Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Middle age men yell sexually explicit comments at 15-year-olds in Manchester

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When I was 15, I was walking about 500 meters from a concert venue (around 11 p.m.) with my friend towards my friend’s parent’s car, when a group of middle-aged men, who I believe were drunk, began to follow us, leering at us. We picked up the pace and ignored them. They then started shouting comments about my ‘sexy arse’ in those ‘tight and sexy’ jeans I was wearing (my friend was wearing a knee length dress).

Upon hearing no response, the slurs became progressively worse, culminating in them screaming vulgarities about wanting to have anal sex with me. Although it was not my first experience of street harassment, it is certainly the one that has been embedded in my mind.

– Anonymous

Location: Manchester, UK

Share your street harassment story today and help raise awareness about the problem.
Find suggestions for what YOU can do about this human rights issue.

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Snapshot of street harassment stories, news, announcements & tweets: June 17, 2012

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Read stories, news articles, blog posts, and tweets about street harassment from the past few weeks.

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Street Harassment Stories:

Share your story! You can read street harassment stories on the Web at:

Stop Street Harassment Blog

HarassMap in Egypt

Bijoya in Bangladesh

Resist Harassment in Lebanon

Ramallah Street Watch in Palestine

Name and Shame in Pakistan

Safe Streets in Yemen

Many of the Hollaback sites

Street Harassment In the News, on the Blogs:

* USA Today, “Arab women cry for end to harassment“

* Ms Magazine Blog, “Egyptian Women Refuse To Be Silenced By Assaults“

* Feministing, “Join Egyptian women in speaking out against street harassment today“

* Al Jazeera, “Egyptians say ‘enough’ to sexual harassment“

* Amnesty International, “Egypt: Investigate attacks on women protesters“

* Washington Post, “Amnesty urges Egypt to investigate sexual attacks on women in Cairo’s Tahrir Square“

* Council on Foreign Relations, “Challenging Sexual Harassment in Egypt“

* College Gloss, “Combating Street Harassment: What You Should Know“

* Jeffrey Roberto Concerto, “Subway Juice and Street Harassment“

* Tough Cookies, “But Wait – You’re Twelve“

* Gender Agenda, “Street Harassment: Fighting Back – Ruth Graham“

* Muffin’s Musings, Makings, Memories and More, “Street Harassment“

Announcements:

New:

* June 13 was a day of blogging and online activism against sexual harassment/street harassment in Egypt

* @fluffmuffin10 call for further research participants in #streetharassment study. Send me an message if interested in being interviewed on ur experiences

* Watch Chescaleigh talk catcalls.

* Watch Anum Khan’s new video “What Men Say to Men Who Harass Women on the Streets” in Egypt

Reminders:

* After the attacks on women at Tahrir Square in Egypt this week, follow the hashtag #EndSH on twitter to find out what the next steps are to challenge the behavior and make the space safe for women.

* If you’re in Winnipeg, Canada, take this survey on street harassment.

* Activists in South Africa launched a new website about street harassment

* The anti-sexual harassment public service announcement signs are now up in several Washington, DC metro stations!

* Help fund a new film about street harassment

* The Stop Street Harassment book is available in paperback for $15.

* Submit art about street harassment for the VoiceTool Product exhibit in San Francisco, CA

* The Adventures of Salwa campaign has a hotline for sexual harassment cases in Lebanon: 76-676862.

* In Bangalore, India, there is a helpline for street harassment 080 – 22943225 / 22864023

* Report #streetharassment in Pakistan at @NameAndShamePk, email nameandshame@ryse.pk, SMS 0314-800-35-68 or online at http://www.nameandshame.pk

20 Tweets from the Week:

1. @ScarletRegina Today, I opted not to walk to a store b/c I didn’t want to deal with being harassed. That’s how prevalent & limiting #streetharassment is.

2. @rev_melissa The fact that I bite the inside of my lip every time I pass a male on the street, in fear of #streetharassment <<<<<<<<<<

3. @HollabackBXL #WhoSaidItWasOk to catcall if she’s got a short skirt? It’s NEVER ok! #hollabackbrussels #hollaback #streetharassment #brussels #bruxelles

4. @ShayRealEstate Parents, please teach your sons that #StreetHarassment is violating and disgusting! At red-lights, gas stations, stores, ect..Too much!

5. @RaiWalk Reading about #StreetHarassment makes my faith in humanity lower…

6. @middle_ladle “Hey, baby, I love your stripey socks!” Hey, guy. I now feel gross, dirty, and unsafe from your #streetharassment.

7. @citygirldc Ugh! Hate it when men act like they r @ the club on their jobs – delivery men, garbage men, police….#streetharassment

8. @ashcampaign Founder @vicky_simister is off to Scotland Yard this eve to meet the Commissioner and discuss tackling #streetharassment!

9. @eldiadia I calmly flipped him off, looked him in the eye, and slowly and deliberately mouthed the words “Fuck You.” #streetharassment #resistance

10. @LauraJeanGrey Wahey second time in a week some prick shouts at me from a car! Lucky me! I feel SO pretty. Twat. #streetharassment

11. @BLANK_NOISE the one way to make the street safe is to make sure you’re outside. #actionhero numbers matter. be visible. #safecities #streetharassment

12. @angrierangel Also, being w/o my #bike has made me re-realize that often I choose walking routes based on avoiding #StreetHarassment #Sad #CultureFail

13. @wlp1 Compelling short film on #StreetHarassment by young #women in #Jordan, who have since received threats. Please RT: http://bit.ly/JXxXH0 #VAW

14. @squirrel_handed Also to the creepy, leering dude I passed on the street: What you said was not a compliment. It was harassment. #gofuckyourself

15. @ClareBonnet i don’t give a flying fuck if you don’t think street harassment doesn’t exist. it does exist, and you will never shut me up.

16. @EverydaySexism @niffalou__ that’s often one of the worst things about street harassment – the feeling it’s so normalised that noone bats an eyelid

17. @Idzie Seriously, fuck anyone who EVER tries to say that any type of street harassment is “flattering” women. Fuck. No. #feminism

18. @JLPisJLPisJLP @HarrietThugman I hate the street harassment. How they follow us, try to touch us, say such foul stuff, pull up in a car jerking off, etc.

19. @jungleline @ashcampaign Harassed again on Hackney Rd, 2nd time this week. Street harassment is such a constant, tiring intrusion into women’s lives.

20. @HarrietThugman When WILL Black men come together to fight issues that affect Black women? Street harassment against women? Hmm.

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Sign petition to take down pro-street harassment construction sign

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Please sign this petition asking for the removal of a sign at a New Jersey Mall that reads, “We apologize for the whistling construction workers, but man you look good!”

Sexual harassment is illegal, not a joke or a compliment, and public sexual harassment impacts more than 80 percent of women worldwide, especially when they’re young.

Construction companies should view sexual harassment as something to penalize their workers for doing, not as something to encourage their workers to do, especially at a mall where there are so many teenage girls who could be the target of the harassment.

Help me reach 250 signatures!

This petition was made possible because of these individuals: Katie Broendel who alerted me to the sign yesterday morning, Feminist Philosophers for posting the sign on their blog (which Katie saw and sent to me), Elizabeth Harman for taking the photo of the sign and then telling me where it was located, Alan Kearl for researching the name of the construction company, and Shelby Knox for suggesting the Change.org petition strategy.
Update 6/18 — My apologies to the E. A. Reeves construction company who is not responsible for the sign as I first thought.

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Six Ways My Dad is an Activist

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My book launch event in 2010. This is how supportive my dad is -- the event was on a weeknight in DC and my dad left work in NYC early, drove 4 hours down to DC, attended the event, and then drove all the way back home so he could go to work the next day. I had a book launch event in NYC the next week that he also attended...he wanted to be at the DC one too to support me at my very first book talk. My mom attended both too.

Happy Father’s Day to men working to make the world a better place!

Happy Father’s Day in particular to my dad who is a great ally and anti-street harassment activists. Here are six examples of his efforts.

1 – When I secured the Stop Street Harassment book contract in 2009, my dad, Alan Kearl, spent dozens of hours line-editing the entire manuscript by hand, twice.  It was truly a labor of love and his advice helped make the book stronger. Last fall, he helped me buy the rights to the paperback edition so I could make the book more affordable/accessible.

2 – Online, my dad has written several posts for the male ally series on this blog and he regularly writes encouraging comments on stories people around the world submit to the blog.

3 – During this past year, he’s represented Stop Street Harassment at several events in New York City, including the Shine the Light on Domestic Violence event at Times Square.

4 – In 2011, I organized International Anti-Street Harassment Day and my dad and mom decided to participate by handing out 100 fliers about street harassment near a subway stop.

5 – In 2012, when I decided to turn the day into International Anti-Street Harassment Week, my dad dreamed bigger organized a rally against street harassment in New York City. Despite a busy work and personal life schedule, he organized over a dozen speakers and performers, including City Council Member Julissa Ferraras, and a crowd of 100 joined in to chant, cheer, and get energized to do something about street harassment. Everyone at the rally was inspired and encouraged by seeing a male ally and a father take such an active role in addressing the issue.

6 – Yesterday, I was in New York City with my family to celebrate an early Father’s Day. In the morning, a friend sent me a photo of a pro-street harassment construction sign in Princeton, NJ. When I told my parents, my dad wanted to drive the 90 minutes (each way) to try to find it and take pictures in person and figure out what company put up the sign. When that proved impractical because of the rest of our schedule, he did online sleuthing and figured out the company and wrote an email to them sharing his disappointment in the content (I’m working on a petition you can sign soon).

While my dad has always been supportive of my efforts, I love how he’s turned into an activist in his own right. I’m excited that we can grow together as activists when we travels to Cairo, Egypt, in July to meet with anti-street harassment members of the group HarassMap (and also sight see).

I hope my dad can be an example to other fathers about the power and importance of working with their children collaboratively to make the world a better place.

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“We apologize for the whistling construction workers, but man you look good!”

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A real sign in Princeton, NJ. Image via Feminist Philosophers

“We apologize for the whistling construction workers, but man you look good!” — this statement is found on a real life construction sign in Princeton, NJ, sent to the blog Feminist Philosophers by one of their readers who saw it.

Has anyone else seen this? Do you know what company produced it? Once we know that, then the letter-writing, phone calls and petitions to get this sign removed can begin.

This tongue in cheek, joke-y sign is NOT funny because it makes light of street harassment (hahaha, we apologize, but not really), it construes it as a compliment (man, you look good, lady in a skirt and tight shirt and tall boots…don’t you know you’re asking to be whistled at?), and it helps perpetuate the stereotype that it’s construction worker-type men alone who engage in this and that they can’t help it, because man, you look good, instead of acknowledging the whole range of men who engage in this behavior.

It ignores rape-culture, the widespread sexualization of girls, the fact that by age 12, nearly 1 in 4 girls has experienced street harassment, that over 80 percent of women have been the target of a sexually explicit comment from a man on the street and over half of them have been groped by men on the streets, and that street harassment is a global problem.

Often when I give interviews or talks about street harassment, someone will ask me, what needs to happen to stop street harassment.

And I say, right now, the biggest thing we need to do is change the normalization of it and end its social acceptability. For example, get rid of things like THIS SIGN!!! This sign normalizes street harassment. It contributes to why it happens and why so many of our friends/family tell us it’s a compliment or laugh when we share our street harassment stories.

So how do we change the normalization of it? We can do this by sharing stories (even if people tell us we’re over reacting or it’s a compliment), talking about it, educating our friends/family, speaking out when we see it happening, etc.  We can organize community action. And, once we know what company produced this sign, contact them and ask them to take it down!

No country will achieve gender equality and no country ever will as long as men are allowed to freely harass women and girls on the streets.

(h/t to @kbster for telling me about this sign)

UPDATE: The sign is at MarketFair Mall. Still doing research to find out who we need to contact to get the sign down.
UPDATE: Here is the petition

UPDATE: MarketFair Mall took down the sign!! (Also, E A Reeves, a construction company in PA, was not the ones responsible for the sign as had originally been thought. Apologies to them for associating them with the sign.)

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