Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Weekly Round Up: October 3, 2010

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Story Submissions Recap:

I accept street harassment submissions from anywhere in the world. Share your story!

In the News, On the Blogs:

Announcements:

Upcoming Events:

10 Tweets from the Week:

  • Elderta I just love that the guys at the automobile shop have taught their parrot to catcall women as they walk by. NOT.
  • khanyisile Street harassment. RT @Yo_lin: These guys called me names last time, now they wanna talk to me.. Mxm.. I wish there was another route home
  • SuzBomb I am so unimpressed with the kind of Vancouver street harassment &assaults I keep hearing about from friends/witnessing myself
  • msmagazine RT @Anti_Intellect: Sexual harassment on the street virtually never happens 2 me. #MalePrivilege You’ll get over it
  • rightsandwrongs So my pitbull was a victim of #streetharassment by a man in a car making kissy noises & yelling “what’s the matter, boy?” What.
  • DianeMassage to the man in the livery cab on washington and st marks, do not make me stop my bike to tell you to stop catcalling me! #streetharassment
  • HKearl & your sons not 2 harass rt @sfxmaven @mkylemiller It’s never too early to train your daughter about what to do about street harassment.
  • clembastow @ruminski plenty of men seem to think unwanted attention/street harassment is “okay” if they’re “polite” about it.
  • notesandrainbws Was wondering if dying my hair bright red would increase street harassment…yep. Decidedly yep. Ugh.
  • BLANK_NOISE attn GUYS! did you intervene? tell us how. we want stories of guys intervening to stop street sexual violence/ #eveteasing #bnguy
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“I like young girls and have flashed them for the past four years”

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Wow, this Japanese guy simply has no shame. From Japan Today:

“A 24-year-old man was arrested on Wednesday for flashing an 18-year-old high school girl in the corridor of an apartment in Katsushika, Tokyo, police said Friday. Akihiro Fujita was arrested after flashing the girl around 3:20 p.m. when she was coming home on the 2nd floor of the apartment block. The girl called police and Fujita, who was loitering in the area, was arrested.

Fujita was quoted by police as saying, ‘I like young girls and have flashed them for the past four years to release my stress. I also get a kick out of seeing the surprised look on their faces.’

Police said 40 similar cases have been reported in the neighboring area this year, but Fujita has only admitted to nine cases.”

So many harassers are repeat offenders like this guy and that’s why reporting them can be such a powerful step toward ending this problem. Think about it, one guy alone has harassed/traumatized at least nine girls, has probably made all of their friends frightened or nervous too, and obviously he has no intention of stopping. Hopefully whatever his punishment was (this article is actually several months old) will deter him in the future….

Oh and, 40 reported cases of flashing in that neighborhood in a year?! That’s definitely when it’s time for some community action to stop it and make the neighborhood safer!!

Image via Japan Probe & does not depict the news story

Related: in looking for an image to go with this post, I came across a blog post about crime prevention for school girls:

“Summer vacation is about to begin, so the school and local police held the [screaming] contest to help teach the girls to make some noise if they run into suspicious individuals. A little gadget measured the decibel levels of their shrieks and shouts for help. (According to the report, a 90 decibel scream is required to scare off an attacker.)”

Thoughts?

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Street harassment in El Salvador & Costa Rica

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Hi! i’m half Costa Rican, half Salvadorean, i’m surprised that this happens in so many places! and how often!

In both countries El Salvador and Costa Rica you’ll listen the same story, we all women are tired of this situation!!!! no matter if we wear a garbage bag (those big black ones) the only fact of being a girl it’s enough for them to say something to us!!!! this is disgusting!!! and i can’t stand it. This makes me angry when i go walking on the streets, i’m on a bus or even driving my car. It’s sad to feel this way every time you leave your house.

– Andrea Muñoz

Location: El Salvador/Costa Rica

Share your street harassment story today and help raise awareness about the problem. Include your location and it will be added to the Street Harassment Map.

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Ken Livingstone, London mayoral candidate, takes on street harassment

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This has been a big month for the London Anti Street Harassment (LASH) Campaign! In early September, they met with 2012 London Mayoral candidate Oona King and after the meeting, King agreed to make street harassment one of her campaign platforms!

This week LASH sent a letter to London mayoral candidate Ken Livingstone, and now he has agreed to also add street harassment to his campaign agenda! He wrote,

“I am concerned about street harassment of women and believe there is far more we need to do to tackle this problem.

I believe we should consider tougher deterrents and punishments to tackle this crime. We also need to provide far greater support for the victims of street harassment and other crimes.

This is an issue that needs to be taken more seriously, not just by the police but our schools, parents and the wider community.

It is essential that we send a clear message that street harassment of women is wrong and will not be tolerated.”

What amazing work by LASH Campaign founder Vicky Simister!! She’s a great role model for activists everywhere who want their political leaders to take this issue seriously.

This month, Vicky has also generated lots of great discussions about street harassment via appearances on the Mumsnet radio show, BBC radio 5, BBC London radio 94.5, and BBC Woman’s Hour. Keep it up!!

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Idaho upskirter is jailed

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In Idaho, video voyeurism is a felony and that’s why Mario Esquivel-Jimenez is in jail. Two different women caught him trying to take upskirt video footage of them at a Wal*Mart and they contacted the store manager. Then the Boise Police arrested him.

Via KTVB:

“It’s a felony,” said Lieutenant Steve Myers with Boise Police. “It’s a fairly new law on the books that was created to meet the needs of an ever-changing technology in society. So, we do use it quite a bit. It’s just one of those things that happen as times change. People take advantage of cell phones, to capture video that they should not be.”

Emphasis there was mine. It’s a good thing, if this is happening “quite a bit,” that it is illegal.

Mario Esquivel-Jimenez

Remember, if you are the target or see someone else being the target of public harassment (and this goes for any type, not just gender-based), you can report it. Yes, there’s a chance your report won’t be taken seriously, but at least you’ve tried. And then, in a case like this, what if it is taken seriously? Because of you, hopefully the perpetrator will be deterred from harming anyone else.

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