Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Women Drivers Mean More Harassment?

By

the car I often drove in high school
the car I often drove in high school

I love the freedom driving provides. As soon as I got my driver license at age 16, I was on the road a lot. Gas was cheap and it was a good way to have some alone time for thinking and it also improved my social life as I no longer had to rely on my parents to drive me places, especially once my family moved to a suburb without public transportation. Also, anecdotally, I’ve found that many women in the U.S. feel that being able to drive rather than being reliant on public transportation or walking cuts down on harassment from men in public.

So today when I read an article in the Miami Herald about how some of Saudi Arabia’s restrictive policies are slowly changing, the following part of the article touched a nerve for me, not only because it reflects an antiquated attitude that it is better to cloister women than to teach men not to harass them, but also because I feel outraged that so many women will never know the freedom and power of getting in a car and driving wherever they want, whenever they want, just because they are female.

An excerpt from the Miami Herald:

“Like many fathers with teenage daughters, the time finally came for Abdel Mohsen Gifari to have an awkward talk.

The 44-year-old researcher for Saudi Arabia’s feared religious police sat one of his girls down to discuss an uncomfortable topic: She wanted to drive.

In a country where women are barred from getting behind the wheel, his daughter’s desire is not only forbidden, it’s also a touchy subject for Gifari, who’s spent nearly half his life working for the government body charged with enforcing the law.

“‘I told her that driving is allowed in Islam,’ Gifari said in a rare interview with a Western reporter. ‘But it is more of a cultural thing. We already have a lot of problems on the road when it comes to sexual harassment, with guys flirting with girls in the car. If a woman drives, it’s only going to bring more problems.’

Change is seeping slowly into Saudi Arabia, a Persian Gulf nation of 28 million residents – half of whom are under age 25 – and nowhere is the social friction more apparent than inside the religious police force that imposes the Kingdom’s conservative interpretation of Islam…

As for his own daughter’s desire to drive a car, Gifari said, after a half-hour chat, she agreed with her dad that the timing wasn’t right.

‘Maybe in a few years traditions will change,” Gifari said. “But right now it’s only going to bring problems – and it’s not one of the government priorities.'”

I hope that one day she and other women who want to will be able to drive, and I feel humbled that it took reading her story for me to remember not to take for granted the privilege I enjoy every day of being able to drive.

Share

Tunisian street harassment

By

Being in Tunisia for the summer, street harassment is an incessant issue for me. I’m often told by other Americans that I just need to deal with it, because it’s just part of their culture and I shouldn’t insult a different culture. I’m told by Tunisians to just ignore it, which is hardly a satisfying response, but provoking them is often just as worse. I’m also told by people, like my mother, that i should stop complaining because it’s a compliment, and I’ll miss it when I’m old and don’t get cat called anymore. (I even wrote about this in my blog, http://independentlyowned.wordpress.com/2009/06/29/transnational-gender-stereotypes/)

The harassment is usually low-level, and comes in the form of “Hello, miss,” “Bonjour,” “Very nice,” kissing noises, or other such small yet obnoxious comments. They usually say it when they’re just about to pass me, when they’re closest to me for that one brief second. They obviously don’t expect me to respond, otherwise they wouldn’t wait until the last moment. It’s merely a way of asserting their power over women, because they feel that they have a right to comment to any woman that they wish but they’re not giving us the right to respond back. It’s like getting into an argument with someone where they go on a rant and then hang up the phone, or sign offline. They don’t respect you enough to allow you to respond, nor do they care.

Other times harassment comes in the form of intense stares. They might not say anything, but instead glare you down until you’re out of their line of vision. Nothing will come of it if you do or don’t respond, but it is the most unsettling feeling. It is especially bad when dozens of men are all sitting at a street cafe and all stare as you walk by. It is not flattering, and I feel like an animal on display at the zoo.

Most people say just to ignore it, but this is hardly satisfying, and often impossible. Even if I pretend like they don’t exist, they still did what they wanted to do and I feel used. They still leave the situation satisfied and thinking that what they did was totally okay.

No matter what I wear I will get harassed, even when I was here in the winter and was completely covered I still got harassed. Some Americans suggest that I wear hijab to avoid it, but especially seeing as it is not required of women, and in fact more than half the women do not wear it, I feel like I shouldn’t have to resort to such (in my opinion) oppressive measures just to be able to walk freely down the street. Also, I might still get harassed simply because I’m white and thus foreigner. The burden should not be on me to cover myself and look “less desirable,” especially when most women wear the highest fashions, but it should be the responsibility of the men to behave in public.

– Katie Franklin

Location: Tunisia

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.

Share

Street Harassment Round Up – July 12

By

Stories:

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.

In the News:

  • Time.com published a good article about how the Egyptian government is tackling sexual harassment (including street harassment) through religion by distributing new books on sexual harassment to 50,000 imams at mosques across Egypt.
  • A taxi driver in Perth, Western Australia, who allegedly sexually assaulted a female passenger in February is now being charged with that crime.
  • Carmella Etienne, a transgender female, alleges she was hit by rocks and a beer bottle and threatened in Queens.
  • Since June 19, there have been nearly a dozen reports of a man slapping women on their backsides on the subway around Crown Heights in Brooklyn, NY.
  • Jessica Reed asks in a blog post on UK’s Guardian website: “What is it about a woman on a bike that attracts such unwelcome attention?

Announcements:

  • RightRides in NYC has just expanded their services of a free ride home from Saturday nights to include Friday nights too! They offer this service from 11:59 p.m. – 3 a.m. in 45 neighborhoods across four boroughs. To call for a ride, the dispatch number is (718) 964-7781 OR (888)215-SAFE (7233).

Street Harassment Resource of the Week:

Share

Suspects Arraigned for Hate Crime in Queens

By

Carmella Etienne
Carmella Etienne

Carmella Etienne, a transgender female, alleges she was hit by rocks and a beer bottle in Queens earlier this week. She had to be treated at the hospital for a large cut on her leg. The men also allegedly shouted anti-gay slurs and threatened to kill her by cutting her throat. Both harassing men were arrested at the scene and are being held on $5,000 bail and will go to court on July 23. They could face up to 15 years in jail if they are convicted. Via NY Daily News:

“Etienne is now afraid to leave her home.

‘The law will hopefully put them to justice. I love being myself,’ she said.

The attack comes on the heels of another one on a transgender woman. Leslie Mora was assaulted with a belt buckle in Jackson Heights last month by two men. Prosecutors haven’t determined if they will pursue hate crime charges.

‘There’s mounting concern in the community and anger at the violence and prejudice,’ said Brendan Fay, a leader in the LGBT community in Queens. ‘Clearly these aren’t isolated incidents.'”

How horrible 🙁

Share

Approaching Sexual Harassment from Religious Point of View

By

As a follow up to my July 4 post, Time.com just published a good article about how the Egyptian government is tackling sexual harassment (including street harassment) through religion by distributing new books on sexual harassment to 50,000 imams at mosques across Egypt.

“The solutions proposed in the booklet — which include a greater adherence to religious and family values to better law enforcement — don’t necessarily match the advice preached by women’s groups, who focus primarily on drafting formal legislation on the matter and promoting female empowerment. Nevertheless, the ministry’s decision to address the issue at all, and on such a scale, may indicate a marked shift from the government’s stance just last year: that sexual harassment is the problem of just a few individuals. ‘It’s a big change,’ says Rasha Hassan, the main researcher at the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights (ECWR). ‘Of course the government still needs to do a lot. But nowadays we can see some change in the ministries.'” …

“There are calls for the government to draft a law specifically aimed at curbing sexual harassment, but even that may not be enough. ‘I think that any law against sexual harassment in the streets or in the workplace is a good step forward,’ says Nadya Khalife, a Middle East expert in the women’s rights division of Human Rights Watch. ‘However [it] still requires the government to effectively enforce the law by creating mechanisms to ensure that women do report sexual harassment incidents, and that these incidents are dealt with appropriately.’

Indeed, change may be slow to come, but in Egypt some activists are encouraged by the small signs of progress. ‘We can’t change the culture or the people in one day,’ says ECWR’s Hassan. ‘But we are trying to do a lot of things … We try to make changes with the government first, and then the people.’

It was just a year ago this month that the Egyptian Centre for Women’s Rights published it’s groundbreaking report about the extent that men harass women in Egypt and so to have the government trying to take the issue seriously now seems like great progress in that amount of time!

Share