Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

“I am entitled to carry on with my day unencumbered”

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Last week at the grocery store, I was harassed by a complete stranger. I had just gotten in my car after loading all of my groceries up when I noticed a man walk by the car. He looked like he was looking in the car or that he was about to come up and approach me, but I did not want to be approached by a stranger as I never do at any time. After I saw him walk away, which was very close to the car, I started pull out. He appeared behind my car, like he was coming back to talk to me. I stopped my car to make sure that I didn’t hit him but he walked right up to the driver side window and gestured for me to roll it down. I did not do this because I do not feel obligated to talk to strange man that I do not know, I have a boyfriend and I would not be interested in getting picked up at a grocery store anyway.

He began cursing and swearing; he yelled something along lines of ‘fuck you, you fucking bitch’ etc., as well as displaying body language that show he was angry. He flailed his arms around and shook his head. When I got home I checked my groceries to see if I had left something and my wallet to see if I had dropped any money, because I was alarmed that he had gotten so angry and thought maybe he had been trying to help me. He wasn’t. I had everything I needed. He was mad because I would not roll down my window down to be hit on. It is scary to live in a world were strange men think that they are more entitled to talk to me than I am entitled to carry on with my day unencumbered.

– Anonymous

Location: Albertson’s parking lot, Lafayette, LA

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

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New Film: Out in the Night

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I’m teaching a “Representations of Women” class at George Mason University (GMU) where I am a new adjunct professor. A key lesson from my class is that women are, first of all, under-represented in most media (from tv shows and movies to op-eds and news articles) and a second lesson is that when they are there, they’re often sexualized or stereotyped.

GMU Professor Giovanna Chesler is the producer of a new film Out in the Night which encompasses both street harassment and representations of women in the media — and more.

Via Bitch Magazine:

“Who has the right to self-defense? How do race, class, sexuality, and gender expression affect what our society sees as violent? In 75 minutes, new documentary Out in the Night challenges us to consider these questions.

The film follows the case of Venice Brown, Terrain Dandridge, Renata Hill and Patreese Johnson, four women who became known as the New Jersey Four after they defended themselves against an assault on the streets of New York City’s West Village.

On August 18, 2006, seven young black lesbians friends from Newark, New Jersey, came to New York City’s West Village. As they walked down the street, they were harassed by a man named Duane Buckle. When they told him they were gay, he began threatening to rape them—then he physically attacked them, throwing his lit cigarette at them, ripping the hair from one woman’s head, and choking another woman. The women defended themselves and, at some point during the four-minute fight, two unknown men jumped in to assist them. As Buckle attempted to choke Renata Hill, Patreese Johnson stabbed him with a pen knife. The two unknown men left the scene, but when police arrived, they arrested the women. Buckle was taken to the hospital where he stated that men had attacked him. Nonetheless, the women were charged with assault and attempted murder.”

From the Out in the Night Facebook page:

“Out in the Night follows their journey to Rikers Island, to the courtroom, and through slanderous media coverage that labeled them a “Wolfpack” and “Lesbian Gang”. While exploring the fight from all sides through the security camera footage that captured it, that hot August night in 2006 can be seen from many perspectives. But our film’s purpose is to examine the events after the fight: biased media coverage likening the women to “man-hating” animals, and unprecedentedly harsh sentencing by the court. This story shows how four young, queer women of color were unfairly criminalized for defending themselves.”

The film team has been screening the documentary at film festivals (there are a few screenings coming up, see if there’s one near you!) and Professor Chesler and I plan to meet up upon her return. Stay tuned!

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Egyptian man sentenced to jail for taking inappropriate photo

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The anti-sexual harassment law in Egypt is being used.

Via Reuters —

“A Cairo court sentenced a man to one year in jail on Saturday for harassing a woman, the swiftest such ruling since Egypt introduced a new law in early June to combat sexual harassment.

Abdel Lattif Abdel Fattah, a 39-year-old electrician, was arrested only three days ago, judicial sources said. He was accused of taking pictures with his mobile telephone of a woman passenger on a public bus while she was sleeping.

Abdel Fattah was dragged to the nearest police station by other passengers on the bus, who also testified against him, the source said. He was sentenced to hard labor during his imprisonment and fined 3,000 Egyptian pounds ($420).”

Thoughts?!

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Belgium: “You get so used to being looked at that you stop looking back”

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Dearbhla Quinn, Dublin Ireland/Brussels, Belgium, SSH Blog Correspondent

Game of Thrones star Jack Gleeson has slammed celebrity culture and endorsements in a speech at the Oxford Union | HER

I have never aspired to be famous, the trade off between status and privacy has always marred the fantasy in my eyes. This resolve was strengthened today as I was scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed and I came across a video of Jack Gleeson, best known for the role of King Joffrey in Game of Thrones, discussing the insidious nature of celebrity culture. He described how he preferred the anonymity of blending in rather than ‘teetering on  pedestal on inch above the ground’ and discussed the origins and scholarly analysis of this modern cult.

Much of what he said echoed my own misgivings with celebrity culture, but I was struck by the relevance to street harassment, of one particular sentence; “You get so used to being looked at that you stop looking back”. This statement was used to define a particular celebrity affliction termed “acquired situational narcissism” and perhaps you may accuse me of the final word in that term for this comparison; however it reminded me of my own experience last month.  I had a particularly unyielding week of often quite intimidating street harassment, here in Brussels, and for a while; I responded by walking the streets with my head bowed, avoiding eye-contact with other passersby, for fear of inspiring some unwelcome interaction.

While the experience of a celebrity being intruded upon by fans, bears some similarity to that of people (such as women or LGBTQ people) being harassed in the streets there is, I would argue, one key differentiator. This is that in the case of the celebrity this harassment is inspired by a deferential form of admiration, whereas in the case of sexualised street harassment, the harasser is anything but deferential, in fact their behaviour is often quite menacing.

While the celebrity may feel in that moment at the mercy of the whims of their public, they are in wider context empowered and privileged by the status in which they are held in society, a society of which they are both leaders and victims. I am reminded of Caitlin Moran’s assertion that she was not a royalist, not because she dislikes the British royal family but rather, because she sees them as caged animals that she wants desperately to release. They are endowed with every privilege, but privacy. However neither  harassed woman (or members of the LGBTQ community etc) or the celebrity are being recognised as complex human beings, and this is a significant similarity. A recent series of sex abuse scandals in the Youtube ‘Vlogging’ community has prompted a discussion on sexual consent, but also of the reduction of ‘vloggers’ to their glorified online personas and the power that they glean from this endowment.

As Jack Gleeson spoke, in the familiar Trinity-esque style, and articulated ideas that echoed my own inclinations, I pondered the fact that I had chosen to watch this video of him talk; simply because he was paid ‘to pretend to be mean’ on TV. I was falling prey to the very cultural feature I so vehemently malign. Until recently I had very little exposure to this content through availing of, the filtered nature of, my own twitter feed as a news source. However, I have recently become frustrated by the escalating tendency of so many of the news and commentary outlets, I choose to follow, exposing me to a vitriol of inane celebrity gossip, the nature of  which I had previously managed remain ignorant. This was an insulation I sought, not because of intellectual snobbery; but because of my own moral discomfort with the worrying culture of voyeurism that I believe such gossip fosters.

I find it particularly disturbing when feminist news outlets, which I continue to follow almost out of a habitual loyalty to their founding values, increasingly bow to the doctrine of ‘click counting’ and obediently tabloid-ise their content. It seems ironic that media outlets founded in part to critique the commodification and objectification of the female body, become, complicit in furthering its insidious bedfellow; the commodification of personality. When you reduce an individual to a media persona, constructed solely out of slogan-style values and airbrushed features; you contribute to this culture of dehumanisation. A culture in which women can be reduced to their bodies, and celebrities to the output of their marketing team; and you unwittingly further the notion, that a person can be public property.

 

Dearbhla graduated from BESS (Business and Sociology), in Trinity College Dublin, last year. She currently lives in Brussels, Belgium, where she has a think-tank internship working in the areas of gender, equality, and employment. Follow her on Twitter @imoshedinheels and her blogs.

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