Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

UK: This is why street harassment violates human rights

By

Ruth Mair, UK, SSH Blog Correspondent

When I first browsed around the SSH site for some ideas on what had and had-not been written about by others so far, one of the things that struck me was that in the information about the origins of the Stop Street Harassment project, street harassment was referred to as a human rights issue.

As a human rights student, my first inclination was to agree: of course street harassment is a human rights issue. But I am also the first to admit that although I vehemently oppose street harassment, I had not thought of it in terms of human rights violations before. And when I tried to unpack this, to myself, in my head I had trouble thinking about how I would explain it to someone else, particularly if that someone had never experienced street harassment, or had perhaps never seen it taking place.

So I thought that for my first blog as one of the SSH Summer Correspondents, I would put together a check-list of sorts, in case you are ever faced with trying to explain to someone why street harassment is a human rights issue. Then you can shout it at anyone (should you wish to) who suggests that street harassment is just a women’s issue, or worse, just banter.

First, the human rights aspects of street harassment can be broken in to two realms of violation. The first is that street harassment literally infringes on the human dignity of the person being harassed, and seriously affects their ability to live their life as they wish to. Preservation of human dignity is one of the key aims of instruments such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and street harassment in all its forms violates one’s ability to live in the world with equal dignity to that of other people who are not generally harassed (e.g. women who are harassed when men are not, or transgender people who are harassed when cis people are not, or people of colour who are harassed in ways that white people are not etc). This would be the case regardless of which groups are most vulnerable to being harassed. In the language of rights violations, human dignity is incredibly important, and street harassment can be extremely detrimental to an individual’s sense of personal dignity.

Secondly, there is very little authoritative or legal framework from which governments are able to prevent harassment, or hold those who harass others accountable for their actions. This is also illustrative of a rights violation, because it reflects an institutionalised vulnerability of those who are most often the victims of street harassment. There are laws against bullying in the workplace generally, and laws specifically against harassment of women in the workplace, for example, but not to address the problem of harassment in the streets. As a wise woman one said (or perhaps typed), just because we move through a public space, does not mean that our bodies are public spaces. The lack of framework to address violations in public spaces also reflects a gap in rights protection, regardless of the reasons behind this specific gap (funding, difficulties of enforcement etc) which represent a whole other sphere of problems in rights protection generally.

In terms of the specific articles of rights that are relevant to the problem of street harassment, much of the time this will depend on the context and circumstances of the harassment taking place, however some rights will often apply in a general sense, to any form of street harassment. The first is the right to a private life. This is embodied in article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and states that no one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with their privacy. Although this is intended to apply to instances of the government interfering with private life, it can also be used to refer to examples of harassment where the government are unable or unwilling to uphold and actively protect that right.

Similarly, the right to freedom of peaceful assembly is significant; attending public events is peaceful assembly, and harassment violates that both by removing the safety to attend, and by removing the “peaceful” part of things, which can thus be seen as a violation of that right. The rights embodied in CEDAW, the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, are also helpful here, as they refer to the specifically gendered side of interaction with the public sphere, and the inherent dangers that face those who are not cis males when interacting with the public generally. CEDAW sets out to create legislation for the purpose of guaranteeing women the exercise and enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms on a basis of equality with men, and in ignoring the problem of street harassment for women, states party to CEDAW are inherently violating this, if only by an act of ignorance rather than malice.

In my opinion, these rights easily make street harassment an issue worthy of much more attention at a government level, but for now they should at least give you an edge when anyone attempts to suggest that street harassment is a problem that does not need talking about.

Ruth is a human rights MA student finishing her MA dissertation on the legal and normative rights of terror suspects in the UK (spoiler alert: rights are being violated). She also plays bass in a band called Kinshot, sews as often as she can, and spends time getting annoyed at the cat sleeping on top of her computer.

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UK: Page 3 – a shameless contributor to street harassment

By

Emma Rachel Deane, UK, SSH Blog Correspondent

Britain is an odd place. We have an international reputation for stiff upper lips and conservatism, when in fact, much of our politics and our stance on many human rights issues are really rather liberal compared to the US and other western countries. And yet, there are still examples within our culture of mainstream British institutions hell bent on dragging us back to the dark ages. Like the third page of tabloid newspapers (including The Sun – Britain’s biggest selling newspaper) that show a girl in her late teens or early twenties posing in underwear or with her breasts exposed. This serves no purpose except for sexual entertainment. To be clear, this isn’t a “lad’s mag” or one of the top shelf publications your Dad might have had a secret stash of when he was a teenager. This is Britain’s biggest. selling. newspaper. What does that say about women today and how we should see them?

When a young woman’s maturing body is presented to us as news, particularly in such a powerful way as this, is it any wonder that street harassment, and the social acceptance of it, is so widespread? By putting a semi-naked woman on such a prominent page within a publication among news of foreign conflicts, natural disasters and welfare cuts, The Sun and other newspapers like it, are sending the very clear message that women’s bodies are just as attention-worthy and deserve to receive just as much public discussion as any other news story.

Sarah Faulkner is one of the women at the forefront of “No More Page 3”, a grassroots activist campaign calling for the voluntary removal of Page 3 by the tabloids. She had this to say about her earliest memories of Page 3. “My first experience of Page 3 was at school, when one of the boys would bring a copy of The Sun onto the bus. He and his friends would use the images in it to tease female classmates whose bodies had developed a little earlier than others. For the girls that were picked on it affected their confidence as they grew up. We are taught to enjoy male attention, if it makes us popular it must be a good thing, but if a woman’s sense of self-worth comes solely from men enjoying how she looks, then then that confidence is meaningless.”

It’s worth noting that prior to the Sexual Offences Act of 2003 (which outlawed the practice) many Page 3 models were just 16 years old when they posed topless for The Sun, wearing school ties and hats. The sexualisation of schoolgirls is a widespread problem, for which The Sun is not solely responsible, but as Faulkner went on to say, “The influence that a feature like Page 3 has on our society can’t ever be measured to reach a firm conclusion, but what we must accept is that it provides validation for people who already have negative ideas about the role of women and girls within our culture and certainly allows space for casual public discussion of women as objects.”

I agree with her. The attitudes that cause instances of street harassment are held together and even perpetuated by countless forms of embedded cultural validations. The tabloids are not accountable for the misdeeds of the advertising industry, or the tired gender stereotypes we see in film or TV, but when we’re discussing the content of newspapers we must do so while remembering Allen Ginsberg’s famous quote, “Whoever controls the media, the images, controls the culture.” These tabloids have a social responsibility to us all and they must be held accountable.

The debates surrounding Page 3 have received more press than usual recently when, in January, The Sun appeared to remove the feature without explanation. Its sister paper, The Times, broke the news that Page 3 had been ditched for good. This turned out to be no more than a school-boy prank and sure enough, Page 3 returned a few days later under the headline “We’ve had a mammary lapse.” How witty. I have to say, the timing was impeccable.

The Sun managed to draw attention to the “No More Page 3” campaign and the debates surrounding it in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attacks at a time when discussions around freedom of press are very much at the forefront of our cultural zeitgeist. Faulkner’s views on press freedoms are very clear and are reflected in the No More Page 3 campaign strategy. “I would not support a government imposed ban on Page 3.” She said. “I’m not a fan of slippery slope arguments by a long shot, but that way danger lies. If the images are removed by force its far less meaningful than if the tabloids accepted that they have been at fault, which would propel a real shift in societal attitudes.”

The debates surrounding Page 3 are about as complex as it gets in relation to modern feminism. Many would suggest that these images are a result of second wave sexual liberation and so it falls to us as individuals to decide what female sexuality truthfully looks like and how to represent it in our media. I for one think that if Page 3 was, as its supporters claim, a beacon of female empowerment and a shrine to the female form, we would see much more of a variety of women “enshrined”.

The oldest model ever featured on Page 3 was 29. Considering the fact that the average life expectancy of women in the UK is 83, that’s already 65% of the adult female population ousted. We must then take into account that only four black women have ever been represented in Page 3 and only women with a size 6-10 dress size have ever been featured.

If we’re going to talk about Page 3 in terms of female empowerment, let’s bear the Page 3 criteria in mind and remember how few women we are actually representing in that empowerment. Comparisons have also been drawn from No More Page 3 and the Free The Nipple movement, a campaign that seeks to address sexist nudity censorship. Faulkner was quick to point out that No More Page 3 is not about nudity. “This was never about the exposure of breasts to the public. We have no problem with female nudity at all, this is about media representation.”

She went on to describe the complex relationship between the two campaigns. “I can see where they’re coming from, and I agree with what they’re saying. Female nudity is over-sexualised and therefore over-censored. When women sunbathe topless on the beach or breastfeed their babies, people see sex where there isn’t any, it’s just a body part. It would be great if women could do those things without the usual controversy or fear of harassment that accompanies them. Normalising female nudity is very important, but in order to do that we first have to desexualise it.”

That, in essence is what No More Page 3 is about. It’s about reclaiming our bodies and reclaiming our sexuality which does not exist purely for male entertainment. If we can stop turning women’s bodies into news, we can stop people responding to them as if they were newsworthy.

Sign the No More Page 3 petition here and stay up to date with the campaign at nomorepage3.org. You can also tweet your support @NoMorePage3

Emma Rachel Deane is a London-based retail manager for a fast growing women’s lifestyle brand and an outspoken advocate for women’s social justice issues. She can be found blogging on Raging Hag or tweeting @emmaracheldeane.

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Kenya: Is public transport a nightmare for you?

By

Linnet Nyawira Mwangi, Kisumu, Kenya, SSH Blog Correspondent

Via Travel Blog

There have not been any cases of street harassment in Kenya in the media since last year. I would like to say we are heading in the right direction, men are learning to respect our women, but that is not really the case. There are quite a few isolated cases that you will experience as you transverse the country even as you shift from the urban areas to the rural areas.

Last week I traveled to Nairobi (Kenya’s capital city) and I had two bags with me since I had just left school for holiday. On arrival I had to wait for my friend to pick me up so I moved to a less crowded spot at the station. A lady walked past me obviously in a hurry by the strides she was making and as she tried to make her way out of the station, a man asked her where she was going and grabbed her hand. This is one behavior that is rampant in this place where you just alight from a vehicle and the conductors are all around you asking you where you are going and some will even seize your luggage in attempt to get you in their vehicle. For me it is always a nightmare if I have to travel with too much luggage.

Back to the lady, she started shouting angrily at the man and this brought the attention of the people around her as some moved towards the scene. I could not move any closer because I risked losing my belongings if left untended but I could hear the people as they all aired their opinions. A man appeared from the ticketing office and the conductors and the other men responsible to ensure the vehicles are fully packed tried to find their way out but the man called them back and everybody else fell silent.

When the man found his way to the lady, he introduced himself as the manager of the Sacco (company) and asked her to explain what had transpired and she told him how the man had followed her insisting she get in the vehicle and even grabbed her hand when she said she was going somewhere else. The conductor on the other hand said the lady had insulted him. An old woman from the crowd raised her voice and said that it was untrue because the conductor was the one who had insulted the lady and other voices agreed with her.

The lady told the manager that such behavior was unacceptable since everybody knew where they were going and if they did not they would ask for help and she told him she was going to sue the Sacco and the people around nodded in agreement. They would be glad to support her because harassing passengers was unacceptable some even started saying that they had lost their goods in that manner. The manager asked the conductor to apologize, which he did and then asked the lady to accept the apology and promised everyone around that the situation would not be repeated. He then asked the conductor to follow him and everybody watched, with some suggesting that he should be fired. I did not exactly wish that he was fired but if that would teach others a lesson or two…

Linnet is a student at Maseno University in Kisumu, Kenya pursuing a bachelor’s degree in sociology with IT. Follow her on Twitter @Shantel_lyn and Facebook @lynnette Shantellah.

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USA: YouTube Trolling and Street Harassment

By

Dylan Jane Manderlink, Arkansas, USA, SSH Blog Correspondent

Via Mother Jones

I recently watched a few anti-street harassment videos made by nonprofit organizations and I was so elated and proud to see the anti-street harassment movement get traction and attention. But then I read the comments below and my mood drastically changed.

I could write a rant on every single misogynistic comment I saw and feel better about getting it off my chest. But I’m not sure how much good that would actually do at the end of the day. I don’t think there will ever be a feminist article or blog post to end all misogyny and hateful trolling, but I am tired of waiting for my turn to speak and I am getting impatient with feeling punished for my feminism. Above all, the anti-feminist and misogynistic discourse is precisely why we need feminism in the first place.

Online misogynistic trolling is a form of harassment and violence – just like street harassment. The two serve to promote a harmful and pejorative notion that women are fundamentally subordinate, invalid, incapable and solely exist to be ineffective and powerless. So when I was scrolling through the deluge of vulgar and demeaning comments on YouTube, one troll particularly fired me up by saying “People are free to hit on you” in response to a video about catcalling. Of course all of the trolling and misogynistic comments were derogatory and slandering, but this comment just represented the distance that exists in society from shared humanity.

This comment wasn’t even a disguised attempt at male supremacy, misogyny, and self-satisfaction – it was brazenly there for all to see with every lack of care, decency, and respect as possible. Allowing men to have a “free pass” at hitting on and catcalling us is a denial and complete neglect of  my rights and personhood. No one is free to hit on me. I should be free to walk through a public space without falling victim to harassment, unwanted comments and glares, public sexualization, and unsafe circumstances.

With this being my last post through the Blog Correspondent’s Program, I’ve been searching for a particular aspect of social activism and advocacy surrounding street harassment to write passionately about. I’m certainly passionate about ending and raising awareness of street harassment but I think what I’m most fired up about right now is in reaction to the dejection I often feel when advocacy efforts are severely ridiculed, trivialized, and damaged by online trolls.

I know activists and advocates often recommend not reading the comments posted by trolls on feminist articles, videos, and social media but it’s difficult to ignore the blatant disregard for an important fight against the mistreatment, inequality, and marginalization of others. The misogynistic online trolling I’ve seen on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter has not only made me feel stunningly uncomfortable and uneasy, but it has showed me how comfortable people are with defaming, dehumanizing, and attacking others. Although reading the comments posted on feminist and female activist videos and articles upsets and offends me, it’s also what motivates me to keep fighting this fight. And if the trolls want me to give up and throw in the towel, they couldn’t be more wrong. If anything, the anti-feminist trolling has given me more ardor in my commitment and involvement in women’s rights, feminism, and social activism.

I want this post to not just serve as a strong grievance and indignation with misogyny and trolling against feminism and anti-street harassment activism. I want to put this hateful act of misogynistic trolling on display so that it’s no longer thinly disguised and permissible. It’s harrowing to admit how normalized anti-feminist online trolling has become and I want to call attention to how much of an anomaly it should be (or how non-existent it should be).

Don’t get me wrong, I think free speech is a basic right we all deserve and should be entitled to, however, when this form of free speech serves the sole purpose of “putting women back in their place”, making women feel even more unsafe and inferior, objectifying women through abhorrent commentary, and invalidating women’s existence in society, then I cannot and will not support it. I will no longer stand for an online narrative that is incredibly short-sighted, unjustified, offensive, and inglorious. As advocates and activists, I understand that the idea of changing this narrative and pushing back on the trolls is a lot easier said than done. Not only can responding to the trolling make women feel unsafe (because people who speak up against trolls are often threatened), but sometimes it can seem like a lost battle because it doesn’t end. I’m not fully recommending we respond to every anti-feminist and misogynistic trolling instance, but I am certainly fired up to out them and put their inflammatory and insolent behavior on display.

So that’s what my last post is about. I will no longer allow women to fall victim to a false belief system and disempowering narrative due to the pervasiveness and poisonous impact of online trolling and public misogyny. Although standing up to the trolls or raising public awareness of the harms of trolling are difficult and disheartening, if you are creating change you believe in, then don’t feel discouraged.

For anyone looking to improve the quality of social media and virtual spaces for women, let’s start now. Who’s with me?

Dylan is a recent graduate of Emerson College and currently teaches 8th, 10th, and 11th grade Digital Communications and Audio/Visual Technology in an Arkansas high school. You can visit her personal blog and follow her on Twitter @DylanManderlink.

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