Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

USA: Safe Streets and Reproductive Rights

By

Heather Frederick, USA, SSH Blog Correspondent

Via http://www.wwmt.com

Today is the 41st anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, the Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion in the United States. As the U.S. waits for the Supreme Court to issue a ruling on the “Buffer Zone” laws regarding how close to an abortion clinic entrance protesters can be, I was struck by the fact that I have never heard anyone describe what goes on outside these medical facilities as street harassment. I know that abortion is a difficult and controversial subject but what we’re talking about here is the right to exist in public free from violence.

Women and their partners, clinic workers, and even delivery drivers get yelled at as they enter offices where abortions are performed. Even if we completely disregard the fact that anti-choice protesters take pictures of patients, post employee names and personal information (license plate number, address, phone number, picture, etc.) in public forums ripe for digital harassment, and write threatening letters to businesses that provide services to clinics, just the yelling alone makes everyone uncomfortable. And let’s not forget that most clinics do not only provide abortion care, they provide cancer screenings, breast exams, birth control and all manner of reproductive healthcare, including abortions.

In his dissent against the Buffer Zone law passed in 2000 Justice Antonin Scalia seemed disgusted at the“unheard of right to be let alone on the public streets.” If this is the mindset of one of the men whose decisions shape not only the law of the land but public opinion in the U.S., we’re screwed. Even if what protesters are yelling is not violent or mean, even if they are yelling that they will pray for you, even if the signs they are holding are of Jesus and not aborted fetuses, they are harassing women in public spaces. Stopping street harassment is about respecting everyone’s bodily autonomy, as is the Reproductive Justice Movement.

News outlets around the country failed to remain unbiased in their reporting on this issue. Many prominent news sources like The New York Times and NPR interviewed “cheery” old ladies who try to convince women that they aren’t making the best choice for themselves. The truth is anti-choice groups like Operation Rescue, of which NPR’s interviewee Eleanor McCullen is a member, are domestic terrorists, responsible for verbal and physical assaults, bombings and murders. Her suggestion that she “should be able to walk and talk gently, lovingly, anywhere with anybody,” just makes my skin crawl.
No, ma’am. You should not be able to walk and talk in any way anywhere you want to with whomever you want to. People have a right to be left the hell alone! When we speak out against street harassment and claim we want the streets to be safe for all people I hope that we mean safe for women seeking abortions, sex workers, women of color, disabled women, trans* folk and women whose religious expression is in the minority too. Every single individual deserves to be able to move through the public safely and without fear. It’s our job to make it happen.
Heather Frederick works a Supervisor for The National Dating Abuse Helpline, www.loveisrespect.org. Her passions include intersectional feminism, reproductive justice, languages, travel, blogging at www.FeministActivism.com (@FeministSNVA) and bringing an end to human rights abuses.
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Scotland: Single Woman Policy

By

Rocío Andrés, Scotland, SSH Blog Correspondent

Via Muslim Village

It´s almost one year since Hollaback! Edinburgh conducted a survey asking young people (12-25 years-old), mostly females (85%), about their experiences of street harassment. The study aimed to answer questions like where the street harassment usually took place, what type of experience was or how they felt after the incident. The results were wandering around in my head for a few months.

On average, 60 to 85% of the respondents had been harassed by being shouted at, whistled at, told remarks about their appearance, made unconfortable by harassers being too close, told obscene gestures, touched with no consent or had their way blocked.

The consequences of such experiences had been great. For example, more than 50% of them avoided going out at certain times, more than 70% avoided specific places and 80% avoided eye contact.

In other words, street harassers transform habits and behaviours.

As a woman, you know you must dodge shortcuts or parks at night. You should not obviously be listening to your iPod and should systematically look over your shoulders every two minutes to see that no one is following you. You should cross the street if you happen to see a group of overly drunk and/or overly loud guys. And if you can’t avoid being near them, you will never look at their eyes. You just set them on the horizon or perhaps lower your head to watch your almost military pace.

They also said those experiences had made them feel sad, disgusted, scared, nervous, unsafe, embarrassed objectified, disrespected, angry and horrible.

Last Christmas a campaign promoted by Colin Keir, the Edinburgh Western MSP, indicated that things have not probably changed much this year.

Basically in response to the unsafe situation for women, TAXI and some private firms agreed on establishing a system in which women travelling alone would have preference. Even some firms were already offering a single woman policy. Of course, this is a very much appreciated gesture. You want to get home safe, not to be harassed, not to feel fragile and not to be alert, which is the same as to be anxious.

In any case, the bad guys are still around. And also, sometimes you just want to walk the streets late, so what?

All this brings me back to a recent study carried out by the University of Michigan´s Institute for Social Research on how people in Muslim countries prefer women to dress in public.

In it, you can see that people are very happy with women who are fully covering their hair, although not necessarily their face. And that leads me to Egypt, where street harassment occurs on a daily basis whether you obey the conservative norm of hijab/niqab (head covering/full face and body veil) or not and which last November was also considered the worst country in the Arab world for women.

Thus, what I think. You can veil your women, you can reserve seats exclusively for them in the bus, entire subway cars, you can tell them not to walk in the Meadows when it´s dark, you can give them a cab, keep them in a box if you want and still, street harassment happens. What´s more, even considering sexual assaults, the very truth is that, as Jacq Kelly, the chair of anti-street harassment campaign group Hollaback! Edinburgh, pointed out, any measure to protect women is welcome, however most women are assulted by someone they know.

In brief, short-term solutions often help to relieve the reality but often as well without combating the authentic issue. This is the case. Out there, women are yet vulnerable, susceptible of sexual harassment and maybe potentially more open to self-blaming – I wish I had taken that taxi…

Inevitably, the urgent need involves prevention through information-(re)education and solely by promoting public awareness campaigns and by implementing in-depth educational programmes which kill traditions, stereotypes and cultural norms, gender-based violence and, extensively, inequality will be eradicated. See some examples here.

Rocío Andrés holds a Bachelor´s degree in Audiovisual Communication, History of Art (both Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain) and a Master´s in Education (Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Spain, 2010). She has six years experience as a TV and advertising producer.

En Español

EDIMBURGO: POLÍTICA DE “MUJER SOLA”

Va a hacer un año desde que Hollaback! Edinburgh condujera un estudio en el que se preguntaba a jóvenes (12-25 años), mayormente mujeres (85%), sobre sus experiencias de acoso sexual en la calle.

El estudio intentaba responder a preguntas como dónde el acoso tenía lugar normalmente, qué tipo de experiencia fue o cómo se sintieron después del incidente.

Los resultados se pasearon por mi cabeza durante algunos meses.

Básicamente, los ticks decían que, entre un porcentaje del 60 al 85%, las encuestadas habían sufrido acoso mediante gritos, silbidos, comentarios sobre su apariencia, gestos obscenos, cuando alguien estaba demasiado cerca, siendo tocadas sin consentimiento o porque se les había bloqueado el camino.

Las consecuencias de tales experiencias fueron también reflejadas. Por ejemplo, más del 50% evitaba salir a ciertas horas, más del 70% evitaba lugares específicos y el 80% evitaba el contacto visual.

En otras palabras, los acosadores “de calle” transforman hábitos y comportamientos.

Como mujer, sabes que debes esquivar atajos o parques por la noche. Obviamente, no deberías estar escuchando tu iPod y deberías, sistemáticamente, darte la vuelta cada dos minutos para comprobar que nadie te está siguiendo. Deberás cruzar la calle si ves a un grupo de tíos demasiado borrachos y/o haciendo demasiado ruido. Y si no puedes evitarlo, nunca les mirarás a los ojos. Miras al horizonte o, quizás, bajas la cabeza para observar tu paso, casi militar.

Dijeron también que esas experiencias les había hecho sentirse horrible, tristes, asqueadas, asustadas, nerviosas, inseguras, avergonzadas, cosificadas, irrespetadas y enfadadas.

Las navidades pasadas, una campaña promovida por Colin Keir, miembro del Parlamento Escocés, indicaba que, probablemente, las cosas no han cambiado demasiado este año.

Básicamente, TAXI y algunas compañías privadas acordaron establecer un sistema por el cual las mujeres que viajaban solas tuvieran preferencia. Incluso algunas compañías ya estaban ofreciendo esta política de “mujer sola”.

Por supuesto, se aprecia el gesto. Tú quieres llegar a casa a salvo, no ser acosada, no sentirte frágil y no estar alerta, que es lo mismo que estar nerviosa.

En cualquier caso, los tíos malos aún andan por ahí. Y, además, a veces sólo quieres caminar por la calle tarde, ¿y qué?.

Todo esto me remonta a un reciente estudio llevado a cabo por el Instituto de Investigación Social de la Universidad de Michigan sobre cómo la gente en los países musulmanes prefieren que las mujeres se vistan en público.

En él, puedes ver que la gente se siente muy feliz con mujeres que se cubren completamente el pelo, aunque no necesariamente la cara. Y esto me lleva a Egipto, donde el acoso sexual en la calle ocurre a diario tanto si obedeces las normas conservativas de hijab/niqab (cabeza cubierta/cara y cuerpo completamente velados) como si no y el cuál, el pasado Noviembre, ha sido considerado el peor país del mundo árabe para la mujer. 

Así pues, lo que pienso. Puedes ponerle velo a tus mujeres, puedes reservar asientos exclusivamente para ellas en el autobús, vagones enteros de metro, puedes decirles que no se paseen por las Meadows cuando está oscuro, puedes darles un taxi, guardarlas en una caja si quieres y, aún, el acoso en la calle sigue sucediendo. Lo que es más, incluso considerando agresiones sexuales, lo cierto es que, tal y como Jacq Kelly (jefa de campaña anti-acoso sexual en la calle del grupo Hollaback! Edinburgh) apuntaba, cualquier medida para proteger a las mujeres es bienvenida, sin embargo, la mayoría de ellas son asaltadas por alguien que conocen.

En resumen, soluciones a corto plazo a menudo ayudan a aliviar la realidad, pero, a menudo también, sin combatir el auténtico problema. Este es el caso. Ahí fuera, las mujeres son aún vulnerables, susceptibles de acoso sexual y puede que, incluso, potencialmente más abiertas a auto-culparse – ojalá hubiera cogido ese taxi…

Inevitablemente, la necesidad urgente implica prevención a través de información-(re)educación y únicamente promoviendo campañas de concienciación pública e implementando programas educativos en profundidad que maten tradiciones, estereotipos y normas culturales, la violencia de género y, más ampliamente, la desigualdad serán erradicadas. Puedes ver algunos ejemplos aquí 

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India: Nobody’s Daughter

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AAP activists protesting against the death of a 16-year-old gang rape victim in Kolkata. Image via Daily Mail

By Pallavi Kamat, Mumbai, India, SSH Correspondent

Trigger Warning

It was barely a year after the brutal gang-rape in Delhi, India, on 16th December, 2012, that news of another shocking and terrible incident surfaced – this time from the City of Joy, Kolkata.

A 16-year-old girl was gang-raped twice: the second time after she was returning home from the police station having lodged a complaint for the first gang-rape. Her family was subjected to insults to withdraw the complaint; when they refused, the girl was set on fire on 23rd December, 2013, and she died. It was also later revealed that she was pregnant.

The contrasts between the Delhi and the Kolkata incidents stand out. When the Delhi gang-rape came to light, almost the entire country took to protests and candlelight marches; women and young girls were out on the streets demanding justice for the victim and stricter laws to prevent any further such incidents. However, except for Kolkata, in no other city were there protests about the Kolkata gang-rape.

Even the national media chose to turn an almost blind eye to this news. The same media, who had given the Delhi gang-rape victim, all sorts of epithets from Braveheart to India’s Daughter, relegated the Kolkata news to the inner pages of newspapers for a day or two and then stopped tracking the story.

As if that was not bad enough, this issue, too, was politicized. Members of other political parties criticized the ruling party in Kolkata for ignoring the plight of the girl and not providing her adequate medical facilities which could have saved her life. Recently, a member of one of the opposition parties has demanded that the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) initiate a probe into her death.

These are all perfunctory responses and the graver, more important issue remains unresolved. When the Kolkata victim registered a complaint at the police station, why did the police not arrest the accused immediately? When it was known that the family was facing insults, why was no action taken? Sadly, in the political posturing and the blame game, all these questions take a backseat.

The victim’s father, who drove a taxi in Kolkata, has been offered a police job in his native in Bihar by Bihar’s chief minister. Disheartened and disillusioned with the state of affairs, he has decided to accept. He has also urged the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate and has requested the President of India for his help.

Whether the CBI or NHRC do actually investigate the case and whether the victim actually gets justice remains to be seen. The Chief Minister of the state, herself a woman, is strangely silent on the issue. And for ordinary citizens of the nation, it is a game of wait and watch, and a daily prayer that they and their loved ones reach home safely.

Pallavi is a qualified Chartered Accountant and a Commerce Graduate from the University of Mumbai, India, with around 12 years of experience working in the corporate sector. Follow her on Twitter, @pallavisms.

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Meet Our New Blog Correspondents!

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After a successful first year in 2013, I’m excited to announce the first Blog Correspondents cohort of 2014!

They will write monthly articles about street harassment in their community & activism efforts through April.

Andrea Ayres-Deets, San Francisco, CA, USA

Andrea is interested in four things: intersectional feminism, checking privilege, cats, and space. Okay, so there are a lot more things she’s interested in, but there’s only time for so many. Originally from Chicago, she recently moved to San Francisco with her husband and cat. Before writing for SSH, she worked as a politics intern at PolicyMic and field organizer. She currently consults with startups in the SF area on content and how to better engage users. You can follow her on twitter: @missafayres or check out her website ayres-deets.com.

Rocío Andrés, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

Rocío holds a Bachelor´s degree in Audiovisual Communication, History of Art (both Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain) and a Master´s in Education (Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Spain, 2010). She has six years experience as a TV and advertising producer. Most recently, she has been working as an English, Spanish and Secondary teacher in different countries. Today, she is based in Edinburgh as a nursery teacher and collaborates with an online magazine. Her interest in sexual harassment started through personal research on the Egyptian Arab Spring and then through profound and careful readings of gang rapes in Tahrir Square and its media coverage. She will soon write a thesis on it. She has a great passion for Egyptian women´s fight against sexual harassment and, extensively, for all women around the world against sexual violence. Since then, she also wants to fight. Follow her on Twitter, @ioandres.

Heather Frederick, Austin, TX, USA

Heather has been dedicated to working for the human rights of all people since she was in high school. While earning her BA in Women’s Studies, Spanish and Linguistics at San Diego State University she was active with the National Organization for Women and VOX: Voices for Planned Parenthood. At the UN-Mandated University for Peace in Costa Rica, where she earned her MA in Gender & Peacebuilding, Heather participated in the Vagina Monologues and organized the university’s first Clothesline Project to raise awareness of gender-based violence. She currently works to end IPV as a Supervisor for The National Dating Abuse Helpline, www.loveisrespect.org. Her passions include intersectional feminism, reproductive justice, languages, travel, blogging at www.FeministActivism.com (@FeministSNVA) and bringing an end to human rights abuses.

Pallavi Kamat, Mumbai, India

Pallavi is a qualified Chartered Accountant and a Commerce Graduate from the University of Mumbai, India, with around 12 years of experience working in the corporate sector. Currently, she is working in the Credit Department of a new generation private sector bank. She is passionate about life, books, movies, music and friends. She is proud to declare that she has been a feminist as far as she can remember. She can be found blogging about various issues, specifically books and movies, at www.pallosworld.blogspot.in. She openly rants about issues on Twitter, @pallavisms.

Kriti Khatri, Bhaktapur, Nepal

Kriti is student of MSc chemistry. She is engaged in different social organization in Nepal and has undertaken different responsibilities for conducting projects like awareness campaign on menstrual health, women literacy and entrepreneurship etc. Currently she is working on anti-street harassment issues in Nepal with the Astitwa Foundation. She enjoys expressive writings and works as a web content writer as a profession. She writes and researches stories for astiwa.com where she emphasizes women’s voices which are suppresses by social prejudice. She loves the idea of volunteerism and she envisions a society where every human being, despite their gender, social and racial identity, can be able to live a prosperous, equal and respectful life as a global citizen. Find more of her writing on her blog.

Katie Monroe, Philadelphia, PA, USA

Katie is passionate about the intersection between gender equality and active transportation (biking and walking). A graduate of Haverford College with a BA in Anthropology / Concentration in Gender and Sexuality Studies, she works to create inclusive spaces within the bicycling movement. She founded the Women Bike PHL campaign at the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia in 2013 to make riding a bicycle more fun and feasible for Philadelphia women of all ages and backgrounds. She also works at the Philly nonprofit Gearing Up, which gives some of Philadelphia’s most marginalized women – those in transition from incarceration, addiction, and/or abuse – the opportunity to ride bicycles for exercise, transportation, and personal growth. She loves biking and walking in Philadelphia and hopes for a day when street harassment isn’t such a daily part of the experience. Follow her on Twitter, @cmon_roe.

Brittany Oliver, Baltimore, MD, USA

Brittany is a recent graduate of Towson University and holds a B.S in Mass Communications with a focus in Public Relations. She is an advocate and thought leader for civic and societal issues related to feminism, social justice and civil rights. Brittany works in the non-profit communications sector and supports local anti-street harassment advocacy through Hollaback! Baltimore. She is also an organizer for One Billion Rising 2014 and is an avid volunteer within in community. Her goal in writing for SSH is to educate people about the harassment that takes place on the streets of Baltimore, which she’s experienced her whole life. Her offline activities include salsa dancing, arts & crafts, reading and attending local community events. She blogs at brittuniverse.wordpress.com and publicly rants on Twitter, @btiara3

Jeanette R, Irvine, CA, USA

Jeanette is a recent university graduate with a lifelong passion for social justice and change. She is particularly interested in issues of gender, human rights, race, equality, and immigration. She has had a lifelong love affair with writing as not only a creative medium, but also as a powerful tool for socially transformative change and advocacy. She is very excited about helping advance the mission of SSH in creating safe, harassment-free spaces for all people.

Joe Samalin, New York City, NY, USA

Joe Samalin has been addressing gender-based violence for over 15 years, starting as a student activist. Based in NYC, he was the Training and Technical Assistance Coordinator for Men Can Stop Rape, a trainer for the Anti-Stalking Program at Safe Horizon, co-facilitated a program for abusive teen partners, and lived in Japan for four years and examined gender-based violence and rape culture there. Additionally he has been an assistant chef, professional archaeologist, and made origami window displays for local shops at Christmas-time in high school. In March 2012 he co-created and directed ‘Sh*t Men Say To Men Who Say Sh*t To Women On The Street’, a YouTube video modeling men interrupting street harassment of women and girls which subsequently won a CDC award for Injury and Violence Prevention. He is currently the Outreach and Training Manager for the Disaster Distress Helpline and is examining among other things gender-based violence in the aftermath of disasters. Follow him on Twitter, @joesamalin.

Sandria M. Washington, Chicago, IL, USA

Sandria is a writer, health/wellness ambassador and community activist. The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign graduate (B.S. Advertising, ’02) has a passion for empowering girls and women, philanthropy and her personal development (i.e., constantly doing or learning something to help live her best life EVER!). She is a longtime volunteer with several local and national organizations and has facilitated programs/workshops for The Metropolitan Board of the Chicago Urban League, Young Women’s Leadership Charter School and Illinois Caucus of Adolescent Health. During 2012-2013, she served as a GirlTrek Harriet Tubman Trailblazer Fellow and continues to advocate for the health of Black women and girls as a Chicago City Rep. Sandria is a concert junkie, award-winning natural hair model, loving mommy to two kittens she rescued in the park – Dharma and Cozy – and certified yoga teacher. Read her ChicagoNow blog and follow her on Twitter @SandriaWrites.

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South Africa: How not to pick up women in SA

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By: Gcobani Qambela, South Africa, SSH Correspondent, with Rethabile Mashale*

City Press ran a news article on Sunday (22 December) by Charl du Plessis titled “The art of picking up women in SA”. The article on Pick Up Artist SA’s boot camp on picking up women is about “the secret psychological techniques that will help [men and lesbian women] get lucky with South African women” every time. The co-founder, Ryan Peimer goes on to say that the Pick Up Artist is a global community that collects teachings from thousands of pick-up artists on “approaching, developing attraction and sealing the deal with women.” This movement appropriates this “secret” information they access to use it to the advantage of men over women.

Responding to the question of the obvious misogyny of the boot camp, Peimer says the camp teaches men “to use their pick-up skills with integrity” and yet reading the five tips Pick Up Artist SA’s provides to City Press it is clear that the programme is not only misogynistic, but is demonstrative of white male capitalistic patriarchy. At the centre of the programme is a clear concern with encouraging male dominance (for profit) at the expense of women’s bodies.

The five tips for picking up women by Pick Up Artists SA include assertions that men must get out of their shell because “women want to be approached”, that men must “give women nicknames” and that women love to be touched and thus men should touch themselves to a woman’s heart and the iceberg being the last tip asking men to “take control”. They say “women are attracted to dominance. They’re attracted to guys who have a certain element of dominance and carelessness”.

Throughout the article, there are no voices from women about how they would like to be approached by men; instead the white male voice is the dominant one in dictating what men should do to women and the confines of women’s agency. That an organisation like Pick Up Artist SA should encourage forms of manhood that encourage men to dominate women and say that women are naturally always wanting to be approached by men is a clear encouragement of rape culture. These assumption based on “medicine” is in the same tone as men who sexually assault and rape women and then say “she asked for it”, or “I know she wanted it” without women having consented.

This type of manhood we know doesn’t just affect men, but has very deleterious effects for the lives and bodies of women and children. These types of boot camps for men encourage male dominance over women, without clearly teaching men how to practice healthy manhood. Furthermore the uncritical coverage by City Press which hypes these programmes without examining the harmfulness of the ideas presented reinforces male dominance and rape culture. Barely a month out of 16 Days of Activism against Gender Based Violence against Women and Children, this article, along with the Pick Up Artist SA is basically telling men to go around sexually dominating women.

The writer of the article, a white male, could have easily been writing a promotional pamphlet for Pick Up Artist SA in promoting the service to men who want to get “lucky” with South African women. Articles like these by City Press, and particular programmes like the Pick Up Artist SA embody what we should be telling men (and women) NOT to do when picking up a partner. If one bases it on the five ‘pick up’ tips by Pick Up Artist SA, we should be telling men to do the opposite.

Not all women want to be approached by men, thus men should first gather consent from women. Men should not present body language that is “up there” but should rather present and learn friendly accommodating non threatening mannerism. Men should not give women “nicknames” or catcall them, but should when consent has been gathered, learn from the woman what she would like to be referred to as. Men should not learn from other men that women “love to be touched”, but should establish trust and consent and allow the woman to negotiate her agency about what she will allow a man to touch. And lastly men should not “take control” and practice “dominance and carelessness” but rather should realise relationships are partnerships not the sovereign domain for men to dominate.

To imply that the simplistic and dangerously patriarchal ideas by Pick Up Artist SA are the way to go for men is extremely problematic, especially in the context our high rape and sexual assault reports in South Africa. These ideas are dangerous for both men and women and take us back in the agenda to do away with sexual violence.

Gcobani is completing his Masters in Medical Anthropology through Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa. His research centres around issues of risk, responsibility and vulnerability amongst Xhosa men (and women) in a rural town in South Africa living in the context of HIV/AIDS. Follow him on Twitter, @GcobaniQambela.

*Rethabile Mashale leads a women’s rights organisation in Cape Town. She holds a Master’s Degree from the University of Cape Town.

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