Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Join our First 2016 Blog Correspondents Cohort

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458_Volunteer_become1Do you feel passionately about ending street harassment and do you like to write? We need YOU!

Stop Street Harassment is one of the top street harassment websites in the world and we’re recruiting new members for our first Blog Correspondents Program cohort of 2015. This is an unpaid, volunteer opportunity. Build your resume and add your voice to the global conversation about this important topic!

Your words will be read: the SSH blog receives up to 30,000 unique readers per month.

Assignment:

From January to April 2016, correspondents in our first cohort of 2016 must commit to writing one blog post per month about street harassment issues in their community, region or country, for four posts total. The topics could include incidents of street harassment covered in the news, activism to stop it, interviews with street harassment activists, and street harassment in popular culture, traditions or the news. You can also write pieces that tie street harassment to relevant related issues (such as racial profiling/racism, online harassment, and campus rape).

We aim to have geographic diversity among our cohort members. People of all genders, ages, regions are welcome to apply.

Applying:

If you would like to join our final Blog Correspondents cohort of the year, please complete this short application form by January 6 and the selected cohort will be announced on January 11.

Note: If you prefer to write in a language other than English, please also indicate what language is most comfortable for you and you can send your writing sample in that language.

Please apply and/or share with others who may be a good fit!

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The Netherlands: The Revolution Will be Tweeted

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Eve Aronson, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, SSH Blog Correspondent

What’s in a word? In a character?

During last February’s Super Bowl Sunday in the US, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton found out.

hillaryclintonWith her excruciatingly ordinary tweet about American football and politics, Clinton unintentionally showed the power of 140 characters broadcast to 4.9 million vaguely- connected social media followers.

According to blogger Bridget Coyne, the tweet was retweeted over 57,000 times and prompted 33,600 new followers, ten times Clinton’s average daily follower growth.

While there are plenty of social media critics out there (and there are many), there is no denying the powerful potential of social media platforms to provoke engagement and build interest in everything from funny cats to presidential debates.

In the sphere of anti-street harassment, social media is being used to not only quickly broadcast people’s experiences but to connect and empower folks with shared experiences.

Not unlike Clinton’s wildly popular tweet, more and more people are engaging with social media platforms like Twitter, and important issues like street harassment are gaining some serious momentum.

The figure below maps the global conversation about street harassment using the hashtag #endSH from 2014-2015:

endsheweek

(Source: Followthehashtag 2015)

With a reach of over 13 million, the above map speaks not only to global experiences of street harassment, but also to individuals around the world collectively exposing the phenomenon and, in doing so, working to unsettle and resist the power structures that sustain it.

Towards Sousveillance

We can also look at simple actions like tweeting as a means to empower those targeted in street harassment interactions— like women of all backgrounds and people of color or LGBTQ folks of all genders— by turning what is conventionally known as the “gaze” back onto harassers.

This practice of using social media to do this— either by sharing a story, an opinion or by offering virtual support to someone else posting about their experience— is what is called “sousveillance”.

Coupled with digital technologies like mobile phone apps, geo mapping or online platforms for sharing experiences about street harassment, what ‘sousveillence’ does is put the ball back into the court of the individual who experiences street harassment.

We can see in the map below how, for example, Hollaback! New York embeds geo mapping into its site to “sousvey” harassers as well as to visualize and map bystander presence. On the map, red dots represent reports of street harassment, while green dots represent individuals reporting bystander presence:

hb nyc

(source: Hollaback! NYC)

The image above isn’t just a bunch of red and green dots— each dot represents an experience of street harassment like hissing, leering or groping. And having experienced street harassment and knowing that you’re not along has a greater impact than you might think.

“[I]t makes me feel better to know that there are other women going through the same thing,” stated an anonymous submitter to Hollaback!. “I know I can be a little star on the map for someone else so they know they are not alone either”.

In the Netherlands Online

Although most Amsterdam survey respondents in my research earlier this year had not visited a specific website dedicated to combatting street harassment, almost half have tweeted or posted their thoughts or experiences of street harassment on social media. This finding is huge and signals a need that, for example, engaging more with these technologies could help to fill.

When searching for online platforms and digital technologies in the Netherlands being used to map and resist street harassment, Straatintimidatie (Street intimidation), an online campaign in the Netherlands that is vying for a law against street harassment, was the only online presence that I came across.

Straatintimidatie does not have a space—online or off—for community members to share stories and strategies about street harassment. Nevertheless, the campaign’s Twitter feed has a combined reach of over 52,000 people, which is considerable and indicates that engaging more in online activism about street harassment in Amsterdam and throughout the Netherlands could gain significant momentum with the introduction of more diverse online platforms.

As we saw with the hashtag campaigns above, there are evidently immense pools of people using these online platforms, which can be tapped into in the fight against street harassment in the Netherlands.

If a single tweet like Clinton’s can instantly engage tens of thousands, imagine the disruptive potential of billions of virtual voices— in the Netherlands and beyond— demanding an end to street harassment.

Hashtag activism is not only a lot of people talking; it’s a lot of people talking about specific issues that gain momentum over time and have the potential to effect change on unprecedented scales.

So the next time you sign onto your social media account, get excited. Get excited about the incredible amount of power at your fingertips; the millions of people ready to answer your call to action; and, one character at a time (but not more than 140!); it’s time to turn the tide against street harassment together.

You can find the full analysis of the Amsterdam survey results here or by contacting Eve atevearonson@gmail.com. Follow Eve and Hollaback! Amsterdam on Twitter at @evearonson and @iHollaback_AMS and show your support by liking Hollaback! Amsterdam’s Facebook pagehere.

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UK: “This is my culture man, this is my show”

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Tracey Wise, London, UK, SSH Blog Correspondent

Frank Turner, courtesy of his press agent
Frank Turner, courtesy of his press agent

After the unfortunate harassment incident that led me to create Safe Gigs for Women, I was acutely aware that the band I had gone to see, Manic Street Preachers, would not have condoned such behaviour, so why did someone at one of their shows think this was appropriate?

With its focus on music, it makes perfect sense that Safe Gigs for Women should seek to work with bands and artists to get them on side. They have a ready-made platform to reach out to people, so having their support is essential.

In approaching artists to gain their support, Frank Turner seemed a natural choice. Known for his beliefs in libertarianism, egalitarianism and a passion for music that more than rivals my own, he very kindly offered his support and agreed to meet me to discuss this during his recent UK tour, at Nottingham’s Rock City. I also met his supporting artists Will Varley and Lorna Thomas from Skinny Lister. It seems like an odd time to be writing this blog, after the events in Paris, but these interviews were planned before the terrorist attack which left 89 people who had been at an Eagles of Death Metal gig, dead.

Safety at gigs seems a much wider notion right now. But in discussing whether Frank Turner believes artists have a responsibility towards the safety of their fans, his stance is that of having “a duty of care” towards those that have paid to see him. Indeed, Turner has been known to stop shows to confront unwanted behaviour by members of the crowd, and further states “of course, I don’t want people getting hurt at my shows”. Whilst he may be comfortable, at times to intervene, he is also thankful for the role of security at shows, proving, again, that achieving safer gigs at women will take a multi-faceted response.

As I acknowledged in my first blog for Stop Street Harassment, there have been notable cases of female artists being groped at shows. When I raised this with Turner, Varley and Thomas, Varley highlighted that, unfortunately, that there is a small “proportion of arseholes” at gigs. Thomas admitted to being recently groped whilst crowd surfing at a Skinny Lister show. In discussing this with Turner he acknowledges that he believes he was “naive”, having never realised that this happens, further stating his reaction to be “Really? Who would do that?” and being certain that no men he knows would ever act in such a way. And this is the crux of the matter – if Turner, my friends and myself are sure that the people we know are not behaving like this, then it is a small group of people making it difficult for women, emphasising the need for campaigns like this, and bands and artists to engage with gig goers to get them to think about their behaviour.

Since starting this project, some commentators have put it to me that women-only shows are the answer. I do not agree, for numerous reasons. I am not an economist, or schooled in the music business, but how would the cost of this impact on smaller, independent labels, venues and acts? As a consumer of music in my own right, as covered in my last blog, surely I have the right to attend the events I choose, with whomever I want to?

Furthermore, and most importantly, it automatically assumes the worst of men. As most of my friends are male, and as the aunt to a 5-year-old boy, this offends me as much as it upsets me. Discussing the notion of women only gigs, Frank Turner states he finds this “defeatist” and “sexist, it says men are beyond any redemption”. This was also shared by Will, stating that “segregation is not the answer”, and Lorna emphasising that what is really needed is a “mind shift”. Considering there are so many men out there doing good to support this project, such as the White Ribbon Project, the artists who supported our first fundraiser, including Jukebox Monkey and Peter Von Toy, and Frank Turner himself, women only gigs feels like a massive step backwards.

Recent world events have shown just how crucial music is in the world around us. And that is why the support of artists like Will Varley, Skinny Lister and Frank Turner is so important. Because, as Turner puts it, “what better forum is there to try and teach people not to be pricks?”

Born and raised in London, Tracey is a graduate of City University. She has spent the best part of her life at gigs and festivals and obsessing about music and created the “Safe Gigs for Women” project.

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USA: Engaging Male Allies to End Violence Against Women

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Meghna Bhat, Chicago, USA, SSH Blog Correspondent

A few months ago, I came across Emma Watson’s brave efforts to promote gender equality. Her interview with Malala Yousafzai highlighted the need to address feminism and how this movement should include men as allies. As Watson correctly pointed out, “Let’s not make it scary to say you’re a feminist. I want to make it a welcoming and inclusive movement. Let’s join our hands and move together so we can make real change. Malala and I are pretty serious about it but we need you.”

It’s our collective responsibility, especially male allies, to create awareness about gender violence, prevent and intervene this vicious cycle.

My experiences growing up with positive male role models/allies and Watson’s message resonates with the research and advocacy of Dr. Jackson Katz. He is an educator, author, filmmaker and cultural theorist who is a pioneer in the fields of gender violence prevention education and media literacy. His 2013 speech on TED talk titled, “Violence against women—it’s a men’s issue” showed that domestic violence and sexual abuse, which are often labeled as “women’s issues,” are often “intrinsically men’s issues” and he “shows how these violent behaviors are tied to definitions of manhood.”

According to a report by the New York State Department of Health, research has consistently shown that a majority of men are conflicted about violence against women. Most of these men may not even “recognize when it is happening nor know how to stop it”. Another factor that can make men defensive and doubtful of participating in the efforts to end gender violence is “treating [or stereotyping] males as potential perpetrators.”

There are many social service agencies and organizations promoting and practicing this model of engaging men as allies to prevent and intervene gender-violence. Have you watched the powerful documentary “The Mask You Live In” by The Representation Project? I highly recommend it. I have found this film to be educating, inspiring and an eye-opening experience that needs to be screened to our children and youth.

This film focuses on boys’ and young men’s struggle to stay true to themselves while negotiating America’s narrow definition of masculinity. Young children, especially boys, need to feel safe to be themselves and express their emotions without the fear of being bullied, labeled, mocked, or rejected by other children and adults. They must not feel pressured to fit within the problematic binary roles or other rigid frameworks of masculinity our society expects them to claim.

If you need further details of how these programs and agencies implement this model of engaging male allies or men as partners in combating gender violence, I have listed a few of the examples and resources that I have come across and found to be useful (including as teaching resources):

  1. Mentors in Violence Prevention: A program intended to create public awareness about men’s violence against women, challenge how the mainstream society thinks, and initiating community dialogues between men and women to identify long-term tangible options.
  1. Coaching Boys into Men: The only evidence-based prevention program designed to train high school coaches to teach their male athletes healthy relationship skills and that “violence never equals strength.”
  1. Men as Partners: At EngenderHealth, this program includes working with “men to play constructive roles in promoting gender equity and health in their families and communities”. Through their interactive skills -building workshops and enhanced health care facilities among other services, they strive to confront negative stereotypes about being men and provide men with quality care.
  1. Men Can Stop Rape: Works towards mobilizing men for creating cultures free from violence, especially men’s violence against women through their strengths and sustainable initiatives.
  1. Movement against Sexual Violence: At the University of Illinois at Chicago, I am fortunate to have colleagues who represent and lead the Men against Sexual Violence, now called as the Movement against Sexual Violence. This student group aims to engage and involve people, especially male-identified allies to join in the fight against sexual violence. Through their workshops such as ‘Reimagining Masculinity’ and events, they encourage us to challenge the negative stereotypes and images of gender roles. Although I haven’t got an opportunity to attend these events myself, I am looking forward to being a part of these important and powerful dialogues and community conversations next semester!

Dr. Katz calls out to all men and women to stand up and advocate for changes to end violence against women. He further raises these very critical questions that we all need to think about:

“How can we do something differently? How can we change the practices? How can we change the socialization of boys and the definitions of manhood that lead to these current outcomes? These are the kind of questions that we need to be asking and the kind of work that we need to be doing?”

If you want more ideas for what men can do to prevent gender violence, click here.

Meghna is a doctoral candidate in the Criminology, Law, and Justice program at the University of Illinois at Chicago, with a specialization in Gender and Women Studies. She is currently working on her dissertation, which focuses on representations of violence against women in a widely viewed form of Indian popular culture, Bollywood cinema.

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Croatia: Map the Violence, Break the Stereotypes

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Marinella Matejcic, Croatia, SSH Blog Correspondent

CroatiaMapToday, information is everything. The possibilities are endless: by using your computer, you can check the weather in a village behind the seven seas, read about growing carrots in a jar or, in some countries, check what’s the crime ratio in your neighborhood by clicking a couple of icons.

Yes, the last one is the topic of today’s blog post: is it possible to map violence? Sure it is. You just have to know how and where to look for the data.

In the early spring of 2015, a group of volunteers from two organisations – Hollaback Croatia and Code for Croatia – decided to join their forces to produce a website that would deliver information on the numbers of different crimes that happen in the Republic of Croatia. The initiative is aware that there is a strict and proper frame for combating violence in the family or the workplace, but that does not stand for street violence and/or harassment. They’ve recognized the possibilities of technology and wanted to change things. “The initiative works with zero funds and on the entirely voluntarily basis” – Miroslav Schlossberg from Code from Croatia told us.

One of the goals of the project was to raise the transparency of work of the bodies of public and state administration. As Croatia has a good Law on the right to access information and the Ministry of the Interior is open to cooperation, they started collecting information on crimes that occurred in the last five years. Ana Maria Filipovic Grcic, a volunteer from Hollaback Croatia said, that the idea itself was nothing new: similar things already exist in other countries. Per instance, India has the most criminal maps like the Croatian team is developing, except that they’ve already made an app that refreshes the data in real time. After all, India, unfortunately, is one of the countries with highest sexual violence and harassment ratio, and this is one of the ways that the community decided to fight it.

Hollaback! Croatia is already mapping citizen’s personal experience of harassment in public space. The team that develops Croatian application believes that by joining more sources of data (the official ones, from the police, and the data submitted by citizens) they will be able to provide a more reliable service. For that matter, they are collecting the general data, without names and details, just plain facts: when and where, and what the qualification of the crime is from both the Ministry and the citizens. The initiative is interested to find out how often do the particular crimes occur and what is the general safety level of the cities they are collecting the data for.

By mapping and providing the information on the crime rates in the capital of Croatia, Zagreb, and the rest of the country, it would be easier to learn what the real problems are and why is that violence happening after all. With an information sheet like that, it would be possible to conclude what can be done by the municipalities, do prevent the crimes from happening. It is important to highlight that the a map like this would help break the stereotypes on some neighbourhoods’ reputations and to show that the attacks are happening all over the country, and it’s not related to the time of the day and a particular public space.

The biggest part of the project is carried by the expert group Code for Croatia with help from the HollaBack initiative. There are five people on the team, but they are always looking for an extra pair of hands and a source of reliable financing. Mapping the violence is a significant joint project, which is a substantial evidence that, for starters, good will, time and experience really can change the world.

Marinella is a freelance journalist/writer, feminist activist, and soon-to-be administrative law student. She writes for Croatian portal on gender, sex and democracy called Libela.org and covers CEE stories for globalvoicesonline.org. Follow her on Twitter @mmatejci.

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