Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

News from Belgium, Saudi Arabia, and USA

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BELGIUM:

“Brussels police write up an average of two fines a day for verbal abuse, mostly targeted at women and gay people. Verbal abuse, such as cat- or name-calling, is prohibited in the capital since a law against street harassment was passed earlier this year.

“We forward all complaints to the prosecutor, but perpetrators often go unpunished for lack of evidence,” commissioner Christian De Coninck told Het Laatste Nieuws. “An officer can only take action immediately if he happens to overhear something, which has happened 18 times over the past eight months.” The perpetrators were given a so-called GAS fine of between €50 and €250.

The police and Brussels-City mayor Yvan Mayeur urge victims of harassment to always file a complaint. “The more insight we get into how, where and when this is happening, the better we can tackle the issue,” said De Coninck. “Everyone should feel safe on our sidewalks.”

SAUDI ARABIA:

“Saudi Arabia is considering hefty fines and jail sentences of up to five years for sexual harassment, it is reported.

Proposals to tighten punishment for unwanted sexual advances follow a surge in the harassment of women at workplaces, streets and shopping malls, says Arab News website.

These proposals are included in a bill that is being considered by the Social Affairs Committee of the Shura Council. It is a consultative body which has the power to propose draft laws, but not approve them. Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy where the king has a monopoly of power.”

USA:

“One woman in Detroit was shot and killed after refusing to give a stranger her phone number. Another woman in New York got her throat slashed for refusing to go on a date with a stranger.

Those are just two examples of violence perpetrated against women over the past week. And while those cases grabbed news headlines, other acts of aggression on the street may have very well gone unreported. Advocates working to stop street harassment say the two incidents are a clear illustration of why catcalls and come-ons aren’t harmless for the people on the receiving end.”

USA:

“My name is Kara and I live in Uptown. For the past two months I’ve been working on a campaign to raise money for CTA ads that discourage harassment.

Street harassment is a major issue for me on my block and commute to work, and I wanted to do something to promote awareness. I’ve been working with the CTA’s advertising company on this project, and they seem very willing to help.

I just launched the fundraising page a few days ago, and today I’m having the first meeting with a group of interested people on fundraising ideas and ad content.

If you’re interested in helping/donating/attending the meeting, email me at ctacouragecampaign@gmail.com.”

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Seattle street harassers used to face this punishment…

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In the late 1800s and early 1900s, street harassers were called “mashers” across the USA. In Seattle, if you were convicted of being a masher, you may have to put in time on the chain gang! Wow.

Via CrossCut.com —

“Even though Seattle was awash in prostitution, behavior toward ‘proper’ ladies had to be protected at all costs, especially as the city’s middle class expanded. Two young men in Ballard were sentenced to the gang for getting a 16-year-old Ballard girl drunk on beer.

The Seattle Times defended a chain gang sentence for another young man who was arrested for “annoying a young woman on a Seattle street.” The paper editorialized, “That penalty, too, may seem severe to some, but it does not to any man with a wife or daughter who is occasionally compelled to be upon the streets of this city alone. The offense of the ‘masher’ is akin to that of the rapist. There is only a difference in the quality of the nerve displayed. The penalty under the law is, unfortunately, too light.”

In 1907, police chief Charles “Wappy” Wappenstein decided to crack down on men and boys who harassed proper ladies on the street — a bit ironic for a policeman who was later prosecuted and jailed for taking bribes from prostitution interests in the city. Wappy threatened to start a “second chain gang to be made up of dudes and brainless individuals who have the mashing habit.” He said, “It would be a joy to me to see a finely dressed young man…working alongside a hobo, chained together with irons….”

 

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Afghanistan: Harassment and driving, government action?

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Check out my article for the Washington Postabout Afghan women braving harassment and family disprovable to drive:

Zainab Zawol Shahidy

“Seventeen-year-old Zainab Zawol Shahidy >was driving her Toyota 4Runner home from school in Kabul recently when she noticed two men in a vehicle following her. “One of them pointed a gun at me and threatened me to drive along in their direction, but I refused and kept driving faster to reach home as soon as I could,” she said.

She was forced to pull over when they blocked her. One of the men threw a slip of paper at her with his phone number and said if she didn’t call him, he would kidnap her. She made it home and called security. Thankfully she has not seen these men since.

Although there are a growing numbers of women drivers in Kabul, the sight of Shahidy behind the wheel is still unusual. Everywhere she goes, she gets curious stares and frequent harassment, ranging from people making fun of her for driving to threats. “I can’t drive to places too distant from where I live due to the risk of kidnapping,” she told me through the translation of her brother, Ali Shahidy, a psychology major at Norwich University in Vermont.

Despite the risk and danger, Shahidy says she loves to drive. Besides, she said, she faces more harassment when she walks or takes public transportation.”

Related, from Human Rights Watch:

“Afghanistan’s new government should take urgent steps to combat sexual harassment of women in education, employment, and public life, Human Rights Watch said today. There are no laws in Afghanistan that specifically prohibit sexual harassment or protect victims.

Government institutions lack effective policies to prevent and punish sexual harassment, Human Rights Watch said.  On October 5, 2014, President Ashraf Ghani described levels of sexual harassment in schools as “shocking.” He ordered the Ministry of Education to report every incident of sexual harassment in schools to enable action against harassers, and directed relevant ministries to develop a plan to counter sexual harassment in educational institutions.

“President Ghani’s recognition of sexual harassment in Afghanistan as ‘shocking’ is spot-on,” said Heather Barr, senior women’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The Afghan government should promptly enact a law against sexual harassment and ensure that every government institution develops and implements an anti-sexual harassment policy.”

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Cameroon: Street Harassment is an Attack on Women

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Ngwentah Berlyne Ngwalem, Buea, Cameroon, SSH Blog Correspondent

My younger sister recently told me that she never really understood what harassment meant. Not that she doesn’t have to deal with it on a daily basis, but that she had not found a name before to describe the repulsive rude behavior committed by men towards her. She found it hard articulating her feelings as she sadly said to me:

“I mean sometimes you just want to be left alone but these men don’t get it. Is it harassment when you get in a taxi and a guy starts narrating the story of his life, even though you show no interest? They immediately jump into chatting you up, and you don’t respond, but they keep talking and try to teach you how you should act back? I feel really irritated by what these guys do.”

I listened and felt how difficult it was for her to explain what happens to her and a lot of other women on a daily basis. I told her that it was harassment.

As these things are now being talked about, a lot of girls are realizing that what happens to them — what hurts them so much, but they couldn’t find words to explain it — is actually called “harassment.”

To many men, toying with women’s lives is like a game, or like a remote controller in their hands and they can press any button and expect women to dance according to their tune. The acceptance of harassment in the culture encourages men to see women as play things.

One of the biggest causes of harassment I’ve seen is the permission society gives to men to be the primary and sole initiators of “chatting”. Playing the main role in chatting gives men the power to be in control. When street harassers want you to act nice you have to be subservient whether you approve of what they do or not. Many men have been groomed to focus on what they want and not what women want.

Recently, in response to one of my Facebook posts teaching people about the difference between a compliment and harassment, one of my friends whom I viewed as someone who is very accepting and open to compliments complained to me after reading my posts that she felt insulted about the way guys on the streets treat her.

This made me think differently. I started asking myself if sometimes these women I deem as being open to compliments smile at these aggressive random men out of fear or due to the fact that they are tired of being harassed and have no other choice than to act like they love what these guys say to them?

She had talked about how groups of guys jumped into insulting her after being in her face, demanding that she accept their harassment as complimentary words about her beauty. I could feel in her writing how insecure and insulted she felt.

Talking about harassment is a way for the Cameroonian population to know what harassment is and its impact on women’s peace and security in our society. Talking about street harassment unceasingly acts as a motivator for other women to speak out, to share their stories and frustration at the fact that nothing, or very little, is being done by the Cameroonian society and law enforcement to stop this demeaning disturbing madness.

I have heard cries from young women saying street harassment needs to be addressed. One of my former classmates Melvis Loh, an English Language master’s student at the University of Buea, explains what happens to certain women when they do not act according to the demands of men in her community in Sandpit, Buea;

“Some guys even go as far as trashing up girls who turn down their advances to chat up or date them”

Melvis recounted painfully how her younger sister was continuously molested psychologically and severely beaten by a young guy who could not stand the fact that this young lady turned down his continuous approach to be his lover. He had made it clear to her that he would not take no for an answer. If not for the help of passersby, this girl would have probably have lost her life. She had to be pulled out of the grips of this young man who felt insulted being turned down by this young lady.

It has to take persistence, severe brutality or even death for law enforcement to respond to acts of harassment with will and desire to protect the women involved. If you come from a family where there is not much status, education or wealth, that family might find themselves negotiating with harassers to no avail to make sure the harassed is safe.

Young boys are being taught how to chat up a woman, but how many of them are taught to chat up a woman or compliment them the right way? I strongly think if our society creates a balance in the milieu of who gets to ask who out, propose to whom, how and when, there might be a reduction in female street and sexual harassment.

Berlyne is a Cameroonian-based women’s human rights activist, passionate and determined to put an end to social injustice of any kind. You can find her on twitter @Luvequalityrule and Facebook.

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“Blowing kisses while licking his lips”

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I’d like to share my story to show that it happens to men as well.  I’ve actually experienced it several times since I moved here.  And I don’t mean the “faggot” or “queer” kind of catcalling that many gay men experience – that doesn’t seem to be an issue in most parts of this city.

As a runner, I’ve often had men – often homeless – jeer and compliment my “juicy ass,” and, while it has been bothersome, nothing has come close to what happened yesterday.  I was walking home in a hoodie and gym shorts (so I definitely wasn’t “asking for it” – whatever that means) and this guy screams “nice ass” out of his car window.  I didn’t even realize he was talking to me until I saw him waiting at the corner.

He rolled his windows down and began jeering and blowing kisses while licking his lips.  It just so happens that I live at that corner and very stupidly ran inside.  He waited outside for about 5 minutes, backing up to peer in the windows and laugh while I cowered in fear.  I’m kicking myself for not wearing my glasses, so I couldn’t get his plate.

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

Make the discussion less gendered – it happens to everyone

– D

Location: Washington, DC

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

 

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