Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming
Last month, groups and organizations in 36 countries and 18 US states (and DC) took part in International Anti-Street Harassment Week!! Here is the wrap-up report featuring highlights from the week. View more photos here. THANK YOU everyone who took part!
Meet our newest blog correspondents! They will write monthly posts from May to August 2016.
Shahida Arabi, NY, USA
Shahida is a summa cum laude graduate of Columbia University graduate school and is the author of four books, including The Smart Girl’s Guide to Self-Care and Becoming the Narcissist’s Nightmare, a #1 Amazon Best Seller. As a passionate advocate for survivors of abuse, sexual assault and trauma, her writing has been featured on sites like The National Domestic Violence Hotline website, Elephant Journal, Dollhouse Magazine, Thought Catalog, and the Feministing Community blog. She studied English Literature and Psychology at NYU, where she graduated summa cum laude and was President of its National Organization for Women (NOW) chapter. Her blog, Self-Care Haven, has over 1.8 million views and has been shared worldwide in all 196 countries. Her work on emotional and psychological abuse has been shared by numerous clinical psychologists, mental health practitioners, bestselling authors, and award-winning bloggers. You can follow Shahida on Twitter and join her Facebook community.
Tharunya Balan, Bangalore, India
Tharunya is an urban planner and architect with a passion for issues of social, environmental and spatial justice, including the gendered ways in which urban spaces are designed and function. As a middle-class well-educated Indian woman in a large cosmopolitan city in the subcontinent, she constantly works to expand her understanding of gender, privilege, discrimination, and systemic oppression in her country and environment. She has a particular interest in including men in conversations around women’s issues and the ideas of safety, respect, and consent. She has a bachelor’s degree in architecture and a master’s degree in City and Regional Planning from the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she will be returning to obtain a degree in Geographic Infomations Systems Technology later this year.
Mariel DiDato, NJ, USA
Mariel is a recent college graduate, feminist, and women’s rights activist. Although she received her degree in Nutritional Sciences, she plans to pursue graduate degrees in the fields of Public Policy and Women’s Studies to turn her volunteer activism into a career. She began her activism as a confidential crisis advocate for sexual and domestic violence survivors for Rutgers University’s Office of Violence Prevention and Victim Assistance. Since her training, she has become completely immersed into the field of women’s health and rights. Currently, she volunteers for a number of different organizations, including the Planned Parenthood Action Fund of New Jersey and the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault. She is passionate about ending sexual violence, and is determined to see the elimination of rape culture in her lifetime. You can follow her on Twitter at @marieldidato or check out her personal blog, Fully Concentrated Feminism.
Deborah D’Orazi, NY, USA
Deborah is a recent MSW graduate who also received certification from American University’s Women and Politics Institute and Rutgers’ Center on Violence Against Women and Children. In addition to social work, Deborah is looking to pursue an MPP/MPA in order to help create policies that empower many different members of society, particularly those who are dealing with trauma. Deborah hopes to use her passion and skills to continue advocating and writing for human rights, gender and racial equity, trauma, HIV and AIDS, reproductive health and maternal care, LGBTQ issues, and economic inequality. In addition to social justice issues, Deborah is also extremely passionate about the arts (theater, writing, film, television, fine art, poetry, performance art), history, and Hamilton.
Hope Herten, IL, USA
Hope is a full-time undergraduate student studying public health and Spanish in Chicago, IL. After graduation in Spring 2017, Hope wants to return to her hometown of Cleveland, OH, and help work on outreach programs to improve the overall health of the community by focusing on minorities and high risk populations. Street harassment is intimately linked to the health of women, and as such is a serious public health issue. During her time in Chicago, Hope has participated in many protests and events trying to call awareness to women’s issues on campus and in the broader Chicago community. Her role model is Michelle Obama, a powerful woman who has devoted her life to many great causes like children’s health equity, the advancement of young women, and gender equality. If you want to keep up with Hope you can follow her on Twitter @hope_lucille or check out her public health blog.
Minying Huang, Amman, Jordan
Minying is a 19-year-old British-born Chinese student from Cambridge, England. She is studying for a BA in Spanish and Arabic at Oxford University and is currently on her Year Abroad in Amman, Jordan, where she spends far too much time gorging herself on syrupy cheese pastries, drinking copious amounts of mint tea, and trying to figure out how best to deal with street harassers. She is particularly interested in transcultural dialogue and intersectional approaches to activism, exploring the ways in which overlapping identities shape both individual and collective experiences of oppression and marginalisation. Outside of study, she likes to read, write, and draw; she has written for Your Middle East, and her poems and illustrations have been published in a number of student publications including feminist and LGBTQ+ zines. You can follow her on Twitter @minyingh.
Manish Madan, Ph.D., NJ, USA
Manish is a Professor of Criminal Justice at Stockton University where his research focuses on examining sexual harassment, gender empowerment, spousal abuse and policing issues. It is grounded in policy, international and comparative research. He teaches both undergraduate and graduate students. His research has appeared in International Criminal Justice Review, Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, Asian Journal of Criminology, and Journal of Criminal Justice and Security, and in many prominent media outlets including NY Times, India Today and The Economic Times. He was recognized with President’s Outstanding New Scholar Award by the Western Social Science Association in 2015. He frequently consults organizations on sexual harassment and gender issues. Manish earned his doctorate at Michigan State University and has Masters in Statistics, from India (Delhi) and Canada (Newfoundland). You can follow him @Prof_Madan or reach out to him at www.manishmadan.com.
Ginger Skinner, NY, USA
Ginger is a full-time reporter and long-time New Yorker with over 10 years of experience writing about health and wellness. Ginger is also a member of Brooklyn Movement Center’s No Disrespect anti-street harassment team, and is dedicated to deepening the conversations surrounding the causes of gender-based harassment and violence, and the intersections of race. She’s also a poet and essayist, currently working on a collection of poems on the impact of colorism on Black women and girls. She holds a BA from Howard University. Ginger enjoys drinking strong coffee, wearing shoes, listening to podcasts, and biking, and has an irrational fear of small talk and flying insects. Follow Ginger on Twitter at @ginger_skinner.
Turquoise A. Thomas, KS, USA
Turquoise is a 26-year-old freelance journalist, program manager at the Wichita Women’s Initiative Network, and a junior at Wichita State University. Upon graduating she plans to attend a joint Juris Doctor/Masters of Social Work Program. A California native, with a background in youth development and law enforcement, her current work focuses primarily on women, children and gender. In Fall 2015 she expanded her fieldwork and academic studies outward from California to the Midwest with the intention of expanding women’s services in underserved states such as Kansas. Turquoise is an avid public educator and presents regularly as the founder of SHERO Coalition (SHERO Co). Feel free to follow her on twitter @anthroisms or join her growing coalition SHERO on Facebook!
A major creeper/harasser in Florida was caught after he harassed Candice Spivey in the same way twice. This time, she chased him out of the store (see video) and he’s been arrested.
“He starts out his conversation with the same punch line he uses here in the very beginning of this video saying: “Hey there I don’t mean to bother you but I just bought this maxi dress for my wife at Ross and I was kinda worried about the sheerness of it,”‘ she said.
From the innocent opening line, she said the questions soon got ‘extremely inappropriate.’
‘For instance he starts asking his wife should wear the maxi dress with no panties, and if she should shave “down there” trying to make it seem very innocent in the way he’s asking. He then asks if you’re wearing panties, etc.
‘Whiles he’s asking these questions he’s filming you with his cell phone, and I knew he was by the way he was holding his phone.’…
The suspect had jumped in his vehicle and sped away – directly in front of a police car responding to the incident at the store, she added.
After a short police chase, he was pulled over and arrested for reckless driving….
Police confirmed Polizzi has previously been charged with video voyeurism and issued an appeal last week for any other potential victims to come forward.
Since then, scores of women have complained that they were approached by the man in similar scenarios.
Nassau County Sheriff’s Office posted: ‘Omg, so many! Please contact Det. Kelley, we want to keep a record. We appreciate it if you do.'”
Good for her!
Do you have an idea for an anti-street harassment project in your community but need some funds and guidance? Then apply for SSH’s Safe Public Spaces Mentoring Program. Groups anywhere in the world can apply.
Examples of past projects include: art projects, workshops in high schools, conducting community surveys, awareness campaigns and more.
Project proposals are due June 15, 2016 and the projects should take place between July 15 and November 30, 2016.
Each selected team will receive $350 for the project as well as advice, connections and publicity. Extra consideration is given to groups and individuals who may not have other funding sources available to them. Past recipients may apply again.
More recent news:
USA Today, “China introduces female-only bus service“
“A female-only bus service aimed at protecting women from sexual harassment launched this week in China, drawing praise and criticism.
The Zhengzhou 3rd bus company introduced the service on a popular route in the central city of Zhengzhou. It will run during busy commuting hours until early August.
“During the summer, women usually wear thinner clothes, making it easier for them to be harassed in crowded buses. … The all-female service will increase their convenience and safety,” said Kong Chaoping, the firm’s chairman, according to the Beijing Youth Daily newspaper.
The buses are recognizable by their big red signs that read, “Female-only.” They have stuffed animals and other kids’ toys suspended from the ceiling.
Sexual harassment is a common yet largely ignored problem on China’s public transportation system. More than 50% of women have experienced inappropriate touching or body contact while using the country’s trains and buses, a survey by the China Youth Daily newspaper found last year.
In 2014, the Women’s Federation of Guangzhou, a state-affiliated group, found that 85% of all sexual assaults in Guangzhou, a city in southern China, occurred while victims used the city’s public transportation network.”
Quartz, “Thousands of Mexican women are talking about sexual harassment for the first time“
“Rarely publicly acknowledged in Mexico, sexual harassment is being surfaced via Twitter hashtag #MiPrimerAcoso, or #MyFirstHarassment, by women posting their first experiences with male bullying and by others wanting to have an open discussion. Hundreds of thousands of posts have circulated in the last three days.
The drive, started by a Colombian columnist (link in Spanish) on Saturday, is reinforcing the issue after demonstrations Sunday (April 24) in Mexico City and other major cities attracted thousands of women. The Twitter record, a poignant collection of heartfelt confidences, will probably prove more powerful…
#MiPrimerAcoso reveals that many women first experienced harassment as girls, as young as five and six years old. The perpetrators of the abuse span a wide range, from relatives—older cousins and uncles are mentioned frequently—to policemen, to random strangers, and in one case, a therapist.”
Waging Nonviolence, “Mexican feminists declare a ‘violet spring’ on nationwide day of action“
“Tens of thousands of feminists protested across Mexico on Sunday, amid what they say is an epidemic of violence against women.
“We’re sick of suffering all kinds of abuse when we just walk in the street,” said Mari, a protester in the central Mexican city of Puebla, who was joined by hundreds of activists in Puebla’s city center, demanding justice for victims of femicide.
When the march reached the state government offices, activists accused local authorities of failing to bring perpetrators of violence to justice. One masked protester shouted, “The government here in Puebla lets them get away with impunity,” adding, “This isn’t just in Puebla, but all of Mexico.”
Declaring a “violet spring,” protesters called on women across Mexico to take a stand against sexism. One of the largest protests took place in Mexico City, where organizers railed against Mexico’s traditionally machista, or sexist, culture.
“It is evident that we need social re-education — to teach men not to harass, not violate, not hit, not threaten, not enslave, not abuse and not kill women and girls,” organizers said in a statement.”
The Verge, “India mandates panic button on all phones to help keep women safe“
“All mobile phones sold in India will be required to have a panic button as of next year, the country’s telecommunications ministry announced this week, as part of an effort to enhance safety for women. As Bloomberg reports, the order requires handset makers to implement an emergency feature that could be activated by holding down the numbers 5 or 9 on a keypad. The function will be mandatory on all phones by January 1st, 2017, while GPS navigation systems will be mandatory on all devices by 2018.
Women’s safety in India has drawn worldwide attention following reports of gang rapes and other forms of violence. There were more than 330,000 reported cases of violence against women in 2014, according to government statistics, up 9 percent from the previous year. The issue has spurred some companies to develop apps and services that make it easier for women to contact emergency services. India’s minister for women and child development, Maneka Gandhi, pushed for mandated panic buttons last year.”
‘Technology is solely meant to make human life better and what better than using it for the security of women,’ Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said in a statement.”
attn: “This Man’s Attempt to Take Upskirt Photos Just Backfired in an Extreme Way“
“A shocking piece of footage, in which a man eats his camera’s memory card after being caught allegedly filming upskirt videos, is gaining international attention.
According to the Chinese Publication People’s Daily, the video was filmed by a woman caught the alleged Peeping Tom in the act while riding the subway. The woman who shot the footage goes by the name Xiao Cha Cha A, Daily Mail reports. She posted the video on the Chinese social media service Weibo, with a caption reading, “I had tried to block his view a few times but he kept on taking them. I must expose him!”
In the video, the Xiao Cha Cha A is seen tugging at the man’s bag, and yelling, “delete the pictures, delete them. Look everybody, here is a pervert who takes upskirt pictures of women,” Daily Mail reports.
The man then eats his SD card. It is unclear if the woman forces him to do so, or if he eats the card voluntarily to destroy the evidence. In the final seconds of the 1:01-long video, the man can be seen fleeing the subway car.”
The Source, “[Los Angeles] Metro’s new anti-sexual harassment video“
“Metro launched its “Off Limits” campaign last spring in an effort to reduce sexual harassment on buses and trains. The campaign was a direct response to riders identifying this as an issue in Metro’s customer surveys.”