Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

USA: ESPN Commentary About Alabama Player’s Girlfriend Unnecessary

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By Lauren Duhon, Baton Rouge, La., Stop Street Harassment Correspondent

Image from Katherine Webb’s Twitter Account

As the nation watched the Bowl Championship Series National Championship game last night between the University of Notre Dame and University of Alabama, I’m sure fans only expected to watch a football game between the top two teams in the nation. What they also saw, however, was a continuous string of remarksby ESPN commentators about Alabama quarterback A.J. McCarron’s girlfriend Katherine Webb.

During the first quarter of the game, commentator Brent Musburger made remarks about Webb, who is also Miss Alabama, like she was a trophy. “You quarterbacks get all of the good looking women,” he said, as he urged young boys watching to play football in order to date attractive women.

Throughout the game, the camera did close up shots of Webb, bringing more and more attention to the Auburn University alumna.

I watched the game with some of my friends who contributed to the commentary while practically drooling every time she appeared on the screen. When I got angry and asked why they thought that was okay, they answered, “Because she is hot” numerous times.

I couldn’t understand their behavior. The unnecessary comments and explicit names they called her continued until the end of the game (ending in a victory for Alabama).

Then the sexist comments moved online. Webb’s Twitter account went viral in a matter of hours and gained nearly 170,000 followers and there were many creepy tweets directed at her.

Webb hasn’t made a comment about the coverage, but today ESPN released a statement:

“We always try to capture interesting storylines and the relationship between an Auburn grad who is Miss Alabama and the current Alabama quarterback certainly met that test. However, we apologize that the commentary in this instance went too far and Brent understands that.”

Despite the apology, this isn’t the first time Musburger has made inappropriate comments during a game, nor do I think it will be the last time that a sports commentator does so, especially since few people have spoken out against his behavior. On the contrary, I’ve read multiple comments on websites like Bleacher Report from people saying they love him for his antics.

So I am speaking out: no one should be gawked at on national television without their permission, including by ESPN commentators. No one should have to virtually be catcalled by teenage boys and middle-aged men online without their consent.

Our society needs to stop justifying these actions. They help shape a society in which many men think it’s okay to say disrespectful things to women on the streets, on television, and online without much consequence. If I were Webb, I would come out with a statement to discourage these men, because I wouldn’t want to be pinned as anyone’s prize.

Lauren Duhon is a student journalist from LSU in Baton Rouge, La.

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USA: New Year, New Challenges

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By: Carla C. Avenia, Stop Street Harassment Correspondent and Social Media Volunteer

The year 2012 has been full of achievements for Stop Street Harassment and the anti-street harassment community.

But the new year is just a few days young, and women and activists have already had to do a lot of work.

Our first challenge arose as soon as the clock struck midnight on the 31st, when Republican politicians allowed for the Violence Against Women Act to expire, which means that domestic abuse survivors across the country will receive much less help until a new plan is in place.

The mass protests in India after a young woman was harassed and then brutally gang-raped and then died from her injuries are still ongoing. Although a most horrific case, she has not been the only victim of attackers trying to intimidate the anti-street harassment protesters. Another young protester was also gang-raped, and after police tried to convince her to drop the charges and marry one of her attackers, she committed suicide.

Back on our own soil, young men from Steubenville High were caught on camera mocking a rape victim. Parents and other responsible adults surrounding the culprits have engaged in a high-scale cover up operation rather than admit at their failings as parental and authority figures and prosecute these young men.

Just before the new year, the Department of Veterans Affairs published a study in which it is revealed that as many as 48.6% of women who served in war zones claim to have been sexually harassed, while 22.8% of them said they were sexually assaulted or raped.

As you can see from just the last seven days of news, sexual violence against women – whether on the streets, in the workplace, at school, even at home – is still endemic, everywhere. Women of all ages, social backgrounds, races, and religious beliefs are victimized every day.

We have a lot of work ahead of us this year. So what can you do?

Get involved. There are many ways to contribute to the cause!

* Submit your street harassment story and share your experience.

* Report harassers

* Learn how to take action.

* Raise awareness and participate in International Street Harassment Awareness Week, April 7-13, 2013. Go one step further and get your community or your local activist group involved.

Don’t forget to stay in touch with us via Twitter or Facebook!

Carla is a proud feminist originally from Texas, who strongly believes in creating safer spaces for women. She holds a Master’s in Local Development, and she runs her own translation company from France. She is also a travel blogger. You can find her on Twitter.

Her photo was taken by Norman Acosta.

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El año 2012 estuvo repleto de éxitos por parte de nuestra organización, Stop Street Harassment, tales como los que Holly – nuestra intrépida coordinadora – ha detallado en nuestro blog hace unos pocos días.

Aunque el nuevo año recién ha empezado, ya se han presentado varios retos para el 2013 que tanto mujeres como activistas deberán sobrellevar.

Nuestro principal desafío se originó apenas las campanadas dieron la medianoche el 31 de Diciembre, cuando los políticos Republicanos permitieron que la Ley de la Violencia Contra la Mujer caducara, lo cual significa que las mujeres víctimas de maltrato familiar y violencia doméstica en Estados Unidos recibirán menos asistencia hasta que se instituya una nueva Ley para protegerlas.

En la India, protestas masivas han congelado el país luego que una joven fuera sometida a un ataque bestial en el cual fue torturada y violada en banda. Aunque éste ha sido uno de los ataques mas terroríficos, la joven en cuestión no ha sido la única víctima de agresores decididos a intimidar los y las manifestantes que denuncian el acoso sexual en las calles. Otra joven también ha sido victima de una violación en banda, y al ir a declarar los hechos y presentar cargos ante las autoridades, la policía misma intentó convencerla de retirar los cargos y contraer matrimonio con uno de sus agresores. Poco después, se suicidó.

Volviendo a nuestro propio territorio, jóvenes alumnos de Steubenville High fueron filmados burlándose de una joven, víctima de una violación. Los padres y funcionarios escolares dentro del entorno de los agresores intentado encubrir el hecho en vez de admitir públicamente sus falencias en sus respectivas funciones, y hacer lo correcto enjuiciando a los autores del crimen.

Asimismo, a fines del mes de Diciembre, el Departamento de Asuntos de Veteranos publicó un estudio en el cual se reveló que el 48,6% de las mujeres que han prestado servicios en zonas de guerra sostienen haber sido víctimas de acoso sexual, mientras que el 22,8% de ellas declaran haber sido agredidas sexualmente o violadas.

Como se puede deducir a través de las noticias de los últimos siete días, la violencia sexual contra  la mujer – sea en la calle, el entorno laboral, la escuela o hasta en el hogar – todavía es un problema endémico a nivel mundial. Mujeres de todas las edades, entornos sociales, razas y religiones siguen siendo víctimas de la violencia sexual día a día.

Tenemos mucho trabajo para hacer este año. Y seguro que te preguntas… “Y yo ¿qué puedo hacer?”.

Fácil: involúcrate. ¡Existen varias maneras en las que puedes contribuir a nuestra causa!

* Envíanos un relato de cualquier instancia de acoso sexual en las calle que hayas sufrido. Anímate a compartir tu experiencia.

* Denuncia a un acosador.

* Infórmate sobre como actuar frente a una instancia de acoso sexual en la calle.

* Únete a nuestra campaña de sensibilización y haz frente al acoso sexual: participa de nuestra Semana Internacional de Sensibilización Sobre el Acoso Sexual en la Calle, del 7 al 13 de Abril, 2013. Y ya que estás, ¿por qué no ir un poco más allá e involucrar a tu comunidad o a un grupo activista local?

Y claro está, puedes mantenerte al tanto de todas nuestras novedades a través de Twitter y Facebook.

Carla es una feminista Tejana, dedicada a la causa de crear espacios seguros para las mujeres. Obtuvo su Máster en Desarrollo Local, y es la dueña de su propia compañía de traducción basada en Francia. También relata sus aventuras internacionales en su blog de viajes. Síguela en Twitter.

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Scotland: Reaching out to Policy Makers

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Hollaback Edinburgh has been running for just over three months, and we’ve been lucky to have a motion supported in the Scottish Parliament and to have met with Edinburgh city councillors to talk about what we do.I wanted to share with you how we did this, and some of the things that have helped us on the way. A massive caveat; Scotland, and Edinburgh, are open representative democracies so some of these points might not apply to where you are, and the environment you’re working in.

In Scotland, we’re lucky enough to have a fairly good political approach to violence against women. It’s not perfect, but it is pretty good for activists like us. We do, absolutely, have that in our favour, and having a relatively supportive political environment where inequality isn’t a dirty word means we already have one foot in the lobbying door. That’s not to say that folk have been throwing parties for us, or that there aren’t plenty of people who think we’re the PC police, but we’re not doing too badly.

But a big part of what we’ve been doing is reaching out. If you’re also in a representative democracy, they work for you. It’s really helpful if you’re able to identify a politician who might help out- publically available voting records or committee memberships give you a good idea of who might be an ally.

We sent out a happy HOLLAdays email to all representatives for Edinburgh, 85 in total-if my cut and paste skills are up to scratch- which resulted in us getting a private tour of the city chambers, a potential funding opportunity and a good old chat. If you get nowhere with a generic “hiya” email, go see your representative, tell them about street harassment in your community and get them to do something about it. Ask other people to do the same, one visit or letter might not do anything, but a whole bunch should do. Record who has been supportive and keep them in the loop with what you’re up too.

Although Scotland is fairly progressive in terms of gender equality most of the time, it doesn’t mean that working out the ins and outs of bureaucracy is any easier, so this is where building networks comes in.

Find and talk to women’s, LGBT, and other equality groups and organisations where people lobby for a living- they will know how councils and parliaments work, and might be able to help you navigate your way through 2003 websites and dodgy search engines. Figure out exactly what you want from politicians- do you want them to support public advertising, do you want funding from them, do you want to be involved in community safety meetings (or equivalent)? Or would you like to use their rooms for meetings?

But most of all, be confident in reaching out to them. Your representatives are just that- you put them there, and they do work for you. At the start of next year, we’re going to be working out what exactly we want them to help us with, but so far the simple act of just saying hello has begun to open some very exciting doors.

Ellie Hutchinson is the co-ordinator of Hollaback Edinburgh, which launched in September 2012, and is the first of it’s kind in Scotland. In her day job Ellie works for a national violence against women charity. 

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