Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming
The talk tomorrow will be followed up by a Philadelphia City Council Hearing on street harassment on Thursday morning at 10 a.m.! SSH will join Hollaback! Philly and FAAN Mail, as well as other groups and community members, in testifying.
I’m trying to get back in the habit of the weekly digest! This will be a round-up of key articles/news over the past few weeks.
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Street Harassment Stories:
Share your story! You can read street harassment stories on the Web at:
Collective Action for Safe Spaces
The Hollaback sites
Ramallah Street Watch in Palestine
Street Harassment in South Africa
Street Harassment In the News, on the Blogs:
* Voice of America, “Libya Women Report Increased Harassment“
* Ms. Magazine blog, “When Street Harassment is More Deadly than Catcalls”
* National Yemen, “Safe Street Campaign: The First Step to Breaking Sexual harassment“
* The Guardian, “Everyday Sexism: five reasons why men shouldn’t shout at women in the street“
* Fem2Pt0, 1900s Street Harassment and Lessons for Today”
* The Root, “Street Harassment: What Men Can Learn“
* Vitamin W, “”Bro” Wants Others to Stop Harassing the Ladies“
* Day of the Girl, “I’m not Interested“
* The Telegraph, “How Female Joggers are Dealing with Sexist Hecklers“
* Huffington Post, “Street Harassment: Is a Man Running Over a 14-Year Old Girl for Refusing Sex Serious Enough?”
* The Ontarion, “Street Harassment and Privilege“
* WBEZ91.5, “Standing up to street harassment“
* WickedLocal.com, “‘Safe Sites’ businesses offer refuge to avoid harassment, assault“
* Al-Monitor, “Sexual Harassment Incident Sparks Hot Debate in Gaza“
* WeWomen.com, “Stop street harassers by joining the 50 Stories movement“
* The Times of India, “More skirts in the saddle“
* The Magpie Librarian, “Cats (and Librarians) Against Cat Calls: A display about street harassment“
* Daily Wildcat, “Street harassment creates unwelcoming environment“
* Arab News, “Delhi increases attempts to tackle sexual harassment“
* International Business Times, “Science Of Sexual Harassment: Consequences Known, But Effective Solutions Lacking“
* Morocco World News, “Street harassment in Morocco: a foreigner’s perspective“
* The Crimson White, “An open letter to the boys of the street“
* PolicyMic, “Would You Confront Your Street Harasser?”
* Daily News Egypt, “65 women were saved from sexual violation during Eid: pressure group“
* Newsworks, “Group targeting street harassment calls for Philly audit of safety concerns“
* The Daily Star, “Taking a stand over sexual harassment“
* Clutch, “UPDATED: Tariq Nasheed’s Silencing Tactics Won’t Make Street Harassment Disappear“
* Straight.com, “Harassment on TransLink project seeks safer transit for women“
* Ahram Online, “Egyptian sexual harasser’s sentence reduced from 45 to 5 years“
* AlArabiya, “Saudi Arabia sexual harassment video sparks social media outrage“
* The Express Tribune, “A Pakistani in Amsterdam: Sexual harassment has no geographical location“
* The Grio, “Traveling while black: I was constantly mistaken for a prostitute in Buenos Aires“
* Slate, “What Are These Photos of Street Harassers Trying to Say?”
* NDTV, “CCTV suggests sexual harassment of girl on Bangalore metro“
* CNN iReport, “Street Harassment: Part of the United States Culture Since our Early, Formative Years“
* The Guardian, “Sexual harassment is constant in clubs and it must stop, students say“
* Art Discover, “Tatyana Fazlalizadeh’s street art tackles sexual harassment“
* The Times of India, “Celebrities get harassed in public“
* PolicyMic, “When It Comes to Street Harassment, One Group May Have It Worse Than Women“
* The Root, “Survival First When Facing Street Harasser“
* New Black Man (In Exile), “Stuff People Say to Teen Girls (Street Harassment“
Announcements:
New:
* Donate to help fund the FIRST EVER national study on street harassment in the USA!
* Buy a copy of the new book 50 Stories about Stopping Street Harassers! Here’s how to hold a book club fundraiser for SSH.
* If you’re in Philadelphia, attend our book event/community event with Hollaback! Philly and FAAN Mail on Wednesday, 7 p.m. a the Wooden Shoe Bookstore (Info) and you can join us on Thursday morning 10 a.m. for the Philadelphia City Council Hearing on street harassment, organized by Hollaback! Philly.
* Check out Hollaback!’s newest publication: “#HarassmentIs: An exploration of identity and street harassment”
Dear SSH Community,
We want to add two more people to our board of directors, in particular, we need people who have fundraising experience, fundraising connections, and the time to dedicate a few hours each month to helping me with fundraising and grant-writing. Additionally, all board members participate in quarterly conference calls (usually around 90 minutes) and email communications every 2-3 weeks.
Applicants can be located anywhere in the U.S.A.
If you (or someone you know) meet the qualifications and are interested, please send a resume and cover letter to hkearl @ stopstreetharassment . org. The cover letter should include why street harassment is an issue you care about and what fundraising experience you have.
Deadline is: December 10, 2013.
Thanks,
Holly
The other night I was walking across the street. The light was green for me but a car full of men didn’t stop and nearly ran me over. I flipped them the finger. The car stopped in front of me and the driver shouted: “I just want to fuck you”, to screams of laughter from his passengers. I was so mad. They reduced me to a mad woman shouting swear words at the back of a car. I was completely powerless. And scared. I didn’t know if that car was going to keep driving or if one of the men was going to get out.
– Anonymous
Location: Johannesburg, South Africa
Share your street harassment story for the blog.
Check out the new book 50 Stories about Stopping Street Harassers!
I was at a bus stop, waiting for my bus to arrive, it was dark out. I see a man with a hooded sweatshirt and he appeared to be faceless because all I saw was the hoodie and baggy sweatpants. He stood about 5 feet away from me, to my side. I had a weird feeling about him and I looked and he was reaching into his pants, I got scared and thought he was going to pull out a knife or a gun. I was so scared wondering what should I do, run away?! but then I keep looking and he pulled out his dick… I saw and just walked away.
I felt really disgusted. I walked away behind him, where other people were also waiting for the bus. I stood between two older women. I felt disgusted and dirty like I had to go home and take a shower, It made me feel like a piece of meat. I couldn’t believe what had just happened. I had experienced street harassment since I was very young, about 9 or 10 years old, but this has got to be the worst one.
Do you have any suggestions for dealing with harassers and/or ending street harassment in general?
I would suggest that for catcallers, they get called out on their actions, but I understand that is very difficult to do especially because one is always considering their own safety before anything else. for example, I thought that person had a gun or knife, you never know! I usually never make eye contact with men on the street because if I do, most of the time I get the “sexual lustful stare”
– Anonymous
Location: Bus stop in San Francisco, CA
Share your street harassment story for the blog.
Check out the new book 50 Stories about Stopping Street Harassers!