Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

“You’ve got a hot body. Your head’s farked.”

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Walking from my neighbourhood to the gym, twice along the way I was verbally harassed by men. One yelled, “You’re ugly. UGLY,” as he rode his bike past me. A further 10 minutes on, a drunk/high man said, “You’ve got a hot body. Your head’s farked.”

Funny, as it is on one of the first days I decided to be proud of myself as a woman, not afraid, not keeping my presence small to protect myself.

– BT

Location: Sydney City, Australia

Need support? Call the toll-free National Street Harassment hotline: 855-897-5910

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

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National Poll on Ride-Sharing and Sexual Harassment

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Earlier this year, Alarms.org commissioned a poll of 500 women nationwide by the survey company Pollfish. Less than one percent of the women surveyed said they never used Uber and 28 percent reported they never used Lyft. Most of the women who did use the apps said they used them sporadically.

Alarmingly, many women reported feeling uncomfortable and experiencing harassment and assault during their rides. The full report is available here.

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SSH 2018 Year-End Achievements

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Hello SSH Community,

Thank you for being part of our work for the last 10.5 years!

In April, I gave birth to my first child. In his first seven months, he’s had a NICU stay, three major surgeries and dozens of medical appointments. Prior to his birth, I put thousands of unpaid hours into SSH to managing our projects and the blog and volunteers and interns, but I had to cut back on my time significantly after his birth. As a result, our achievements are not as robust as usual, which I feel badly about.

I hope that as my baby’s health improves, I will have more time to put toward SSH in 2019, but I may never return to the level I gave to the issue and organization prior to his birth — unless we receive funding that can help cover at least some of my time. If folks have suggestions for grants or funds as well as volunteers etc that can help make it more possible for us to keep doing our work, please reach out!

2018 SSH Achievements:

1. Released a national study on sexual harassment, produced in partnership with , Raliance and UC San Diego Center on Gender Equity and Health. It’s been covered by the New York Times (online and print), USA Today, LA Times, BuzzFeed, Newsweek, Guardian, BBC, NPR, Vox, Teen Vogue and Ms. Magazine, among other outlets.

Many advocates, researchers and educators are using the data and the CDC’s Intimate Partner Violence/Sexual Violence Working Group asked for a presentation on the data and survey methods and said they plan to apply lessons from it to their research.

2. Continued a partnership with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority and Collective Action for Safe Spaces to produce a system-wide survey on sexual harassment, do an outreach day at Metro station in April and release the first-ever audio PSA on sexual harassment.

3. Oversaw our 8th annual International Anti-Street Harassment Week with participants from 38 countries.

4. Continued to run the National Street Harassment Hotline with RAINN. It was featured by CNN and “Ask Amy!”

5. Joined the coalition led by CASS that saw the D.C., the Council of the District of Columbia pass the Street Harassment Prevention Act of 2018 (SHPA), the first legislation of its kind in the United States. Our definition of street harassment was the basis for the law’s definition.

6. Advised Google on their #MeTooRising initiative.

7. Commemorated 10 years of activism and achievements!

8. Signed onto a letter to Congress: “Reforming Procedures in Congress for Combating Harassment and Discrimination.”

9. Board member Patrick McNeil crafted a “We Believe Survivors” letter for SSH in light of the US Supreme Court hearings earlier this fall.

10. Released a guide for hosting a discussion group on street harassment (Word | PDF).

11. Helped reduce sexual harassment at the Chicago Veterans Affairs Medical Center, according to a survey about an anti-sexual harassment campaign that our board member Lani Shotlow-Rincon worked on. The campaign may be replicated at other VA centers.

12. Hosted a cohort of Blog Correspondents.

13. Received nearly 100 street harassment story submissions.

14. Said goodbye to long-time board members and welcomed several new ones.

15. Cited in at least 75 media stories.

Thank you! Wishing you and yours a happy holiday season and safe and productive 2019!

-Holly, SSH Founder and CEO

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“I was followed around a bookstore”

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I was followed around a bookstore today for well over 5 minutes. I did not want to believe I was being followed and so I began purposely going in random aisles and circling around one section several times and this guy appeared at the end of each aisle every time staring at me. I stopped at the end of one aisle and pretended to look at the books there hoping he would leave.

Instead he approached me and tried to give me a piece of paper with his address on it. No hello or introducing himself just, “Can I give you this? It’s my address and stuff.”

I was already on alert from him following me and my instincts were screaming at me to get out of there. All I could do was shake my head. He left the aisle after I refused to take his paper and I quickly left the store and ran straight to my boyfriend’s place of work which was nearby. I was fearful he was still following me and I didn’t want to lead him to my car. I was very shaken up by the whole encounter.

– TR

Location: Bookstore in Washington state

Need support? Call the toll-free National Street Harassment hotline: 855-897-5910

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

Share