Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Why Hate the Player?

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I  love this! Young women in Canada have spoofed street harassment by making a PSA about the problem of women who harass men. They’ve got the stereotypical male harasser’s body language and attitude down to a T. For example, a young woman stands on a street corner and says:

“Sometimes we make a game out of it, see how many men we can pick up while standing on a street corner…What?…” Then she turns and shouts at someone outside the screen shot, “Hey! Hey! Hey! Pssst,” and then half under her breath, “Sexy.”

Think they’ve been harassed much? ….

(As usual, sorry wordpress won’t let me embed youtube. Follow the link)

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Need a gift idea?

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Do you need a gift idea or a way to honor someone you care about through a donation to a worthy cause? Consider donating to RightRides!

RightRides is an amazing organization in NYC helping women and LGBQT folks get home safely late at night on the weekends, and through New Yorkers for Safet Transit, they are working to make public transportation free from harassment and assault.

The following is from a RightRides email and details how YOU can make a difference in NYC and in your own city in 2010 to make all public places safer through making a donation to their organization. Consider making one today to honor the people you care about. I did.

JOIN OUR MOVEMENT FOR SOCIAL CHANGE IN THE NEW YEAR!

RightRides is a simple yet effective way of increasing community safety, and the program is now ready for national expansion! Our exciting plans for 2010 include:

* expanding our RightRides program to Washington D.C.

* expanding our RightRides program to San Francisco

* forming partnerships to help make expansion happen in other high-priority cities, including Boston and Philadelphia

* increasing service for RightRides New York, particularly on Friday nights

* working to make New York City’s mass transit safer as a founding member of the coalition New Yorkers for Safe Transit

* leveraging mobile technology to end sexual harassment with an innovative collaboration with HollabackNYC

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PLEASE SUPPORT OUR WORK!
You can give the gift of safety this season—make a donation in the name of a loved one!

Your generous contributions will be used for program costs such as the dispatch system, insurance policies, outreach materials, and driving team supplies. In addition to making a general donation, you can also direct your funds to one of our exciting new projects for 2010!

Help RightRides Expand to D.C.!
Click Here to learn more about the team working to foster RightRides DC and how you can support our work.

Help RightRides Expand to San Francisco!
Click Here to learn more about the team working to foster RightRides SF and how you can support our work.

Help New Yorkers for Safe Transit Protect Our Subways!
Click Here to learn more about New Yorkers for Safe Transit and how you can support our work.

If you would like to make a donation by check:

Checks should be made payable to RightRides. You may indicate that your donation should be earmarked for RightRides NYC, RightRides SF, RightRides DC, Hollaback! or New Yorkers for Safe Transit. Please mail the check to:

RightRides for Women’s Safety
26 Court Street Ste. 505
Brooklyn, NY 11242

All contributions made to RightRides are fully deductible to the extent allowed by the IRS, as RightRides for Women’s Safety is a registered 501(c)3 charitable organization. EIN #84-1668109.

If you would like to make a contribution via wire transfer, appreciated securities, or gifts of stock, please email us so we can forward you the appropriate transmittal instructions.

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$100,000 for stoves in Sudan

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Women at refugee camps often face sexual assault from militants/rebels/fighters when they leave the camps to gather firewood to cook food and to sell. As a result of this problem, over the last few years groups like Oxfam International have been working on relevant initiatives, such as having guards accompany women and providing cooking stoves to refugees so they do not need to gather firewood. While of course ideally the goal is for all public spaces to be free from harassment and assault, in the meantime I am glad to know that this problem specific to women (given the division of labor) is being acknowledged and addressed.

This past weekend, Calling All Crows, a service organization that mobilizes musicians and fans to promote human rights, finished a year-long effort to raise $100,000 specifically to fund stoves for people at refugee camps. They donated it to Oxfam, and Oxfam will use it to provide 5,000 fuel-efficient stoves to Sudanese women. This is part of their overall goals to end violence against women.

With all the bad stories out there, it’s nice to read one that is positive and inspiring. Way to go Calling All Crows!

Calling All Crows, from their website
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Thank you, male allies & survey results

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Two weeks ago I asked male allies to anonymously let me know their thoughts on how best to educate men about street harassment, engage them in activism, and empower them to do something if they see harassment occurring. This was for a book I am writing on street harassment. The last four chapters of my book focus on multi-layered efforts to end it. Educating men and empowering bystanders are just two of many tactics, but they are very important ones.

Thank you to the 85 allies who took it (and to everyone who passed along the survey to male allies). I already have incorporated several people’s quotes in the sections on bystanders and educating men and the multiple choice responses were useful in helping me decide what to include as realistic initiatives.

I think the survey responses will be useful to others working on this issue, so here they are.

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Activists in 17 countries meet for street harassment conference

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This past weekend, activists from 17 countries like Egypt, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia met in Cairo for a two-day conference to discuss the serious problem of men’s public harassment of women.

At the conference, attendees concluded that harassment was unchecked because “laws don’t punish it, women don’t report it, and the authorities ignore it. The harassment, including groping and verbal abuse, appears to be designed to drive women out of public spaces and seems to happen regardless of what they are wearing.”

Here is more information from the conference (via the AP):

  • “We are facing a phenomena that is limiting women’s right to move … and is threatening women’s participation in all walks of life,” said Nehad Abul Komsan, an Egyptian activist who organized the event.
  • Sexual harassment, including verbal and physical assault, has been specifically criminalized in only half a dozen Arab countries. Most of the 22 Arab states only outlaw overtly violent acts like rape, according to a study by Abul Komsan.
  • In Syria, men from traditional homes go shopping in the market place instead of female family members to spare them harassment, said Sherifa Zuhur, a Lebanese-American academic at the conference.
  • Amal Madbouli, who wears the conservative face veil or niqab, told The Associated Press that despite her dress, she is harassed.

I’m so happy to hear they were able to come together and discuss these issues. We need a global street harassment conference too, to discuss how we can work across all borders to make public places safe and welcoming for women!!

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