Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Chalk Walk: Women in Brussels reclaim the places where they were harassed

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Editor’s Note: This guest blog post is reprinted from the Hollaback Brussels Facebook page about the “Chalk Walk” they took on March 24, 2012, for International Anti-Street Harassment Week:

Morning. Saturday. 10.30 am. The sun’s slowly coming up over the rooftops. The streets of Brussels are greeting us. All 4 of us are on ‘our way’. Anxious.

We meet up at ‘Ribaucourt, Molenbeek’. The place where Angelika was harassed. The streets still look quite empty, as if Brussels hasn’t fully woken up yet.

We arrive cheerfully to the ‘spot’, we organise, make our DIY ‘banners’, excited. Time to start. This is Angelika’s moment. With colorful chalk she starts to write on the sidewalk. People pass by glancing quickly, trying to read what she’s writing. ‘I was harassed here. I Hollaback. I reclaim the street.’ she writes strongly.

When it’s over we hug and congratulate Angelika and with our banner she goes and stands at the top of her chalk-text, reclaiming this street, this sidewalk!

Next stop: Lemonnier. The place where Anna was harassed. The tram takes us there and Anna retells parts of her story. She shows us where she went and stood trying to get away from her harasser, there, in the middle of that four-lane boulevard.

The ritual is the same. She starts to write, getting into the moment. People pass. Try to read. When it’s over we hug her firmly and congratulate her. She proudly and beautifully reclaims this spot.

And so we continue. To the Metro/Subway ‘De Brouckere’. The place where Ingrid was harassed. She walks with us and shows us where her story happened. On the staircase leading to the subway platform.

She decides to write in front of the subway entrance, on the sidewalk. It’s a busy spot. When she starts, some people actually stop to see what’s she’s writing, what’s happening. The language changes. Writing in French now.

A guy comes over asks us ‘what we are doing?’ We explain, he thinks ‘this is great, he hasn’t seen anyone do this before’.

Ingrid boldly reclaims ‘De Brouckere’.

We hug and congratulate her and we’re off again to our last stop: the bridge at the cemetery of Ixelles. The place where Julie was harassed.

Again a busy place. Cars honk their horns at us while we’re on the bridge. What are we doing? People pass.

Julie writes in beautiful French. It feels like artwork. We let her get into her moment. She writes: ‘J’ai été harcelée ici. La rue m’appartient. Hollaback’.

La rue m’appartient: The street belongs to me. Such a ‘right way’ to say this.

When Julie is finished, she goes and stands on the bridge and fiercely reclaims it. We hug her and cheer!

And that .. concludes the first part of our day! AWESOME is not even a strong enough word to describe it! EMPOWERING comes close! What we discovered was that writing with chalk on the sidewalk, on the street, on the bridge, telling Brussels: “I was harassed here’ ‘I reclaim the street’ is a powerful, liberating ritual and an amazing hollaback !

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“When we discuss anything to do with race and gender we have to explore the importance of how both overlap and in turn the importance of intersectionality”

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I should start this by saying my name is Saba, I am from Western Canada and a member of Black Feminist UK. It was when I moved from my tiny city to London that I was really introduced to the concept of Street Harassment.

In the area I was living in, I was catcalled and followed on almost a daily basis. I felt fear and annoyance almost daily basis on my way home from the tube stop to my flat. I was made to feel uncomfortable and threatened for walking out my door, because it was simply “what happens when you live in a big city”.

What made me the most upset was sounds men would make when I walked past, they wouldn’t want to engage me at all, they would just put me in my place.

We all know that Street Harassment is gendered, the type of harassment that men would receive is different from what women receive on the street. At the same time race is also a major part of street harassment. For example; stops and searches in London are a huge issue with young Black Men; and Street Harassment of Black women is different from those of other women. When we discuss anything to do with race and gender we have to explore the importance of how both overlap and in turn the importance of intersectionality.

I am a huge supporter of this whole movement because I believe that I should be able to walk down the street and feel safe. We need to be discussing all the things that need to change in order for that to happen.

@SabaEm

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“Every time it happens, I feel disgusted.”

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About two or three times a week I walk 1.8 miles to my current work and then the same distance back a few hours later. And every time I make the walk, I always get at least one horn honk or one one greeting yelled out a car window. This isn’t an isolated incident.

And it isn’t always obvious harassment. A lot of the time it’s a man (or more men) offering me a ride. Would they still offer me that ride if I were a man? I doubt it.

I always ignore it. They’re in speeding cars most of the time anyway. If they’re in a stopped car and they keep shouting, it’s very easy to just pull out my ipod and play with it, making it clear that I can’t hear them because my music’s too loud. (I can hear them, but I’d rather not be expected to respond.)

The funny thing is nobody talks to me when I’m using my umbrella as a parasol in bright sunlight on dry days. No guy wants to hit on a girl who’s some weirdo using an umbrella when it isn’t even close to raining.

Every time it happens, I feel disgusted. I wish I could put on an unattractive body for my walks and take it off when I get to where I’m going. Why can’t I just take a goddamn walk? Why do these men feel the need to intrude on my peace? Why do they feel like it’s okay for somebody I’ve never met to yell things at me just because I’m there and I happen to be a woman?

I’ve been making that walk regularly for only a month and a half, and already car horns don’t make me jump anymore. How can they, when I hear them so often?

– Deborah N.

Location: Folsom Blvd, Rancho Cordova, CA

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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“Not sure I’m in the right bathroom? I’m not sure you are either, but I’m not going to ask you about it.”

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For International Anti-Street Harassment Week, a few student groups at George Washington University in Washington, DC, worked with the DC Trans Coalition to create fliers to post in public restrooms about the harassment most transgender individuals face there.

The campus would not let them. Via the DCist:

“The GW Graduate Feminists has been attempting to post signs in bathrooms around campus warning against the harassment transgender people often report experiencing when using gender-specific restrooms. But to the group’s consternation, campus officials have said fliers are not permitted to be mounted in the bathrooms inside the Marvin Center, GWU’s student center at 21st and I streets NW.

Elizabeth Owens, a member of the Graduate Feminists, told DCist that given the subject matter, it would have made sense for administrators to bend the rules and allow signs warning against violence in restrooms to be mounted inside restrooms. Instead, according to an email from a university employee that was forwarded to DCist, fliers are only allowed near the Marvin Center’s elevator banks.

But given recent violent crimes around D.C. in which transgender people have been assaulted and killed, Owens feels that there ought not to be such a limitation on where precaution can be advised.

“In the context of the violence that is going on in the D.C. area and a perception that trans issues are not being highlighted—even within the LGBT community—we saw a need to bring offer some resources,” she said in a phone interview.

Owens’ fliers implore bathroom visitors to give transgender people as much privacy as they would expect from themselves. “Let transgender folk pee in the restrooms we feel safest in,” some of the notices read. The fliers also cite a 2009 survey taken by the D.C. Trans Coalition reporting that 70 percent of transgender people interviewed reported being either harassed or assaulted while using a gender-specific bathroom. These trends, the Trans Coalition’s report said, can lead to a withdrawal from public life, deeply affecting a person’s education, employment and health.”

The GWU campus paper published an article about the issue too.

I received my master’s degree from GWU and I’m disappointed they wouldn’t let the students post the fliers. While Anti-Street Harassment Week is coming to a close, that doesn’t mean it’s time to stop bringing attention to public harassment/street harassment. Here are four of the fliers they made, feel free to download them and post them wherever you can.
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“Be a Hero and Stop Harassment!”

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Breakthrough is a Delhi, India-based amazing, award-winning “global human rights organization that uses the power of media, pop culture, and community mobilization to inspire people to take bold action for dignity, equality, and justice.”

I first learned about them because of their innovative bystander campaign around domestic violence called “Bell Bajao” or “Ring the Bell.” It encourages people to ring a neighbor’s doorbell if they hear domestic violence occurring because that can interrupt the situation, and then to call the police if it continues.

I connected with a few staff at Breakthrough a few months ago (including Veronica Weis, the author of yesterday’s blog post about street harassment in Delhi, India) and invited them to participate in International Anti-Street Harassment Week. I was thrilled when they accepted the invitation and created this amazing bystander poster campaign for street harassment. Please the posters share widely!

 

 

They also created two comics about bystander interventions.

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