Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

“I didn’t know what he was going to do to me”

By

This was one of the scariest street harassment experience that I’ve ever dealt with — I was in high school at the time. I was running late for school one morning and had to walk a few blocks to school from the metro bus stop. Well as I was walking, a car slowed up beside me. There were about 5 young guys in the car. They kept yelling out trying to get my attention. I told them I had a boyfriend. They didn’t care. I tried ignoring them, hoping they would just leave. The harassment continued for about a block. I wanted to just hurry up and get inside the school.

Suddenly I heard the car stop. And the door opened. I saw one of the guys step out angrily. I started walking faster and he caught up with me and grabbed my arm really hard and forced me to turn around. I was terrified. I didn’t know what he was going to do to me. He said something like, “You ain’t going to just keep walking away like you don’t hear us.”

I told him I had to get to school and pulled away from him and ran the rest of the way to school. I never looked back. I felt so helpless. I’m a pretty vocal and tough girl, but I felt like I had no voice. Like I had to tell him what he wanted to hear as to not provoke him to hurt me. I wanted to say, “Get the hell away from me and get your filthy hands off of me!!! I don’t want to talk to you!”

But instead I had to tell them that I was someone’s girlfriend in hopes that they would at least respect him because it was obvious that they didn’t respect me.

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

I think more women should report these crimes and if possible record the harassers. The police should take it serious too. We are taught to feel that this is a normal part of being a woman. And this is not normal at all. We are victimized for going about our daily life activities.

– RJ

Location: 4TH Street, SE, Washington, DC. In front of Ballou High School

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

Share

“Each time he completely changed his manner”

By

I commute to work, and there is not a single trip to Penn Station that I do not experience seeing harassment. Usually a man will whistle at me or another woman or stroll suggestively in her path or even say something. So many of us need to commute. I try to arrive at the station just a few minutes before the train leaves, when it is on the tracks and I can board, or I buy coffee and sit in a coffeeshop to avoid standing around waiting for the train.

Optional: Do you have any suggestions for dealing with harassers and/or ending street harassment in general?

A few times I have pointed my phone at a harasser and each time he completely changed his manner. Usually I try to look like an ordinary person, but as I get older I realize that for some men a woman is never an ordinary person. So I don’t know.

Location: Penn Station, NYC

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

Share

Volunteer Opportunities for Fall 2015 (and beyond)!

By

Be a street harassment star!Do you want to do something about street harassment?

Do you need volunteer hours?

Are you a student who needs credit hours doing work for a nonprofit?

If you are any of these things, I have a solution!

Did you know that all of the work that SSH does is by volunteers? It is, and we need a few more volunteers to help out with several important projects!

CAN YOU HELP US?

If you are interested in any of these opportunities, please get in touch with me, Holly, hkearl@ stopstreetharassment.org.

Social Media:

I’m looking for five individuals who are willing to help manage the SSH social media accounts, one day/week (it will be “your” day). Primarily these are the Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Tumblr pages, and you will also have access to our Pinterest and YouTube accounts. I especially need help monitoring the Facebook page comments section — as it has grown so too have the detractors and I want it to be a safe space. Volunteers will receive a guide with instructions, etc. People can come from anywhere in the world and knowing more than one language is a plus so we can share content and in more than English.

If you are interested, please email me info 1) about your experience with social media (which platforms, how many years, if you’ve volunteered or worked for an organization managing social media accounts), 2) a few sentences about who you are, 3) where you are based, and 4) and your availability (for how many months are you available and are any days of the week that you typically will NOT be available).

Ideally, I’d like someone who can start by mid-October and help out at least through the end of 2015, but ideally into the spring.

Accessibility:

I need occasional help transcribing videos to make them accessible for all. For example, these four videos. No prior experience with transcription is necessary, but if you have it, let me know about it. Please also send 1) a few sentences about who you are and 2) where you are based.

Research Projects:

I’d love to have one or two people who can assist with a few projects this fall. The amount of work/hours can be flexible. Here are examples of possible projects.

1. Research what cities have LGBT liaison units for their police departments.

2. Look for new laws and update the 2013 Know Your Rights toolkit.

3. Help track new anti-street harassment groups, organizations and campaigns worldwide.

4. Conduct interviews for the SSH blog with groups/activists doing interesting work.

Please send 1) information about relevant work you’ve done, 2) a resume), 3) a few sentences about who you are and 4) where you are based.

Campaigns Against Companies:

For a while I was tracking companies that promoted and/or trivialized street harassment in their marketing and/or product labels but I haven’t been able to keep up with it. I’m looking for someone who can help look for examples, update this webpage, and occasionally take the lead on campaigns, such as creating Change.org petitions (we will work on a strategy and select ones that we think we have the best change of winning and that can have a big impact).

Please send 1) information about relevant work you’ve done, 2) a resume), 3) a few sentences about who you are and 4) where you are based.

** If you have ideas for other ways you’d like to help with SSH’s work, feel free to be in touch with your suggestion. **

Share

Romania: When We’re Taught that Women are Not Equal to Men

By

Roxana Geru, București, Romania, SSH Blog Correspondent

Silenced no more bannerAs a woman raised in Romania, I have been taught that I am not equal with a man. It is not necessarily my family who taught me, but my school, my friends, the church, and the SOCIETY. For a long time, I really believed it. I believed that I cannot do or I am not supposed to do some things, just because I am a woman. Like if a woman wears short pants she is considered a sexual worker, who “asks for it.” Or if a woman dares to drink a beer with a man she is an alcoholic. Or it a horrible thing to see a girl eating in McDonald’s.

Instead, it is believed that all a woman is supposed to do is be pretty, cook and give birth.

During my teens I felt upset. I did not understood why it was forbidden for me to do some things that were not for my best friend, who was a guy. And I cried. But after a few years I accepted that people have different points of view. I started to see equality as a thing which involves rights and obligations as well. And to accept that men can naturally be more physical strong than women, but that does not mean that all guys have to be strong or all the girls have be less strong. That maybe we are not born equal, but we should all have an equal chance to get where we want.

A few months ago I was at a university helping students who wanted to join the Psychology Faculty. At the beginning, we had to explain to them that they had to pay a fee and then come back. Everything seemed to be okay until one guy came back in this public institution and started to yell at us that he did wrong because of us. This “us” refers to a group of six women and a guy. Some of us tried to calm him down and explain to him that he was wrong and he misunderstood. We even came to him with some solutions for his problem. When a woman, a friend of mine, tried to speak to him, he yelled at her, “I do not speak to you. You are a woman. You are a woman and you do not have statute.”

My friend and I did not have any idea how we should reply because he became very verbally aggressive toward us.

I was shocked to see a guy around my age say that women do not have any statute. That women are nothing but objects who have to be pretty and produce kids. I wonder how that guy acts at home with his mother, his sister, his girlfriend. How will he act with his daughter? What he will teach his daughter? How will he react when his daughter comes home and says that another guy punched her. Will he defend her? Or he will congratulate the other guy?

I know my story is not exactly about street harassment, but it shows what it is like to be a woman in Romanian society. It is about how some of us are educated. It is one of the reasons why women in Romania are street harassed. It can be an answer to the question of “Why, as a woman in Romania, can someone touch my back?” or “Why, as a woman, in Romania, do some guys whistle after me?” and “Why does no one do something when someone rapes a girl?”

We have to see our culture change if we want to see street harassment and other forms of sexual violence end.

Roxana is a 21-year-old who is studying psychology and plans to do a master’s program in Sexuality and Gender Studies. She hopes to one day work within the LGBT community, with sexual workers and/or with people who are suffering from sexuality disorders.

Share

“Does the carpet match the curtains?”

By

I get verbal abuse from strangers on a weekly basis, not just on the street but also in the supermarket while I’m doing my weekly shopping.

Why?

Because i have pink hair! What a pathetic reason to abuse someone! There are two types of people who do this: 1. The people coming up and saying they hate my hair, or just simply laughing and pointing and 2. The men who ask me, “Does the carpet match the curtains?” or comments about how i must be kinky in bed.

I’ve also had people come up and touch my hair without warning. I’m not going to change my hair colour because i like it and also the advantage is that with people behaving like this, i can weed out the people i don’t want to associate with very easily! They make it easier for me to identify who is an ******* without me even having to spend any time on them 🙂

– Anonymous

Location: Liverpool, Leicester, Birmingham, Coventry, UK. On the street, in shops/supermarkets

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

Share