Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

“I know how it feels to have my safety and my rights compromised”

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I have been harassed on the street several times and step in when I see it happening to other people, as I know how it feels to have my safety and my rights compromised.

When a construction worker (I really do feel for the great labourers out there who may be getting tarnished with the ‘harasser’ brush due to their miscreant peers) looked me up and down and told me I looked hot, I replied loudly “I don’t know who you are. We’re not friends.” all without breaking stride. I put my headphones in my ears but did not put music on, so if I was being pursued I could hear it.

I have also been known several times, to intervene when it becomes obvious people are trying to ‘covertly’ ogle using their camera phones on public transport. I will move from wherever I am and position myself very obviously between the perpetrator and the victim. It helps if I carry a big handbag or a broadsheet newspaper – anything big and clunky can be advantageous in this case!!

– HD

Location: Melbourne, Australia

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28 DC Metro Stations Have Anti-Sexual Harassment Ads

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Metro ad. Image via @aliciasanchez

Sexual harassment and assault are common problems on public transportation systems worldwide, including in Washington, DC.

To address this problem, over the past two weeks in DC, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority (WMATA) has rolled out a public service announcement (PSA) campaign in 28 subway stations. Many stations have both English and Spanish versions. The PSA states that the harassment is not okay and lists information about how to report it.

Background: Since February, I’ve been part of a team at Collective Action for Safe Spaces pressuring WMATA to do more about sexual harassment and assault. We testified in February before the DC City Council, specifically before Ward 4 City Council Member Muriel Bowser. Bowser was very disturbed by the information we shared with her and asked WMATA to address it. Thankfully, WMATA is addressing it, including through the newly launched PSAs.

Stations: Here is a list of the Metro stations where you can find the ads:

1.    Addison Road    Metro
2.    Ballston        Metro
3.    Benning Road    Metro
4.    Benning Road    Metro – Spanish
5.    Capitol Heights    Metro
6.    Cheverly        Metro
7.    Cheverly        Metro – Spanish
8.    Clarendon        Metro
9.    Cleveland Park    Metro
10.    DuPont Circle    Metro
11.    Eisenhower         Metro – Spanish
12.    Eisenhower        Metro
13.    Foggy Bottom    Metro – Spanish
14.    Forest Glenn    Metro
15.    Forest Glenn    Metro
16.    Fort Totten        Metro – Spanish
17.    Fort Totten        Metro
18.    Franconia-Springfield    Metro
19.    Franconia-Springfield    Metro – Spanish
20.    Georgia Avenue Petworth    Metro
21.    Glenmont        Metro
22.    Glenmont        Metro – Spanish
23.    Grosvenor        Metro
24.    Huntington        Metro
25.    Judiciary Square    Metro – Spanish
26.    Landover        Metro
27.    Landover        Metro
28.    L’Enfant Plaza    Metro – Spanish
29.    New Carrollton    Metro
30.    Potomac Avenue    Metro
31.    Potomac Avenue    Metro – Spanish
32.    Prince Georges Plaza    Metro
33.    Prince Georges Plaza    Metro – Spanish
34.    Takoma        Metro
35.    Van Dorn        Metro – Spanish
36.    Van Ness    006    Metro
37.    Van Ness    008    Metro
38.    Waterfront    006    Metro – Spanish
39.    Waterfront    007    Metro
40.    Wheaton    014    Metro

You can report harassment very easily online.

Do you want to see a similar campaign in your city? Reach out to your transit authority and let them know!

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“A community that does not value women will never thrive”

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I live in Albuquerque,NM and I am a Mexican-American woman. This information is important in that when you are harassed in Albuquerque it is considered to be a “cultural thing.” I am of the culture and the men in my life do not harass women, so why is this okay?

Today, I was waiting for the bus in front of a grocery store in a very nice part of town. I was going home from work dressed in jeans and a button-down blouse, conservative. A car drives by and a young man sticks his head out of the window and yells, “You’re a slut!” I just stare back, and he keeps leering out at me. Then the car is gone.

Pretty common story right? Consider this one: a year ago, as I am waiting in front of a restaurant for my friend to pick me up, a SUV pulls up. The man asks me if I want a ride. I glare at him and shake my head. He hesitates, drives away and then circles back and slows down to stare at me. Is this common too, to be intimidated and objectified? Clearly this man thought that I was a prostitute. Which is even more uncomfortable for me because if a woman sells her body, she is often at a place in her life where she has few options, does that mean that by virtue of her role in society she is an object and men can do what they will?

Albuquerque is a good city, but a community that does not value women will never thrive. I do not feel safe.

– SBP

Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico

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New campaign to make Tahrir Square safe for women

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Stomach sinking. Outrage growing. Another recorded sexual assault committed by a group of men against one woman at Tahrir Square in Egypt.

Associated Press journalist Sarah El Deeb writes:

“Her screams were not drowned out by the clamor of the crazed mob of nearly 200 men around her. An endless number of hands reached toward the woman in the red shirt in an assault scene that lasted less than 15 minutes but felt more like an hour.

She was pushed by the sea of men for about a block into a side street from Tahrir Square. Many of the men were trying to break up the frenzy, but it was impossible to tell who was helping and who was assaulting. Pushed against the wall, the unknown woman’s head finally disappeared. Her screams grew fainter, then stopped. Her slender tall frame had clearly given way. She apparently had passed out.

The helping hands finally splashed the attackers with bottles of water to chase them away.

The assault late Tuesday was witnessed by an Associated Press reporter who was almost overwhelmed by the crowd herself and had to be pulled to safety by men who ferried her out of the melee in an open Jeep.

Reports of assaults on women in Tahrir, the epicenter of the uprising that forced Hosni Mubarak to step down last year, have been on the rise with a new round of mass protests to denounce a mixed verdict against the ousted leader and his sons in a trial last week.

The late Tuesday assault was the last straw for many. Protesters and activists met Wednesday to organize a campaign to prevent sexual harassment in the square. They recognize it is part of a bigger social problem that has largely gone unpunished in Egypt. But the phenomenon is trampling on their dream of creating in Tahrir a micro-model of a state that respects civil liberties and civic responsibility, which they had hoped would emerge after Mubarak’s ouster.

“Enough is enough,” said Abdel-Fatah Mahmoud, a 22-year-old engineering student, who met Wednesday with friends to organize patrols of the square in an effort to deter attacks against women. “It has gone overboard. No matter what is behind this, it is unacceptable. It shouldn’t be happening on our streets let alone Tahrir.”

Journalists Lara Logan, Mona Eltahawy, and Caroline Sinz; Egyptian actress Sherihan; the woman in the blue bra, and countless other women have lived through mass gropings and sexual assaults simply for being women protesting or reporting on the protests at Tahrir Square. Hundreds (thousands?) of women have lived through verbal sexual harassment in a place that is supposed to symbolize freedom, revolution, and safety.

Women have not been silent. They’ve gone public with their stories of assault, they’ve organized marches, and they’ve shared stories online. They’ve experienced backlash and harassment for speaking out and marching.

But still, the assaults and harassment continues.

Maybe with more men and women speaking out together to create a campaign to stop harassment specifically in the Square, complete with a patrol, things will be different…?

HarassMap, the Egyptian Centre for Women’s Rights, and other activist groups have been active on this issue for years (including by recently organizing nearly 100 people in a Human Chain), but clearly a targeted campaign is necessary. This is happening too often at Tahrir Square when one incident would be outrageous enough.

When will men allow women in Egypt be safe to protest, to participate in the political process, to be in public places? What will it take?

Update #1, via Mona Eltahawy: Tomorrow in Cairo there is a protest planned against sexual assault

Update #2: Follow @HarassMap to see their brainstorm for dealing with the harassers/assaulter, including by encouraging women to use spray cans to mark the perpetrators.

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Grabbed by a registered sex offender…the police did nothing.

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*A NOTE HERE: I wish at the time this happened this group was in full kicking butt mode as it is now. This happened last year and since then I’ve taken the experience and helped others.*

It was a Monday night in April of last year (2011) and I just got out of my Ethics in Criminal Justice class- just did my final- and I was waiting for my Mom to pick me up from school (at the time I did not have my license so I relied on a ride from night classes). Where I attended school was a fine place- a bustling neighborhood that was cheerful during day time- but a SCARY place at night. I had never run into an issue there in the three years I had attended there at that point- until that night.

While waiting I felt someone grab me. I turned around and it was this creepy guy who appeared in his 50’s or so. I froze. He started talking to me- whilst holding on to my left arm in a death grip. I stuttered my answers- gave him a false name when asked what my name was. The conversation pretty much went as follows:

*creep grabs my left arm*
Creep: ” Hey pretty little girl”
Me: *froze in place*
Creep: “What’s your name?”
Me: “Debbie”
Creep: “I’m Ralph”
Me: *frozen again*
Creep: “Come with me” *proceeds to attempt to drag me*
Me: *stomp foot, muster courage* “NO!”
Creep: *stunned, runs away*

All this took three minutes, but it passed slowly. I whipped out my cell phone and attempted to take a picture of the guy but it was blurry. My Mom shortly arrived after. I told her what happened. She wanted to take me to talk to the police, but I wanted to go home- which we did. The next day I kicked myself in the butt for not going to the police right away.

After carefully going through the details of the incident I wrote it down and called that city’s non-emergency police line to report it. I was told there was nothing they could do. (I was FURIOUS). I told them I had a picture and I was told to drop by and we could talk. I showed up at the police station and I got blown off. I got mad, and I spent that night scouring the web on the registered sex offender list for NH/VT (I was able to recall physical details of the creep). Well I found him. God was with me that night- this guy’s charge was aggravated felonious sexual assault on a child. Now at the time I was not quite 23 but I did get mistaken for being younger than 18- still disturbing. There are some sick people out there. And why they are there instead of being in jail- I (along with many others) would like to know.

After this I stopped wearing my hair in braids. I bought several cans of mace (I always carry one when legal to do so) and I pushed myself to get my license (which I did get) and put an awareness around my college, my coworkers who have young teens/children, and formed a buddy system amongst my classmates- basically two of us would wait with someone waiting for a ride or offer the individual a ride. Ever since then, I have never felt threatened/frightened like I did that night.

– Dal

Location: Lebanon, New, Hampshire

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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