Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Brazil: How Feminists are Changing Street Carnival

By

Yasmin Curzi, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, SSH Blog Correspondent

Credit: Marcelo Valle

“Street carnival” in Brazil can be defined as an open encounter for all kinds of people in public spaces, such as streets, corners and squares, across hours (or days).

Each neighborhood has its favorite blocks, blocos, and during Carnival in early February, there will be nearly 500. It’s the only moment during the whole year when people actually stand in these spaces; during the rest of the year they only serve as transitory spots.

The fact that people can remain in the city in order to celebrate life, dancing, drinking, flirting, wearing costumes (many of them with political themes) contrasts with a certain vision of a “blasé” city, that serves only to reproduce capitalism. Street Carnival, therefore, is a political manifesto by itself.

Carnival brings a general feeling of freedom – and that is a beautiful thing. But too much freedom, with our cultural issues such as misogyny, can lead to an increase in harassment and sexual violence cases. Men can turn really aggressive in their approach toward women and it’s almost impossible, as a woman, to go anywhere alone without being vulnerable to these aggressions. Thus, in order to try to stay safe, women worry about their behavior, what they should or should not wear, what amount of alcohol to ingest, and how they’ll get to and from places. Of course, these are all the things that most of us women worry about everyday in order to avoid sexual violence (a study by Think Olga showed that of almost 8,000 respondents in Brazil, 98 percent of them had faced street harassment) – but during Carnival, we pay even more attention. In contrast, men are free to do anything they want in the blocks, with their only  fear perhaps being pickpockets.

Despite these situations, Carnival in Rio is one of the most wonderful spectacles we have. The city is always colorful and there’s an inexplicable magic in the air that everyone can feel. Its energy reaches even the grumpiest person. Carnival itself is not a problem; the violence that occurs during it is the problem that we want to eradicate. But we can’t do that without a profound cultural change. Therefore, feminists are organizing campaigns, safe spaces and blocks to enable equity in Carnival.

In Rio, the journalist and activist Renata Rodrigues started a “safe space” samba street block named “Mulheres Rodadas” (Women Who Get Around). The name was in response to a viral post of a man with a sexist sign reading, “I don’t want a woman who gets around.” This feminist Carnival block “Women Who Get Around” attracted thousands of followers and supplied much more than street samba. It built a whole network of support to battered women who can learn how to play instruments. It serves as a support group. Also, they promoted an awareness-raising campaign for a harassment-free Carnival with the hashtag “#CarnavalSemAssedio” (#CarnivalWithoutHarassment).

Image via Minas de Vermelho Facebook page

Last Carnival there was also a campaign called “Minas de Vermelho” (“Girls in Red”). Women wear red lace on their arm to symbolize solidarity with other women, so if one girl or woman suffers or is afraid of suffering an aggression, she can search for women wearing these laces to find safety.

These are examples of how feminists are tackling sexism in Carnival and transforming it from being more than just a party, but a disruptive demonstration. This is one hell of a way to advocate for women’s right to the city and produce cultural changes.

Yasmin is a Research Assistant at the Center for Research on Law and Economics at FGV-Rio. She has a Master’s Degree in Social Sciences from PUC-Rio where she wrote her thesis on street harassment and feminists’ struggles for recognition. 

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USA: A Defense of #MeToo

By

Dovie Jenkins, Detroit, MI, USA, SSH Blog Correspondent

#MeToo has been a boon to those seeking justice for the victims of sexual harassment and assault. However, celebrities and regular people alike have recently criticized #MeToo and other anti-harassment movements. One species of criticism claims that the individuals accused of harassment are merely exercising their expressive freedoms, like freedom of speech or the “right to pester.” The basic argument works like this: “Pesterers” have a right to exercise expressive freedoms, even if some find the exercise of these freedoms offensive. Constraining the exercise of these freedoms is an injustice. The #MeToo movement and others like it constrain the exercise of these expressive freedoms. So, the #MeToo movement and others like it, are unjust.

I assert that this particular indictment of #MeToo fails: it is perfectly possible to exercise one’s rights in a way that warrants moral condemnation and sanction, and #MeToo is a reasonable response to these kinds of moral wrongs.

To understand this, consider the following hypothetical person. Jones enjoys saying whatever cruel thing pops into his mind. He tells a cashier that the cashier is a loser. He informs the bank teller that she is a fat idiot. When a Facebook acquaintance loses a parent, Jones comments “hahahhahaha.” It’s hard to deny that Jones has a right to say these things, but it’s also clear to most of us that Jones is doing something morally wrong. If the recipients of Jones’ cruelty started #JonesisaJerk to call attention to the abuse they’ve suffered at Jones’ hands, we’d think this is reasonable. Furthermore, if Jones’ cruel behavior resulted in a hostile workplace, many think that it would be appropriate to sanction Jones. Like Jones, pesterers exercise their expressive rights in ways that make others feel hurt, afraid, uncomfortable, ashamed, and undervalued. We generally think that comments that cause needless harm are morally bad. The #MeToo movement calls attention to these comments, and like #JonesisaJerk, this is a reasonable response to moral wrongs. Furthermore, like the Jones case, it’s reasonable for others to react negatively to pestering behavior.

One might worry that there are two important points of dis-analogy between Jones and the pesterers: (1) Jones intended to be cruel, whereas pesterers intend to compliment the objects of their pestering; and (2) the content of Jones’ comments is insulting, whereas the content of pestering is complimentary, even if these compliments are sometimes phrased in vulgar ways. These differences, one might argue, are morally relevant. However, both objections fail for similar reasons. (2) presumes that the content of a comment is what makes the comment morally acceptable. “Fat idiot” is an insult, and therefore is morally wrong. “Hey beautiful” is a compliment and should therefore be regarded as morally acceptable. This attitude in fact ignores many of the experiences recounted with #MeToo, but even if we assume that the content of pestering is not overtly insulting, this objection doesn’t succeed. Imagine that Smith is particularly sensitive about her appearance. Jones knows this. However, since Jones is a jerk, he sarcastically comments “hey beautiful” as she walks past. As predicted, Smith feels uncomfortable and self-conscious as a result. Though the content of Jones’ comment is superficially complimentary, the intent to cause Smith discomfort is enough to make Jones’ comment wrong.

This brings us to (1). Some claim that, unlike Jones, pesterers do aim to compliment pesterees. They argue that sometimes these efforts are misguided and miss the mark, but #MeToo and other anti-harassment initiatives ultimately penalize individuals for well-intentioned gestures. However, one of the following must be true: either pesterers know that the objects of pestering resent these “compliments” or the pesterers do not know this. If the pesterers know that these “compliments” are unwelcome and cause distress, then the pesterers don’t have benevolent motives. If the pesterers do not know how individuals respond to their comments, then they have failed to be a responsibly informed citizen (there’s considerable evidence that these comments cause distress), and this is a moral failing. In either case, (1) doesn’t cut it.

#MeToo and other grassroots anti-harassment initiatives raise a number of important questions about what should be done about harassment. However, I have shown that an appeal to the expressive rights of harassers/pesterers is not a satisfactory moral objection to anti-harassment movements. Sexual pestering is morally wrong for the same reason that bullying is wrong- it causes needless distress in its targets. The moral wrongness of pestering/harassment is compatible with the exercise of expressive freedoms. Most importantly, given that pestering is morally wrong, #MeToo and other anti-harassment initiatives rightly call attention to this abuse.

Dovie is a Graduate Teaching Assistant at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, where she is currently pursuing an M.A. in Anthropology and Philosophy. Dovie’s academic interests include the evolution of moral reasoning, moral psychology, ethics, and epistemology. She is also interested in public philosophy, specifically issues relating to gender equality.

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Brazil: ”A few small nips” and the devaluation of women’s lives

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Trigger warning – mentions of rape and homicide

Yasmin Curzi, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, SSH Blog Correspondent

The painting is by Frida Kahlo. Sofia Mandelert aptly described in this article , “Painted in 1935, it’s inspired in a news report about a bloody homicide. A drunk man that stabbed his girlfriend twenty times on a bed and, when interrogated by the police, said that there were only “a few small nips”. The painting is crude and impactating, retracting the crime scene: the woman’s body lies naked over a bloody bed, while the man faces her in an apathetic way, with the crime weapon in his hands. The woman had her body covered with open wounds (…) To complete the aggressiveness of the scene, as a result of the bestial attack, the woman’s blood sprays all over the frame. However, not everything is death and grief in the scene. (…) Sneakily, the horrifying scenario is transformed into a caricature with the presence of bucolic elements, as the delicate silk pillowcase and the walls are painted with a happy combination of pink and blue. The joke is finished with a romantic pennant held by two doves, one white and one black, where the title of the work can be seen.”

Maré’s Favela (Rio de Janeiro/RJ): Valdina de Souza Araújo, 44 years old, street vendor. Constantly assaulted by her partner, the taxi-driver Eduardo Martim da Silva, one day she went missing. Her clothes were found covered with blood in his house.

Mickey’s Community (Niterói/RJ): Michelle Ferreira Ventura, 30 years old, maid. After being constantly harassed by her neighbored, Leonardo Bretas Vieira, Michelle stood up to him. He beat her until she lost consciousness. After four months in the hospital, she died.

São Paulo: Clara Averbuck, writer and feminist activists. She was raped by an Uber driver but did not report it to the authorities knowing how the system operates against women’s dignity and she didn’t want to be violated again by the State. In order to give voice to victims of this type of violence, she started a campaign entitled “#myharasserdriver/ #myabuserdriver”.

Recently released information from Women’s Dossier[1] shows the dimension of the dramatic scenario of violence against women in Rio de Janeiro. In the last three months of 2016, 42 attempts of murder of women were qualified as gendered crimes, signifying 27,3% of the total. A woman’s life was threatened, simply for being a women, every two days. The notifications of rape shows that 39,8% of the aggressors were somehow related with the victims (8,9% her partner or ex-partner). In addition, 55,5% of the victims were young girls, under 14 years old.

The stories of Valdina and Michelle, selected among thousands, show us that neither public spaces nor the domestic sphere are safe for women. Violence against women is the norm in this society.

It’s usual to associate the male protagonists of cruelty crimes against women as psychopaths, monsters, or mentally ill men that, by their nature, are “inherently violent”. This type of discourse intends to dissociate those who commit a violent act from the rest of the society. We can apply penalties toward them. We can exclude them from our social lives.

Except that, in fact, these men are ordinary men. They are men that live with these women who have regular lives, regular jobs and regular social relations. Thus, it’s a much more complex scenario, one that, maybe, people don’t want to face. It’s easier not to think about the changes that society really needs to make. In other words, to realize that these men are ordinary men implies that it’s not the individual behavior that is the real cause of the violence against women, but instead it’s the whole mindset that permeates our society that makes this violence possible. There are no “bad apples” needing to be removed from a barrel of pretty apples. The whole barrel is putrefied. It is a whole culture funded in the disrespect of women and a whole history of deprivation of equal value informing all of our relations.

Devaluation of women starts in the very first years of their lives: boys are more wanted than girls in some religions and societies. Then, usually parents raise their girls without the same freedoms that are given to boys and socialize them with the idea that they are fragile or incapable of doing things on their own. They are also forced to do housekeeping, while boys aren’t. Often, teachers opt to hear boys instead of girls in schools. So girls are more silenced. Media and propaganda leads them to think that they are never good enough – not pretty enough, nor smart enough. All of these are types of psychological violences which cause several traumas in women’s lives. Young girls are also the very first victims of trafficking of persons for sexual exploitation, domestic abuse and rape. Women are disrespected in the work sphere – in Brazil, black women are the main group in the informal market. Also, women are generally not recognized by their attributions in the formal market, suffering from sexual harassment, inequality of payment, demission after giving birth, etc.

Both private and public sphere are unsafe for women because they are not protected from abuse, rape, homicide and others types of violences.

My intention in this article is to show that violence against women, in all its forms, is a symptom of a mindset that constitutes the structure of our society. And this mindset is the fundamental root of that putrified barrel. All violence is connected by disrespect and by the devaluation of women that makes them a second-class group in our society.

In order to put an end to violence against women we must face this structure, change the way women are perceived at a much more profound level. This involves discussing education, intimate relations, media, democracy and public institutions. This involves the true recognition of women as human beings.

[1]  Dossiê Mulher 2017 / Instituto de Segurança Pública; Organizadores: Andréia Soares Pinto, Flávia Vastano, Orlinda Claudia R. Moraes. – Rio de Janeiro: Instituto de Segurança Pública, 2016.

Yasmin is a Research Assistant at the Center for Research on Law and Economics at FGV-Rio. She has a BA in Social Sciences from FGV-Rio and a Master Degree in Social Sciences from PUC-Rio, where she wrote her thesis on street harassment and feminists’ struggles for recognition.

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Indonesia: Psychological Effects of Street Harassment

By

Astrid Nikijuluw, Serpong, Banten, Indonesia SSH Blog Correspondent

Street harassment or other kinds of harassment can cause psychological harm. Unfortunately not many people realize that simple things such as ‘whistling’ or ‘catcalling’ can be the beginning stages of further harassment.

Image courtesy of Reynitta Poerwito Muthalib. Dressed by @oenomel.id

In this article, I interview Indonesian Psychologist Reynitta Poerwito Muthalib about her views on the topic.

She works as a Clinical Psychologist in the Eka Hospital and does free online counseling.  She occasionally appears on the Indonesia Morning Show from Net TV.  She also actively shares her knowledge through seminars and school visits. She has a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia, and a master’s degree in Psychology with a focus on Clinical Psychology from the University of Indonesia.

Astrid Nikijuluw (AN): How do you define the street harassment according to your terms?

Reynitta Poerwito Muthalib (RPM): For me, street harassment, just like other harassment, has the straight line of what people do (verbal or non verbal) that makes other people feel threatened/uncomfortable/afraid/disgraced, both implicitly and explicitly. This happens, unfortunately, to a wide range of ages of people, from the very young to the old.

AN: What street harassment experience irritates you the most?

RPM: When I was about 13 or 14 years old, I went to a traditional market by myself. While I was passing a crowd of men, they whistled at me. I ignored them and tried to walk as fast as possible. Suddenly, one of those men came to me and walked by my side and made fun of me. I was so afraid and at that point I could not think of anything else but to just get away from that place as soon as possible. Yes, I was very young but the memory still vividly haunted me sometimes.  That kind of behavior is not acceptable at all.

AN: How did you cope after that happened to you?

RPM: The first thing I did was to increase my self-awareness. Because that market was part of my everyday route of going to school, I chose to take a longer route to try to avoid it occurring again by half circling the market instead of taking a direct route which went past the area where I had my incident. Sometimes I felt anger about this and just wanted to fight back but I felt it was no use. It was so frustrating to feel helpless about it.

AN: Can you explain, based on your expertise, the psychological effect of street harassment?

RPM: I would say there are three major factors:

1. First is the personality of the victim.  If the victim tends to face a distressing situation more often or has a better self-managing strategy for stress then the effect would not as bigger as it is on others who are vulnerable. Both sides can feel the thread, the disgrace, the scare, but to those who are –what people usually say- stronger would not be as affected as the others who are not as strong.

2. Second is the type of harassment itself. The deeper the harassment then the greater level of effect on the victim.  For example, if the harassment is whistling or cat calling, the victim might just ignore it and walk away or maybe in some cases, fight back. But on the other hand, if the harassment reaches the levels of threatening words, such as, “I’ll be watching you”, then the psychological effect for the victim is deeper.

3. Third is the victim’s history. If the victims had other harassment experiences before, then they may be more traumatized compared with others who have not yet experienced other types of harassment before street harassment. For example a young girl who used to be bullied at school or have abusive parents at home might be more affected just by hearing a whistle on the street than someone who was just a happy young girl.

In my experience, street harassment and other forms of harassment such as bullying and abusive treatment can impact victims several ways. They may feel depression, have high levels of anxiety and experience low self esteem.

AN: How, in your opinion, can we prevent street harassment?

RPM: The first thing to bear in mind is that how you dress is not directly proportional to street harassment. Do not put blame on the dress you wear because you should be free to wear anything you want.

The first phrase that comes to my mind answering your question is the phrase that our president uses in every situation: “MENTAL REVOLUTION”.  I use this phrase because harassers are threatening the victim’s private rights and acting on low-morality. They do not consider other people’s feeling and tend to act oppressive to the victim. Their conscience is not honed enough to bring empathy toward others.

People are born with enough conscience to feel compassion and love for each other. The lack of those factors brings us back to parenting. It starts at home and how parents raise their kids to accept differences are crucial. We in Indonesia live under patriarchal rule, therefore the understanding of how to appreciate women while still being a good patriarch is very important.

Therefore the mental revolution should start from the very beginning since it is easier to design moral obligation for children than those who are already teenagers or older. Technology awareness nowadays also is a challenge for parents because it is accessible for children.  Accompany your child in watching movies so they will not get the wrong moral lesson.

The last one for me is the appropriate law. I still find the law is not enough to protect the victim.  And not just for street harassment, but also for other types of harassment such as sexual harassment in schools or workplaces and bullying. Hopefully our government will put more attention to this matter in the future and make a breakthrough for protecting its citizen.

AN: Last question, any message for those who experience street harassment?

RPM: Don’t let them destroy your self esteem.

Today, 17th August 2017, my country Indonesia is celebrating its independence day. On this special day we always shout ‘FREEDOM’.  Well, for me freedom means to also feel free walking along the street. To be free from feeling afraid in public places. To be free to wear anything you want without getting scared of being harassed. Freedom is for every citizen, every human being, and every individual.

Happy 72th Independence Day to my fellow Indonesians.

Astrid received her Bachelors of Business at Queensland University of Technology Brisbane Australia. She finished her Master’s Degree at Gadjah Mada University Yogyakarta where she majored in Human Resource Development. Follow her on Twitter at @AstridNiki or on Facebook.

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USA: How do we prevent street harassment?

By

Dee Rodriguez, Reading, PA, USA, SSH Blog Correspondent

Source: pixabay.com

You may have read some of the countless stories of street harassment being written about lately or been harassed yourself. Each time I read one of these stories, I get angry. I’m glad people are speaking up because it lets us know we are not alone, but I’m angry because no one should feel unsafe walking down the street.  Stop Street Harassment has some great resources on how to address harassers.

But what if we could prevent street harassment? I believe there’s a way: primary prevention.

What is primary prevention? It is programming (ongoing activities and groups) aimed at preventing violence from happening in the first place. According to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, primary prevention is “approaches that take place before sexual violence has occurred to prevent initial perpetration or victimization.”

As I have written previously, street harassment is part of the sexual violence continuum. Prevention programming placed in schools, youth centers, or churches could reduce not only sexual violence, but dating violence as well by creating a community where equity and respect are norms.

There a few primary prevention programs that have shown success such as Shifting Boundaries, Safe Dates and RealConsent. Safe Dates is aimed at 8th and 9th grade students to prevent dating violence while RealConsent is geared towards men in college to reduce sexual violence perpetration. While Safe Dates and RealConsent have shown success, I would argue that Shifting Boundaries is the best program in primary prevention. Firstly, it is geared towards 6th and 7th graders. I am a firm believer that the earlier we start prevention, the better. Out the three programs, it is the one with the youngest audience. Secondly, Shifting Boundaries is aimed at diminishing dating violence and sexual harassment. While it is not intended to decrease street harassment specifically, Shifting Boundaries is aimed at decreasing sexual harassment which, which could ultimately impact street harassment.

Before taking my current role as a Database and Resource Assistant at the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, I was an advocate at a county domestic violence and sexual assault agency in my state. My position at the local program came out of its education and outreach department. One of the biggest efforts for that department was primary prevention, and we were able to carry that out by using the Shifting Boundaries program in local schools. The curriculum is six sessions and the facilitators lead exercises such as coloring in safe and unsafe areas on a school map (also known as hot spot mapping) and a boundary exercise where participants use a tape measure to show personal space. At the end of the sessions, information about what areas of the school are considered safe and unsafe is presented to the administration by the students and facilitators and then a plan is formed to address unsafe areas of the school. In addition, there are pre-tests and post-tests conducted to measure if students’ attitudes have changed after the program and if violence diminished in the school.

If we’re going to end sexual violence, including street harassment, we have to educate people. If we teach young people early on about boundaries, they realize that they have autonomy over their bodies and that it is not okay for people to harass, touch them inappropriately, or make them feel unsafe. Primary prevention is about changing the culture so this type of violence doesn’t occur. If a person thinks it is okay to harass a stranger in the street, what kind of violence are they inflicting on people they know personally? I don’t think every person that engages in street harassment is going to rape someone but the normalization of street harassment perpetuates rape culture and it has to stop. We all deserve to be safe.

Dee is a volunteer coordinator and domestic violence/sexual assault advocate for a non-profit social services agency and works on a project to better serve Latinx women survivors. She has a bachelor’s degree in Global Studies with a focus on Latin American Culture from Penn State University. She originally hails from New York City and is a proud daughter of immigrant parents from the Dominican Republic. You can follow Dee on Instagram at @missdeerodriguez.

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