Contributor, Author at Stop Street Harassment

“It was still uncalled for”

October 30, 2015 By Contributor

I was in San Francisco, California, with my family on vacation. I was walking back to the hotel from the grocery store with my mother when a car full of guys yelled out the window at me. I’m not sure what they said but it was still uncalled for, especially when walking with my mother.

Optional: What’s one way you think we can make public places safer for everyone?

When you see it happening to someone else help them by calling out the perpetrator.

– AY

Location: San Francisco, CA

Share your street harassment story for the blog.
See the book 50 Stories about Stopping Street Harassers for more idea.

“This is the first time in my life when I am actually afraid”

October 29, 2015 By Contributor

I am a Latin woman living alone in The Netherlands. I speak Spanish and English, but I don’t speak Dutch. People here often ask about my culture and the role of women in society; they like to say women here are treated with equality, but sadly I have to tell them this is the first time in my life when I am actually afraid of going out in the night alone.

I have been followed 3 times in less than 10 months, catcalled almost every single day (sometimes I wish I could understand what they are actually saying) and even had a man danced ridiculously at me and not letting me follow my way at the train station.

The first time I was followed I realized a man was watching me and I decided to go shopping, several minutes later I realized he had followed me across the city centre, and now he was following me inside of the store, he approached and started asking questions about me and I told him to leave, the same mechanics repeated 5 times until he finally left. I felt so angry and powerless.

After that first time I tried to buy pepper spray, I couldn’t, it is illegal here. The second time I was followed I was carrying grocery bags, going home. I thought if the man didn’t leave me alone I could throw him something out at him. The third time, I was returning home from a club. A man started walking next to me asking me if I was going home and telling me to go back to the club, with him. I told him to go away but he didn’t listen and continued following me until I almost got home. I had to stop and tell him I would yell and call the police. When he finally left I ran home.

Again I felt powerless, this time I was not angry, I was afraid.

– MVM

Location: Eindhoven, The Netherlands

Share your street harassment story for the blog.
See the book 50 Stories about Stopping Street Harassers for more idea.

USA: Teens Educating Teens

October 29, 2015 By Contributor

Our four Safe Public Spaces Mentees are half-way through their projects. This week we are featuring their blog posts about how the projects are going so far. This post is from our team in the USA. Their projects are supported by SSH donors. If you would like to donate to support the 2016 mentees, we would greatly appreciate it!

Hey, I’m Tena, the founder of Me=You: Sexual Violence Awareness (MYSVA for short). My friends Jineth and Ash and I make-up MYSVA. We are a teen activism group that aims to get fellow teenagers talking about and preventing gender- and sexual orientation-based violence.

For the past few months, we have been working on the administration and promotion of MYSVA (setting up social media accounts, partaking in the SPSM program, setting up a bank account, and more). Just this month, I finally secured approval from the Palm Bay (Florida) City Manager to host MYSVA Chalk Day on Sunday, December 6; a day we, our friends, and passersby will write testimonies and anti-street harassment messages in chalk along the sidewalk outside the local library, Degroodt.

A few weeks ago, on October 13, MYSVA presented about violence issues to an audience of 15 teenagers at the Degroodt Library Teen Advisory Group Meeting.

First, via power point slides, we covered different types of sexual violence (street harassment, teen dating violence, domestic violence, etc.) and how to recognized them. Then, we role-played street harassment scenarios, with me as the bystander, Ash as the street harassment sufferer, and Danny (a person from the audience) playing the harasser. The bystander just watched and made excuses for the harasser, like “maybe he is just being nice” or “maybe he knows her”, as the victim was followed and catcalled.

The audience laughed when Danny’s character exclaimed, “Are you a beaver, ‘cuz DAMN!” but we made sure to emphasize how uncomfortable this is for a stranger to hear this from a random being off the street. We brainstormed different ways a bystander can intervene.

Also, we collected surveys on the teen audience’s experiences of harassment (to be analyzed in the near future). All in all, our audience was really receptive and we got positive feedback from them.

Plus, on October 6, I interviewed Ms. Sue Kiley, a licensed counselor and the director of program’s at the Brevard Women’s Center in Melbourne, Florida. I learned lots of new informatiom on the motivations behind harassment, especially stalking, and support available for those who have experienced it. I hope to share my new-found knowledge when we launch our website (coming soon!)

Tena Gordon is a high school student in Florida and the founder of MYSVA.

“Can’t wait to leave this area”

October 29, 2015 By Contributor

I live in Minneapolis and men are consistently saying things to me. I do not have a car so I am always walking and on public transit.

I moved here almost a year ago to save money for a year or so and then move away to London for graduate school. I was hoping to avoid this type of treatment but it seems to be really bad here in various parts of the city, on buses, and the light rail train. I am asked for money (to get my attention), offered rides, just anything to get my attention. Men are trying to get my attention as I walk down the street. Unfortunately it seems to be mostly Black men. I am a Black woman,

I cover myself (no cleavage) and don’t wear heels and makeup from years of being harassed on the street in Chicago where I grew up.

I don’t feel that I can truly wear what I want because of the level of ignorance that I experience here. I do rent a car occasionally and this is heaven to me. There is a car sharing service here that is .41 cents a minute but that gets expensive after a while.

Can’t wait to leave this area.

– Anonymous

Location: Lake Street and other areas in South Minneapolis, MN

Share your street harassment story for the blog.
See the book 50 Stories about Stopping Street Harassers for more idea.

“Any response I could have given would only have gratified him”

October 28, 2015 By Contributor

I was leaving a skate park with a kid I was babysitting. A high-school aged skater yelled at me as I left, “Are you a MILF? Are you a MILF? Are you a MILF?” My back was turned when he started, so I just kept walking without turning back. I felt embarrassed and powerless in the situation. Any response I could have given would only have gratified him.

– Anonymous

Location: Denver, CO

Share your street harassment story for the blog.
See the book 50 Stories about Stopping Street Harassers for more idea.

« Previous Page