Activist Interviews Archives | Page 17 of 26

“It really put a spring in my step when a car load of men asked to see my breasts. Said no one ever.”

November 12, 2012 By HKearl

Ellie Hutchinson is the co-coordinator of the website Hollaback! Edinburgh that launched on Sept 6. It is the first site to address street harassment in Scotland. Recently, the group launched a humorous Tumblr about street harassment called “Said No One Ever” to point out in a clever way the truth that no one ever says they love street harassment.

If you have an image/statement to share, you can email it to edinburgh@ihollaback.org.

Ellie on what inspired the Tumblr:

“Hearing people say it’s a compliment always made me laugh quite a lot. As clearly, if it really was a compliment then you’d hear stories about how all these people met through street harassment. Which you don’t, and the idea that folk are walking round just hoping that some stranger is going to comment on their body/face/right to be in a public space and make their day cracks me up. It’s so far removed from the reality of what street harassment is, and the purpose of it, it’s almost surreal.”

In her day job Ellie works for a national violence against women charity. When she’s not fighting the patriarchy, she enjoys laughing at it.

UCSB Student Groups Say, “Catcalling is not cute”

November 2, 2012 By Contributor

Editor’s Note: Halloween in Isla Vista, the college town where UC Santa Barbara is located, is a huge party every year. Unfortunately, some people use this as an excuse to street harass and assault people. So this year, two student groups teamed up to organize a campaign against street harassment.

Students Stopping Rape and Men Against Rape teamed up together to start a conversation within our campus community; our topic was street harassment in our college town of Isla Vista (IV), specifically during Halloween. Our motivation began as we discussed IV culture and how often times street harassment is shrugged off as typical Isla Vista behavior. We all agreed there was something seriously wrong with that, and in spite of how often it happens, people should not make others feel sexually objectified, unsafe, and humiliated.

We set out to question our culture and prepared a campaign that showed students that sexual harassment is socially unacceptable. In our attempt to challenge our community, we decided to create a flyer campaign surrounding the Halloween season. The campaign used a simple design by putting an image of one or more women in costumes and short quotes such as “Catcalling is not cute,” “Sexual assault is a crime,” and “Consent is super.”

Our campaign focused on different aspects of sexual violence, but our flyers about street harassment and catcalling caught the most attention, as well as some criticism by the student population. Some people think that catcalling is not serious, adopting a sticks-and-stones mentality. We wanted to address more than one form of violence and show people that street harassment is sexual violence and part of rape culture. We are glad that our campus took notice and that the campaign began a conversation about an issue that is often unaddressed.

We believe that this is an important issue to address because this objectification only serves as a precursor to sexual assault, such as rape. To be clear, catcalling does not cause rape, and not everyone who harasses another person is likely to commit sexual assaults. However, research shows that the small percentages of men who do commit sexual assaults believe that all men act the way they do and hold the same attitudes towards women. When men who do not rape participate in harassment behaviors, the few men who do rape are validated in their beliefs. By creating this mentality culture of individuals being equated to only sexual objects, the likelihood of rape is greatly increased because of this dehumanization. Catcalling allows the severity and consequences of such terrible acts like rape, sexual assault, and lack of consent, to be lessened in the public eye.

This was our first campaign and we hope that we can continue to spark conversations and be proactive in challenging unsafe social norms and ultimately changing them. Our goal is to educate our campus community in effect changing mentalities and culture surrounding sexual violence.

This guest post was co-written by Liliana Salazar, a fourth year student at UCSB and coordinator for the Students Stopping Rape organization. While majoring in Sociology and Psychology she also works at the Women’s Center and the UCSB library.

It was also co-written by RJ Thomsen, a fourth year student at UCSB majoring in Sociology and Feminist Studies and coordinator for Men Against Rape. While not working in the Women’s Center this student is an active leader in UCSB’s queer community.

Street Art: Interview with Tatyana Fazlalizadeh

October 5, 2012 By HKearl

You’ve seen, loved and shared her artwork about street harassment, now hear from the artist herself.

Tatyana Fazlalizadeh is an oil painter / illustrator whose work focuses on portraiture and social/political themes. Currently based in NYC, she exhibits her paintings in galleries nationally, while working as a freelance illustrator and muralist.

Stop Street Harassment (SSH): What inspired your art project about street harassment?

Tatyana Fazlalizadeh (TF): The project was inspired by my daily experiences with street harassment. Being harassed on the street is exasperating. I’ve wanted to do some art work on the issue for a while now, but I couldn’t figure out how to properly communicate what I wanted to say in my primary artistic medium – oil paint on canvas. Over the past year or so I’ve started working in public art as a muralist. Thinking about creating art in a public space led me to this idea of wheat pasting posters. Because what better medium to create art about street harassment than street art.

SSH: Some of the prints are up on walls around Philadelphia, right? How many did you put up and how did you select where to post them?

TF: Philly, yes. As well as other places that I’m often in, mostly Brooklyn and other parts of NYC. This project is still very new and I plan to continue it and expand it, that includes venturing to different cities. I’ve placed them in areas that receive foot traffic, areas that I’ve personally been harassed, and spots that work well for wheat paste.

SSH: What reactions have you received from people who’ve seen them in person and from people who saw them on your Tumblr page?

TF: I’ve received a lot of positive reactions from women who relate to the captions on the posters. I’ve been having a lot of conversations, and a few debates, about street harassment as a result of this. I wasn’t sure what to expect because the state of this medium is very temporary; it’s likely to put up a piece and for it to be gone a few days later. So to have the pieces captured and widely shared online was surprising but, I’m also very happy about that.

My intention with putting up these pieces was to artistically speak up for myself and other women who are harassed on the street. In the moment, you don’t always speak up for yourself. You ignore them, walk faster. So with this work, I wanted to say what I actually think when being hounded by men (though, they aren’t my exact thoughts because those usually include a lot of expletives). After having conversations with friends and women that I know, I decided to also include their words and thoughts as captions. So, the work is for women but also, and maybe even more so, for men. I haven’t received many reactions from men, and I’m trying to figure out a way to find their reactions and thoughts, if there are any.

SSH: Do you plan to create more artwork to bring attention to the issue of street harassment?

TF: I do. I’m plan to revisit this topic in my painting. I’m also looking to create some mural projects around this theme.

SSH: Please feel free to share anything else you want people to know about your project.

TF: I’m glad that the work is resonating with women. The process so far has been fun, and the art and issue of street harassment is something I’m passionate about. It’s great to put my art in the streets and make these public statements that women aren’t outside for the pleasure of men.

If you love the shirt Tatyana is wearing, you can order one too!

Little Bird Project Launches to use Art to Address Street Harassment

September 14, 2012 By Contributor

Earlier this year at my former place of employment, a male patron (who’d already called me “darlin’”) yelled angrily into my face: “Thanks a lot, Toots!” My manager demanded I simply, “smile and nod”…. So I quit and launched the Little Bird project. Through the arts, we raise awareness about street harassment as a human rights issue for women and LGBT community members in San Francisco, California.

It turns out I’m not alone in wanting to stop street harassment. Artists, business owners, and other amazing folks have jumped on-board with the Little Bird’s mission. Our art-based impact strategy ensures inclusiveness: we offer the Little Bird symbol and message for artists to create art around, and the artist does the rest! Through our project activities – including art events, merchandise sales (coming soon!), and online community, as well as opportunities for artists and businesses – we aim to create a space where anyone who wants to can get involved.

The Little Bird kickoff event is set for Oct. 13, 2012 at Mama Art Café in San Francisco. The event will be a unique time of celebrating art, artists, and the community that is forming around the Little Bird, while promoting participants’ work as individuals. Featured artists include Amelia Lewis, Eugene Rodriguez, Beatrice Thomas, and Mission Mini Comix, with spoken word by Trina Robbins. The art (and its beautiful custom framing) will be sold via Silent Auction at the event, as will art supply gift certificates, frame shop gift certificates, salon styling services, and even pinup-inspired lingerie, all courtesy of our amazing contributing businesses! Check out our gallery for a sneak preview of the art, and RSVP to secure your spot in the bidding!

Other things the Little Bird is thrilled about:

* The Little Bird is pleased to be working with Stop Street Harassment’s Holly Kearl, who is on our Advisory Board. Holly’s breadth of knowledge and professionalism in confronting street harassment makes her such a pleasure to work with (thank you Holly!).

* The Little Bird project is now Fiscally Sponsored (by Fractured Atlas) and can accept donations online. Donations help fund our events, artist commissions, merchandise production, and administrative costs. Donate now!

* Our online tools: like us on FaceBook, follow us on Twitter (@LittleBirdSF), and bookmark the Little Bird’s blog!

This guest blog post was written by Sarah Harper, the Little Bird project Director. Her work is fueled by her passion for the issue, attraction to the arts, and background in professional writing, marketing, project management, Search Engine Optimization, and education. Sarah was also the Meet Us on the Streets San Francisco coordinator in 2012.

Metro Anti-Harassment Skit

September 12, 2012 By HKearl

Sadly, sexual harassment on the subway is not that unusual, yet few people (outside feminist circles) talk about it. For that reason, Collective Action for Safe Spaces & Voices of Men rode the Washington, DC, Metro and collaborated to perform a skit about harassment to bring attention to the issue. I played the role of the harassee.

The metro riders were pretty surprised because theater/performance is very rare on the DC system, but there were a lot of supportive comments each time we finished the skit. We did the skit about 10 times on several different subway cars.

Taking collective action like this is an important way to show that street harassment is not okay in your community. It’s also a great way to include new people in the work. One of the bystanders in our skit, John, was brand new to feminist activism and was an enthusiastic participant in speaking out against street harassment.

This skit can easily be replicated on other subways, metros, and buses. Reach out to either group for information:

Collective Action for Safe Spaces (CASS)
www.collectiveactiondc.org

Voices of Men
www.voicesofmen.org

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