Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

A frightful walk in Salzburg

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Via Encyclopedia Britannica
Via Encyclopedia Britannica

Several years ago, when I was a student in Salzburg, Austria, I was on a long walk at night with a female friend. We walked past a stretch of several bars, with tons of people hanging around on the sidewalk. As we passed, a guy called after us, asking if we had a cigarette. I ignored him, but he kept asking and was soon following us, along with another guy. Finally I turned and said no firmly, and we sped up a little, trying to get back to the hotel where my friend was staying.

We reached a parking lot near an open plaza, by which point they’d caught up to us. One of them reached under my coat and grabbed my ass, then pulled on my hair. I had a scarf knotted around my neck, and he yanked hard on the end so that it was pulled tight against my throat. They were circling us, shouting things. I can’t recall what they were saying because I panicked and was incoherent. I yelled no several times, in german and in english. I was crying. I saw some people in a parked car nearby, so I ran to the car and knocked on the window. The people ignored me and drove away.

Fortunately, the guys were somewhat deterred by my attempt to get help, and we had a second to escape. We started running. I could still feel them following us, and by the time we got to the front door of the hotel where my friend was staying, they had caught up again. Breathing hard, we frantically unlocked the door and slammed it shut in their faces. I feel lucky that I escaped unharmed (much worse things have happened to women in similar situations), but I’ve never felt so scared in my life.

I also felt guilty. When I panicked, the harassment became more intense. I can only assume they found my reaction humorous. For a long time, I constantly questioned myself–did I do something stupid? Was I overreacting? Did I bring it upon myself? Was it because I was a foreigner?

The worst thing is, the next day, we told the hotel concierge (who was, alarmingly, a female) what had happened, hoping my friend could cancel her reservation since she no longer felt safe at the hotel (they knew our location and could easily come back and find us if they wanted). We were summarily dismissed and told that it was “safe here.”

I shouldn’t make assumptions like this, and it may sound overly defensive, but I can’t help but think that her response stems partially from the wider belief that Americans are obtuse and unnecessarily obsessed with “political correctness.” After such a frightening experience, it was really insulting and discouraging for our warranted caution to be so callously disregarded. More than that, it speaks to an extreme lack of awareness regarding the severity of street harassment and how quickly even the most harmless-seeming “attention” can escalate into a seriously dangerous situation.

– anonymous

Location: Salzburg, Austria

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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If You Don’t Engage, You’re “Racist”

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Macarthur BART station via Yelp.com
Macarthur BART station via Yelp.com

I’m a 20 year old South Asian woman living in Berkeley, CA, USA. I was riding the 18 bus to Macarthur BART station in Oakland around 8.45 at night. I was sitting near the front of the bus reading a book and listening to music. There was a black man in his 30s sitting in front of me, who turned all the way around in his seat and staring at me. I managed to ignore him for a while, but when I took one earbud out of my ear to adjust it, he took that as an invitation to tell me I had beautiful hair. I smiled very slightly but didn’t say anything and went back to my music and book.

He kept talking to me, in a raised voice so as to be heard even above my music. Finally I took my earbud out again and said very quietly, “If you don’t mind I would just like to read, thanks”.

He proceeded to get very angry and began calling me an “uppity bitch”, a “fat ho”, and a “racist Indian cunt” who thought I was “too good to talk to a black man”.

I kept my eyes down because I really didn’t want to give him any more reason to follow me off the bus and he eventually stopped cursing at me and walked to the back of the bus.

I’ve lived in Berkeley for three years now and I’ve been catcalled, whistled at, had my appearance remarked upon multiple times but this was the first time I was actually worried I was in danger. Sometimes I hate living in this area.

– anonymous

Location: Berkeley, California

[editor’s note: see this blog post for how common this man’s reaction is.]

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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If You Don't Engage, You're "Racist"

By

Macarthur BART station via Yelp.com
Macarthur BART station via Yelp.com

I’m a 20 year old South Asian woman living in Berkeley, CA, USA. I was riding the 18 bus to Macarthur BART station in Oakland around 8.45 at night. I was sitting near the front of the bus reading a book and listening to music. There was a black man in his 30s sitting in front of me, who turned all the way around in his seat and staring at me. I managed to ignore him for a while, but when I took one earbud out of my ear to adjust it, he took that as an invitation to tell me I had beautiful hair. I smiled very slightly but didn’t say anything and went back to my music and book.

He kept talking to me, in a raised voice so as to be heard even above my music. Finally I took my earbud out again and said very quietly, “If you don’t mind I would just like to read, thanks”.

He proceeded to get very angry and began calling me an “uppity bitch”, a “fat ho”, and a “racist Indian cunt” who thought I was “too good to talk to a black man”.

I kept my eyes down because I really didn’t want to give him any more reason to follow me off the bus and he eventually stopped cursing at me and walked to the back of the bus.

I’ve lived in Berkeley for three years now and I’ve been catcalled, whistled at, had my appearance remarked upon multiple times but this was the first time I was actually worried I was in danger. Sometimes I hate living in this area.

– anonymous

Location: Berkeley, California

[editor’s note: see this blog post for how common this man’s reaction is.]

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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New method for reporting street harassers

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In Egypt, individuals are developing a HarassMap to allow women to report harassers via SMS messaging. It will map the location of the occurrence and help track where harassment is occurring and its frequency.

My good friends at HollaBackNYC and RightRides (who also are the lead coordinators for New Yorkers for Safe Transit) are taking this idea new places. This is their plan:

“We want to create an online map where women can ‘Hollaback!’ directly from their cell phones. Quick, 140 character stories can be submitted through three easy portals: a) text it, b) tweet it, and c) submit it through a ‘Hollaback’ mobile phone app. Once submitted, harassment and assault data will be mapped and later analyzed in an annual ‘State of Our Streets’ report which will be sent to the police, public officials, and the media. Automatic email alerts noting real-time harassment will also be available. Local citizens and policy makers can sign up for alerts on incidences in their own communities, or review our HARASSmap to see harassment hot-spots. Once we launch in New York City, we want to take it worldwide.”

As you may imagine, implementing this project takes money. They’ve applied for funding and they now need YOUR HELP to vote for their project!

For almost a year now I’ve been advocating (mostly silently though – lol) for a system that allows women to easily report the harassment and its location so I am thrilled to see them working to make it a reality. There are a lot of deterrents to reporting harassers now (including the fact that in most places you can only report people who are threatening or touching you) and it’s making the pervasiveness of the problem of gender-based street harassment largely invisible to mainstream society and to policy and lawmakers. This tool could change everything and make it easier to report harassers and it also could  show us where there are the most harassers so we can target those areas to end it.

Please go vote for the mapping/reporting tool – it’s really cool and has the potential to be a gamechanger in the fight against street harassment!!

Please also spread the word to your networks. Cut and paste this to your facebook, twitter, Myspace, and LinkedIn pages:
Vote for Hollaback 2.0 http://bit.ly/14Egc2 then repost to end street harassment!

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Morning drive by

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Chicago, IL – I was walking from my boyfriend’s northwest side apt one morning (around 6 am), on the way to the bus back to my place. A tan van slowed down and kept pace with me while I walked for about half a block. I gave it an annoyed look; it sped up and drove off.

I’d walked that 1.5 blocks before with no problem but the van just made me realize that the mornings were darker, I was alone and no one would be around if something happened to me.

Nothing was said – but then, nothing needed to be said. A van slowing down to follow a woman alone on a dark street, at sunrise? Not a compliment. Menacing.

– anonymous

Location: Chicago, IL

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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