anti-street harassment week Archives | Page 15 of 63

What’s in a Name?

April 7, 2017 By Contributor

Guest Post for International Anti-Street Harassment Week

By Blythe Tyrone

Ask any woman if she’s experienced street harassment, and she’s likely to respond emphatically in the affirmative. She’ll probably have a few anecdotes to share (she might even laugh while doing so), recounting what was said and done by whom, maybe regretting the way she handled the situation but recognizing the potential danger of an alternative response. As result of the harassment, she might share that she now avoids that one street at certain times of the day, or perhaps makes a point to listen to music while walking down a city street to discourage unwanted comments, or simply to drown them out.

To a passerby, street harassment may just seem like harmless words, but these uninvited interactions have real effects on women’s daily lives. I intentionally don’t jog on the sidewalk of high-traffic streets, for instance, because the occasional honk or holler is jarring and distracting from what should otherwise be a stress-relieving activity. It’s minor, but it’s a real change I have made in my life because of street harassment.

Because street harassment is so common, it seemed like an area that would be ripe for academic research, but when I started digging into the literature, I was surprised at how little I could find, especially compared to similar topics like sexual harassment. I thought street harassment was such an obvious problem and was surprised that no one seemed to care about it. I could find peer-reviewed research on what pick-up lines worked better at a bar, but little about something so common it’s been the subject of a viral video, comedy sketches, webcomics, think pieces, a Tumblr project, disturbing headlines, and initiatives.

The problem, I soon learned, was a simple matter of definition. What’s in a name? Well, quite a lot, apparently. Eventually I discovered that I was far from the only one interested in researching street harassment, but I was one of the few actually using that term. Street harassment research is scattered across disciplines under a variety of names such as stranger harassment (Fairchild & Rudman, 2008), public harassment (Gardner, 1995), catcalling (Wesellmann & Kelly, 2010), girl watching (Quinn, 2002), sexual terrorism (Nielson, 2002), street remarks (Kissling, 1991), and street hassling (West, 1987). So, earlier, when you asked that woman if she’s experienced street harassment? She could actually have described any one of these experiences.

Research is an important tradition that helps us understand problems and leads us to solutions. If we are not using the same words when identifying our problems, how can we expect to share what we have learned about them so that others may take our experience into consideration for their own work or build on it?

For my graduate thesis at NC State University, I have made a point to explore the many names street harassment research might be disguised under in past research. However, as more and more people – especially beyond the hallowed halls of academia – start using the term street harassment, not only might it spur researchers to start using the same name, but it may help spread awareness to the general public as well. To recognize and call out street harassment when we see it, we need to all be on the same page as to what we’re calling it to begin with. This isn’t to say that there are not many different layers that shape street harassment (it is certainly enmeshed in issues of race, power, gender, sexuality, etc.), but if we have a common place to start, we will be more unified and effective in the overall effort to stop street harassment.

Blythe Tyrone is a graduate student at NC State University studying street harassment for her thesis research. Follow her on Twitter @blythe_tyrone.

Day 5: International Anti-Street Harassment Week 2017

April 6, 2017 By HKearl

Day 5 of the 7th annual International Anti-Street Harassment Week has concluded. Here are some highlights.

You can view more photos of the actions in our photo album.
Check out the growing list of media coverage!
Join the next tweet chat tomorrow, led by Safecity and Global Utmaning, a Swedish Think Tank that initiated the Urban Girls Movement, on “Safe Public Space- Key to Sustainable Development'”, from 9 – 10 p.m. IST, (11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. EDT). Use #UrbanGirlsMovement and #EndSH

Online Campaigns:

Lots of groups all over the world are sharing messages on social media across the week. Here are examples of content shared today from Canada, France, Guatemala, Italy, Kenya, and Spain.

Argentina:

Accion Respeto held an event.

Brazil:

Think Olga did a video/discussion about street harassment and pop culture.

Mexico:

Biblioteca Vasconcelos hosted an event where Lilián de Paz, Tamara de Anda & Ana Gabriela Robles talked about being harassed in Mexico City, an aim to explain this issue to the society.

The Netherlands:

The City of Amsterdam has a webpage for the Week and released a video.

Hollaback! Nederland and the Imagine Project of Emancipator and Volta held an interactive workshop with school-aged boys to encourage critical thinking about street harassment and to take a pledge against street harassment as the first cohort of Young Ambassadors for Safe Streets.

The Philippines:

Katherine Belen of the UN Safe Cities programme in Metro Manila did an interview on Radyo Singko about the #SafeCities campaign

UK:

Hollaback! Derby’s website launched.

USA:

Illinois:

Working Bikes’ WTF! Night (Women Trans Femme) Presented: Breaking the Cycle of Street Harassment, a screening of the Ovarian Psycos documentary and a discussion on harassment in public spaces.

Kentucky:

University of Louisville Women’s Center and Women 4 Women Student Board hosted a speaker to talk about what street harassment is, the prevalence of it, and bystander intervention training. A few students spoke about their experience with street harassment and how race, gender, religion, gender identity, and sexual orientation intersect into their individual experience with street harassment

Minnesota:

Our board member Lindsey went out late last night and chalked in downtown Minneapolis. Morning commuters posted photos on social media, praising her work.

Ohio:

Oberlin College dance students performed a short version of The Window Sex Project, as a part of their “Spring Back” concert. The work was originally devised by Sydnie L. Mosley, her Harlem-based dance company, and Harlem community members, and is being re-staged for the first time on students. The performance is part of a larger event and will run tomorrow night as well.

Pennsylvania:

Susquehanna University’s Women’s Resource Center and Women’s Studies program held their 5th annual chalk walk, despite the rain!

Street Harassment and Violence are NOT about Clothes

April 6, 2017 By Contributor

Guest Post for International Anti-Street Harassment Week

By Mary Mwangi

A few weeks ago, I was conducting interviews on sexual harassment in public spaces and it was frightening to note that almost all of the interviewees believe that it is a woman’s way of dressing that influences street harassment and violence.

Women have been harassed while wearing skirts, hijabs, dresses and trousers, however. This goes to show that street harassment and violence is NOT about dressing. It is important for us to call a spade a spade and not lay blame on dressing, but instead we should strongly condemn those who perpetrate such violence on our streets.

Today, some may think that since we have not heard the news of stripping of women and girls in public spaces that the vice is dead. Sadly, this is not the case as many women continue to face harassment every single day but due to fear of victimization by the perpetrators opt to be silent.

I sturdily feel that the root cause of all form of violence and prejudice between men and women stems from a patriarchal mind-set. Some individuals have expressed concerns that the media and westernization fosters a society that devalues women. But again, don’t you think this is misplaced blame? The media only represents women as the society sees them.

*My Dress rally in Kenya in 2014. Photo courtesy of Brian Emmanuel Inganga*

Unless we realize that patriarchal attitudes and beliefs cause a lot of harm than good, then a culture of fear will continue. We all need to take up the bull by the horns and work together to fight the vice of street harassment and violence. It is important to note that it isn’t only men who perpetuate patriarchy, women do it too. It is high time that we all worked as a team, as family and as a community since we now know better.

It is high time that we all encouraged sensitization and behavior change initiatives that allow and emphasize discussion on sexual harassment, patriarchy and the need to respect all genders. At Flone Initiative, we believe above being men and women, we are human beings. Yes, we are different, but respecting and celebrating our uniqueness is a goal we are working on. All we need to do is learn to respect each other. It is only then that our women and girls will walk along the streets without fear of being harassed, violated, raped or assaulted but with the assurance of safety, security and freedom.

Join our social media campaign as we advocate for safer streets.
#EndStreetHarassmentWeek | #EndSH | #MyDressMyChoice

Mary Mwangi is the program manager at Flone Initiative in Kenya.

Safety First: Street Harassment and Women’s Educational Choices in India

April 6, 2017 By Contributor

Guest Post for International Anti-Street Harassment Week

By Girija Borker

Why do women in India choose to attend lower ranked colleges?

Is it because women have lower high school test scores? No.

Is it because of street harassment? YES.

Women studying in Delhi University (DU), one of the top universities in India, choose lower ranked colleges than men with the same high school test scores. This is despite the fact that women score higher on national high school exams than men. And this is true even for the smartest and the most ambitious women. My research aims to understand why women are making these choices and whether it is because women trade-off quality of education for safety from harassment.

DU is composed of 77 colleges and the colleges are spread across Delhi. The colleges vary in quality, with each college having its own campus, staff and classes. Undergraduate admissions in DU are centralized and primarily based on students’ high school test scores. I surveyed over 4,000 students at DU to collect information on students’ daily travel route, travel mode, their high school scores and exposure to street harassment. At DU, most students live with their parents and travel to college every day, predominantly by public transport. In my sample, over 70% of students live at home and of these around 80% use public transport to travel to college every day. Most women I surveyed have experienced some form of street harassment – 63% of women have experienced unwanted staring, 50% have received inappropriate comments, 27% have been touched inappropriately and 25% have been followed.

To determine how the risk of harassment during travel affects college choice, I combine safety data with information on students’ chosen travel route and alternative travel routes available. Safety data comes from SafetiPin, a map-based mobile application that allows users to characterize the safety of an area. Information on harassment by travel mode comes from Safecity, a mobile application that lets women share their stories of harassment in urban public spaces. I used Google Maps to map the route options available to each student for their travel to college every day.

*Harassment risk and students’ chosen travel routes to a college in Delhi University.*

My analysis indicates that avoidance behavior in response to street harassment can largely explain women’s choices. I found that women are willing to attend a college that is 6 ranks lower for a route that is 1 standard deviation safer. This means that if a woman must choose to travel daily to the number 1 ranked college but face a high probability of harassment, or commute to the 6th ranked college that incurs on average 1 standard deviation less of harassment, she will choose the 6th ranked college. Compared to men, women are willing to give up 4 more ranks for an additional standard deviation of safety. Even among individuals who chose the best college in their set of available choices, women spend Rs. 15,500 ($250) more than men in annual travel costs to take safer, but more expensive travel routes to college. This amount is equivalent to 6% of the average per capita annual income in Delhi.

This is the first study to assess the effects of street harassment on women’s college choice. The study highlights the degree to which the threat of street harassment holds back promising young women, even at a prestigious university in a modern city. The findings speak to the long-term consequences of everyday harassment – perpetuating gender inequality in education. Policy makers must realize that affirmative action for women is not enough unless we transform public spaces into enabling environments that are accessible to all.

Girija is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Economics at Brown University. She works primarily in the areas of gender economics, economics of education, and development economics. Girija grew up in Delhi and did her undergraduate studies from St. Stephen’s College in Delhi University.

Day 4: International Anti-Street Harassment Week 2017

April 5, 2017 By HKearl

Day 4 of the 7th annual International Anti-Street Harassment Week is almost over. Here are some highlights. You can view more photos of the actions in our photo album.

Here is the Storify from the tweet chat today.

Tomorrow, join the Tweet chat led by the George Mason University Women’s and Gender Studies Department, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. EDT, use #EndSH, follow @MasonWGST

Canada:

Women in Cities International released the second episode of their new podcast Small Talks and City Blocks, with WICI director Kathryn Travers and Ayesha Vemuri

Chile:

OCAC Chile engaged in flyering and street action.

Croatia:

Hollaback! Croataia organizes a movie night at Mama Club. They showed “Blurred Lines: The New Battle of the Sexes” (2014), a BBC’s documentary about the increasing rise of misogyny in the media and culture in general.

Ecuador:

Hollaback! Cuenca ‏ attended a meeting at the Bureau of the Eradication of Violence to discuss how to address sexual harassment on public transportation in the city.

France:

Stop Harcèlement de Rue hosted a tweetathon in French — so many people joined to share their stories that the hashtags trended, first in Paris and then in France! #stophdr #StopHarcèlementDeRue #endsh