Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

“Just driving to work is a terrifying experience”

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Driving to work one beautiful day, windows down, a truck filled with four men pulled up in the lane next to me. The front passenger noticed me at a red light and started to shout the usual cat calls, ʺHey pretty, where are you going!?ʺ ect. I ignored it and drove off when the light turned green. The rest of them joined in, driving faster to catch up to my car, and then slowing down whenever I tried to lose them just to get a turn to yell something at me.

Usually I would flip a finger with my eyes forward but I didn’t feel like I owed them even that. The truck swerved into my lane due to the driver shouting at me and not paying attention to the road. At this point I was terrified. Being a woman, in her car, just driving to work is a terrifying experience?

When I continued to ignore them, their comments became more aggressive, using words like ʺbitchʺ and ʺcuntʺ to describe me. At that moment I braked and got behind them, my fear becoming anger. I followed them until they pulled into a mini mart and parked my car and got out outraged. My pride and respect for myself outreached my logic to ignore and keep my distance. I approached the truck and unleashed a lecture of a lifetime, describing their actions as dangerous, nauseating, and disrepectful. At first they began to laugh at me, I think because I took them by surprise by my confrontation. But by the end at least had one of the guys apologized for his actions. He apologized for his ʺfriendsʺ as well, and told me that he wasn’t like them. I told him he should pick better friends. It might have been reckless to approach them, but if I didn’t say anything, who would? Who else would protect my right just to drive to work without harassment?

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

Awareness, Not resorting to silence

– Emily Sharp

Location: East Nashville, TN

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

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Gender and Public Transportation

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Here’s an interesting article from the World Bank about transportation and gender. Excerpt:

“One World Bank Group report, Mainstreaming Gender in Road Transport, highlights the differences between men and women in travel patterns in relation to trip purpose, frequency, and distance of travel. It finds that women make more and more complex trips than men.

These differences stem from differences in the social and economic roles of men and women. For women, transport provides access to various resources and opportunities, such as jobs, childcare, education, and health facilities, whereas men are far more likely to rely on private vehicles. Yet women’s safety is most often overlooked….

Safe roads and transportation rank as a top priority globally. UN-led polling as part of consultations on what targets will succeed the anti-poverty Millennium Development Goals, “better transport and roads” was listed in the top 10 by more than 7 million men and women who voted.

The message is getting through. In Washington this week, for example, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences convenes the world’s largest meeting of transportation experts, with a number of gender-related sessions on the agenda.”

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“The objectification of women increases their fears of sexual assault”

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Via Vocativ:

“In a study published late last week, researchers found the treatment of women as sexual objects has been shown to contribute to anxiety over their physical safety.

“Our research supports previous findings that the rampant sexual objectification of women, an act of sexual terrorism, can heighten women’s fears of incurring physical and sexual harm,” says lead author Dr. Laurel Watson, a psychology professor specializing in traumatology at the University of Missouri-Kansas City…

The study looked at a sample of 133 African-American and 95 white female undergraduates—a demographic for which the incidence of rape is believed to be five to seven times higher than the general population. The African-American respondents reported more sexual objectification experiences and fear of crime than white women, and therefore experienced more psychological stress.

Regardless of race, though, all women (consciously or not) took various measures to alleviate their fears, from avoiding walking alone at night to carrying pepper spray in their handbags. And while such behaviors may be seen as common sense, Watson argues they should not be misinterpreted as solutions because they place the burden of maintaining safety on women, rather than on the perpetrators themselves.

“Partnerships with men in stopping violence may help transform unequal power distributions between men and women—a chief reason why violence against women occurs in the first place,” says Watson says.

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“That’s how I got catcalled because I got catcalled”

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I was walking down the street, and ran into some friends who were waiting at a bus stop. We chatted for a couple minutes, and then I continued walking. I was about 30 feet away from them when a man yelled something unintelligible from a passing car. Reflexively, I turned around. He yelled, ʺHey! Are you going to go ‘do’ something? Your friends are looking at you like you’re about to go ‘do’ something.ʺ

He said the phrase ʺdo somethingʺ in a suggestive tone, and was staring at me creepily. I glanced back at my friends, who had witnessed the interaction, and we all kind of shrugged in confusion. I turned around and kept walking. I guess I was cracking up a little from the absurdity, and a man walking toward me yelled, ʺDamn, that’s a beautiful smile!ʺ I flipped him off (which probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do, but there were a lot of people around), and he yelled, ʺWell f*** you, too!ʺ

And that’s how I got catcalled because I got catcalled.

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

Raise boys to be respectful of girls and women. Educate men that it’s never, EVER ok to make any sort of comment to a woman you don’t know.

– Anonymous

Location: Seattle, WA

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

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USA: “Unwilling Undressing”

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Dr. Dena Simmons, New York City, USA, Blog Correspondent

By the time I arrive to my apartment,
I am already undressed,
my clothes,
scattered along Metropolitan Avenue.
The man in the brown business suit,
standing in front of Step-In Lounge starts
with my rubber rain boots,
one
by
one,
until another man cuts him off,
ripping my pants from my body
when he jerks off
at the sight of my thighs.
Right by Uno’s Bar and Grill,
another man peels off my shirt
with his “Take my number.”
In only panties and a bra now, I walk in the rain.
Before I know it,
a gang of teenage boys hiss at me,
leaving me
naked.
I look back at the trail my clothes have created
at each objectifying comment, and
like Hanzel and Gretel,
who used white pebbles to lead them home,
I hurry to gather my clothes,
searching for my dignity
along
the
way.

Dr. Dena Simmons serves as the Associate Director of Education and Training at Yale’s Center for Emotional Intelligence. She is a recent graduate of Teachers College, Columbia University, where her research focused on teacher preparedness to address bullying in the middle school setting.

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