality.

Events:

Resource of the Week:

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