Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Street Fighter

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An Indian newspaper The Telegraph has a great article discussing the street harassment women in Calcutta regularly face, how women tend to react, what they can do about it, and the challenges they may face if they try to respond to or report harassers. Sreyashee Bhaduri, a 30 year old woman who decided to take action against her harasser, is mentioned throughout the piece. I recommend reading the whole article if you have time.

Things they say you can do if harassed (they also noted potential roadblocks with each):

  1. Make a scene or embarrass the harasser; scream; let people know what happened.
  2. Try to solicit help from other people and/or police  nearby.
  3. File a police report and know your rights.
  4. Lodge a FIR (first information report), which is the first step in taking legal action against a harasser.

Street harassment law in India:

Indian Penal Code (IPC). Section 509 of the IPC states: “Whoever intending to insult the modesty of a woman utters any word, makes any sound or gesture, or exhibits any object, intending that such word or sound, shall be heard, or that such gesture, or object, shall be seen, by such woman, or intrudes upon, the privacy of such woman, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend, to one year, or with fine, or with both.”Section 294 speaks of obscene acts and language in public being punishable with imprisonment or fine or both. Section 354 also says assault or criminal force used on a woman to outrage her modesty is punishable.

Final thought:

“‘Most people refuse to take street sexual harassment as a serious crime. It is something that is often taken for granted — something that is bound to happen,’ says Saptarshi Chakraborty, a 22-year-old engineer and a core member of Blank Noise, a volunteer-based collective that deals with issues around street sexual harassment.

Some will laugh. Some will say: ‘If she has such a problem, why walk on a road?’ Some will say: ‘Ki hoyechhe Didi, chhere din!’ (It’s a small thing; let him go!)

Then you feel like giving up. You may even feel tempted to feel as the men in the crowd feel: that it doesn’t matter. But just remember your feeling of outrage once more.'”

This last part rings true to me. Some days it seems like it’d be so easy to give up fighting street harassment, but sadly (because I wish street harassment would end already) I always come across some new outrage that motivates me a while longer.

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One Year Anniversary!

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Thank you readers and street harassment-fighting allies — this marks the one-year anniversary of the Stop Street Harassment blog!

I didn’t know how long I would be blogging when I started, but here I am, still going strong one year later 🙂

I’d love to hear more from you during the coming year. You can share you story/ies via an anonymous online form or e-mail them to stopstreetharassmentATyahoo.com and I’ll post them here. Also feel free to comment on posts!

Do you have any suggestions or overall thoughts for what you’d like to see covered on this blog or ways I can improve it during year two?

P.S. Over the weekend I made several updates to the companion Stop Street Harassment website, including a new banner and stories illustrating various types of harassment women experience (click on the links in opening paragraph on the homepage).

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Bystander Intervention in Savannah Sexual Assault

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Sunday night a woman was approached by three men while she was walking alone in the Savannah-Chatham (GA) metro area. They tried to talk to her and she ignored them (as most women do when they experience street harassment from unknown men, especially when they’re alone at night). Then two of the men pushed her to the ground while the third sexually assaulted her.

A wonderful bystander was driving by and yelled at the men, who then ran away. The driver helped the woman get home and she filed a police report. The police are currently investigating the incident.

Via Savannah’s local NBC station: “Anyone with information concerning this incident is asked to contact Detectives at 912-651-6742 or Crime Stoppers at 912-234-2020 or text CRIMES (274637) and in the body type ‘CStop2020’ plus the tip.  Tipsters can remain anonymous and may qualify for a cash award.”

Safety is always a concern during street harassment incidents and one never knows when a harasser might escalate his actions into assault. The safest (but not necessarily the most empowering) course of action usually is to ignore a harasser, which she did and they still assaulted her. Men who harass and assault women must change their behavior!  All women should have the right to be out in public – regardless of whether or not they are alone or if it’s dark out – and be safe.

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Street Harassment Round Up – May 24

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Stories:

On Holla Back DC! a contributor tells how a metro employee made kissing noises at her as she raced for her train.

As mentioned in the last three week round ups, since April 26, HollaBack NYC has been posting one photo a day of street harassers. They will continue to do so for a month. All of the photos are being submitted by one woman, Sally N., a New York City resident. Emily at HollaBack NYC says, “We believe these pictures tell the story of what it’s like to be a woman in the big apple.” Visit HollaBack NYC to see these photos.

Share your street harassment story today and help raise awareness about the problem!

In the News:

  • Young women in Sri Lanka get harassed on their way to and from work by “zipper men.”

Upcoming Events:

Street Harassment Resource of the Week:

Ross Macmillan, Annette Nierobisz and Sandy Welsh’s article “Experiencing the Streets: Harassment and Perceptions of Safety Among Women” (2000).

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"Zipper Men"

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In Sri Lanka, thousands of young girls travel from their rural villages to places like Biyagama to work in factories. They usually work for five years before returning to their villages to marry (this description reminds me of factory girls in New England during the Industrial Revolution). The living and working conditions are generally grueling.

An article from the Sunday Times says:

“For the girls working in the FTZ, malnourishment and poor facilities such as lack of water and lavatories sans doors a distance from their rooms are the least of their problems.

Away from their families and villages, these girls not only face sexual harassment on the road but also within the congested compounds they live in.

Sexual harassment was seen as a serious problem for young girls going to or returning from work, by 21-year-old Kumari*, who says with stoic resignation that they are compelled to come to towns far away from home because they cannot get the same wages. ‘We are forced to come to the city for work,’ she laments, explaining that they move around in groups to avoid these problems.

As girls work at odd hours and also sometimes have to go to the common well for their baths, chain snatchings have become routine, while catcalls and obscenities are also everyday happenings which they ignore. “Zipper men”, the girls’ name for perverts, stalk them.

“Three-wheeler drivers stop and ask, ‘Nangi koheda yanne’, offering to give a ride,” said Kumari.
Certain groups in these areas think they can do whatever they want with the girls, stresses Mr. Marcus, explaining that in addition to harassing them, they sometimes strike up love affairs to get money from the girls. “The girls are lonely and sometimes gullible,” he says adding that many of them fall into trouble and undergo illegal abortions.

There are many quacks operating in these areas, according to him, but these problems are never discussed in the open. “It’s accepted and forgotten.”

A recent trend has also been cyclists and motorcyclists “putting vettu” (veering) towards them and sometimes going out of control and actually knocking them down. A girl who was seriously injured was not even paid for her medical treatment, some alleged, adding that even though a complaint was made to the police no action was taken against the culprit.”

This story breaks my heart. What power do they have against these men? What power do they have to change their lives of poverty?

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