Here is part two of the great series on street harassment by Erin, one of Stop Street Harassment’s blog correspondents AND new social media volunteers. In this episode she covers five things you can do to stop street harassment. Thanks for the shout-out for the Stop Street Harassment book and International Anti-Street Harassment Week, April 7-13!

By Natasha Vianna, SSH Correspondent

It was the end of the night on Cinco de Mayo in Downtown Boston. After having a wonderful evening with friends, my friend Christina headed towards to subway so she could go home. On her walk, she passed a group of men standing on a corner. The group turned to face her as she walked by and began calling her by harassing nicknames and shouting at her. She walked without looking or responding, but as soon as she thought she was safe, she felt what she explained as the most dis-empowering moment of her life. One of the men reached out and slapped her ass. Not knowing how to respond, in shock, she thought of 100 things she could have done but chose to run off while the group of men laughed.

Looking back, there were so many things she wanted to say, she wanted to stand up for herself, she wanted to let those assholes know that they were horrible people who made her feel unsafe. But she couldn’t do that. She didn’t know them, what they were capable of, or what their intentions were. If she had stopped to shout back, a young girl to a group of men, who knows what could have happened. Her only concern was her safety.

When one man harasses a woman on the street, she is faced with a decision that could alter the course of her life.

After years of experiencing street harassment, I have become savvy when it comes to crossing the street at the right time and pretending I am deaf, blind, and mute. Yet, it should not have to be this way. I should not have to run across the street because a creepy man is making comments on the corner and I should not have to stay quiet in fear that my response could anger my harasser.

Women are faced with these challenging situations every single day on the streets. Somehow, the idea that women are objects for men’s visual pleasure is one that has been preserved during our evolution of women’s rights over the decades.

As a young woman in America, this is something I have experienced far too often and I know I’m not alone. These dis-empowering moments of gender-based violence, when men use their privilege to make us feel unsafe, is AWFUL and life changing. It’s infuriating; it’s horrifying, it’s unjustifiably wrong. I cannot walk down a street without worrying that at some point; someone might harass me or a woman near me.

When men harass women, I wonder if their mothers, their sisters, their daughters, or their nieces ever come to mind. Would they be okay with another man treating their loved ones this way? I’m sure they wouldn’t.

So men, rethink how you interact with women. The change we all want to see happen in our society has to start with you. Set the example. Show others how to respect women. Only then will you see a better future for your daughters and their daughters. Our future generation of girls depend on you.

Natasha Vianna, a fearless activist and young feminist, is a freelance writer and blogger based out of Boston, MA. Follow her on twitter!

By: Allison Riley, SSH Correspondent

Recently, I started working as a Community Organizer/Canvasser for the Rape Assistance and Awareness Program (RAAP) here in Denver. My job is not only to fundraise for RAAP, but also to educate the public on sexual violence, keeping in mind that everyone in the Denver community is a potential juror on rape cases that enter the courtroom. Indeed, when myths about such violence are perpetuated, it disempowers us as a community.

My seventh day of training as a Canvasser covered the topic of sexual harassment. The first part of the training covered what I already knew—i.e. that most victims never report incidents of sexual harassment because they fear retaliation or they assume that reporting won’t do any good. However, the second part of the training, “Effects of Sexual Harassment,” really resonated with me.

According to the RAAP training manual, emotional reactions to harassment may include “fear, hostility toward the harasser, anger, confusion, frustration, hopelessness, powerlessness, depression, humiliation, a feeling of dirtiness, fear of crowds, fear of being alone, denial and sadness.” The manual also cites AAUW’s Hostile Hallways study, which describes effects as feeling self-conscious, less sure or less confident, afraid, doubting the possibility of ever having a romantic relationship, and confusion or self-doubt. According to AAUW, such feelings play themselves out through behavior; thus negatively impacting a student’s education. For example, those who are frequently harassed talk less in class and have a hard time studying.

RAAP’s training manual also says that physically, a harassed person may experience nightmares, loss of sleep or loss/increase in appetite, not wanting to be touched or feeling the need to be touched, and stress-related disorders such as stomach/muscle/headaches, rashes and ulcers.

I loved how this training dedicated time to the effects of sexual harassment on victims, mainly because I can check off all that I have experienced. However, due to the tendency to dismiss sexual harassment as a minor annoyance, sadly I am questioning the degree to which society would consider these effects serious or valid. Here we reveal the significance of sharing harassment stories—sure they provide proof, but more importantly, they emphasize the degree to which harassment is harmful. I would hope that any decent human being would agree that symptoms of anxiety, stress, and sickness are certainly not the proper result of “harmless flirting”. If it was truly harmless, none of us would have to be sharing our frustration.

Overall, I have a greater understanding of the fear-producing aspect of harassment and how it can escalate beyond unease. Further, that the words and gestures of a harasser can also escalate into sexual assault and other physical violence. This is not to say that it happens to every single victim, nor is it assuming that each victim reacts the same way to harassment. Regardless, I encourage all of us to continue abolishing harassment and rape culture altogether through raising consciousness of not only the experience, but also the consequences of being harassed.

Do you have a harassment story to share? Did you experience any of the symptoms mentioned in this blog? Submit your experience here!

Allison is a 2012 graduate of Metropolitan State University of Denver where she majored in Journalism with a minor in women’s studies. Follow Allison on Twitter at @a_wonderlandd.