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* During the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence, Stop Street Harassment is featured 16 names women do NOT want to be called by strangers on the streets.

* Find 6 ideas for holiday gifts that promote safe public spaces.

Reminders:

* You can purchase the Stop Street Harassment book for 50% off right now!

10 Tweets from the Week:

1. charlenec_85 I love men. I really do. Y’all need to get the street harassment out for real for real. It’s violent and makes me feel unsafe.

2. bedlamfury A girl cries. She’s relating an experience of street harassment by a group of Mat Rempits [Malay youth bikers]. She feels ashamed. #mzz1

3. StefkaB I firmly believe that dudes who catcall from moving cars do so because they are cowards who need a quick getaway post-rejection.

4. laurenonizzle It’s not flattering, it’s not innocent and it’s not acceptable. #StreetHarassment

5. RaghdaRagaie What hurts me the most is that all the men standing in the street that watch me walk there everyday never speak up. #endSH #enough

6. nourammarr Today, I stood up for myself and it was awesome. #HellYeah #EndSH

7. lattershed ladies. street harassment is not the price we pay to exist as women in public spaces. don’t let anyone make you feel otherwise.

8. mlenaghen27 That awkward moment when you run past a hockey team and they catcall at you….#onlymylife

9. atticascott @Alliance4Girls Have y’all ever looked into how many girls in #Louisville have experienced #streetharassment?

10. monaeltahawy @DeftAmazon Thanks. Impt 2 make that point and to make a distinction between street sexual harassment and state-sanctioned sexual violence

Street harassers in Saudi Arabia will be fined, publicly defamed

December 7, 2011 By HKearl

Saudi Gazette woman walkinghttp://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentID=20111206113296 — Image from The Saudi Gazette

“Men who harass women in public will be fined and publicly defamed under a new law being drafted by the Shoura Council. The action is due to huge public demand to end the phenomenon that humiliates women and even leads to traffic jams. Shoura Council member Zain Al-Abideen Bin Barri urged ‘the council to follow the suit of countries like Kuwait and the UAE where similar laws have successfully deterred the unwelcome advances,’ Al-Sharq Al-Awsat reported. ‘Besides penalties, we’re going to consider imposing fines. The penalty of public defamation will deter public harassers,’ he said.

“The nuisance is widespread throughout the Kingdom particularly in blackspots such as Al-Elaya Street in Riyadh and Al-Tahliya Street in Jeddah. Many businesses are now losing customers who avoid malls out of fear of harassment.” ~ From the The Saudi Gazette

You mean there is still street harassment in Saudi Arabia, a country where legal restrictions keep women from being in public freely and dictate that they be veiled when they are in public?

I’m shocked.

Nope, I’m not.

Street harassment is a global problem and as long as women are viewed and treated as second-class citizens and are “othered” from men, street harassment will persist.

I’m interested to see if this law will be enforced and if it will be effective. I didn’t know about the Kuwait and UAE laws, so if those laws truly have been successful at deterring harassment, maybe a law in Saudi Arabia will to.

Regardless of its effectiveness, I’m glad to see an article and a proposed law that place the blame on men (although honestly, there are already so many restrictions on women’s access to public places there, what more can they do to women?). For example, in the past I’ve blogged about clerics who wanted women to wear veils with only one eye showing to reduce harassment because two eyes were too “seductive,” and I’ve blogged about men who justify the law against women drivers by saying if they drove, it would lead to an increase in harassment. At least this article and law place the blame and the attention on the men who harass. That’s some progress.

[Thanks for the news tip, P.J. Aroon, copy chief at Foreign Policy Magazine]

Snapshot of Street Harassment Stories, News, & Tweets: December 4, 2011

December 4, 2011 By HKearl

Read stories, news articles, blog posts, and tweets about street harassment from the past week.

** Sign up to receive a monthly e-newsletter from Stop Street Harassment ***

Street Harassment Stories:

Share your story! You can read new street harassment stories on the Web from the past week at:

Stop Street Harassment Blog

HarassMap Egypt

Resist Harassment Lebanon

Many of the Hollaback sites

In the News, on the Blogs:

* Human Rights First, “Why Egyptian Women are Mad and Marching“

* Gender Across Borders, “Piropos & the Panamanian Police: Street Harassment in the Spanish-Speaking World“

* Trust.org, “The Word on Women – Afghanistan’s Young Women – Interview with Anita Haidary“

* Lankasri News, “70% sexual harassment in public transport“

* Feminaust, “Review: Cairo 678“

* The Pixel Project, “16 Memorable Ways of Dealing With Street Harassment“

* Resisting the Milieu, “Be a Real Man: Pledge to Confront and Shame Street Harassers“

* Nothing but a Human, “Fanon, Alienation and Sexual Harassment“

* NBC News, “Using social media tools to battle sexual harassment in Egypt“

* Planet Powai, “Street play on Eve-teasing, police campaign“

* Daily Mirror, “Sexual harassment in public transport“

* Temporinteraktif, “Harassment on Transjakarta Bus Increases“

* Red Light Politics, “Anti street harassment campaigns“

* GOOD, “iHollaback Is the New Rape Whistle: Shaming Street Harassers with Cellphone Pics“

Announcements:

New:

* Through December 9th, two trucks will roam the streets of Lebanon, playing a message about sexual harassment, “Catcalls are not acceptable words to say,” and “The word is sexual harassment, fight back.”

* Read the “Men who say no to street harassment” blog post, part of Must Bol’s 16 Days blogathon.

* A high school class in NYC created a PSA about street harassment: “You’re NOT alone – street harassment”

* Noorjahan Akbar, co-founder of Young Women for Change, talks about their anti-street harassment efforts in Afghanistan

Reminders:

* Young Women for Change (Afghanistan) launched Poster in the City. All Afghan artists are encouraged to submit their art work that focuses on women’s rights, gender equality, and the elimination of violence against women. It can be in any form such as drawing, water painting, black and white charcoal drawing- or digital pictures. Full details available online.

* In India, Must Bol is running a Men Say No Blogathon for the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence

* Hollaback West Yorkshire (UK) is undertaking the first ever survey of street harassment in West Yorkshire. If you live in the area, take it by Dec. 10.

* During the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence, Stop Street Harassment is featuring 16 names women do NOT want to be called by strangers on the streets. Ending the social acceptability of men calling women these names takes us one step closer to creating a culture where gender violence doesn’t happen.

* You can purchase the Stop Street Harassment book for 50% off right now!

10 Tweets from the Week:

1. kossoycj Why are you telling me that I look like your ex girlfriend and following me? I don’t know you #streetharassment

2. DiinaSalama Angered and outraged by the harassment stories told. Suffering in silence became so normal that we don’t take it seriously. #EndSH

3. SpookSquad So sick to death of rude, stalk-y, predatory behavior from guys. You were just pointless. Both of you can go F yourselves. #StreetHarassment

4. michelehumes So tired of street harassment. Started “holla-ing back” 3 years ago. At best, it does nothing. Last night it put me in danger.

5. HollaBackBmore Tired of being seen as a “thing.” When #streetharassment happens, check in w/ yr friend, empower them, not the harasser!…

6. nmoawad Hilarious, check it out. Women turn into street harassers to combat sexual harassment youtube.com/watch?v=sB-Rr8… #endSH

7. RoqayaA Ladies check out YWCA Safety Siren app. For social, health, and most importantly safety tips and a panic siren. #EndSH #harassment

8. pakinamamer Half of my life I’ve walked like a soldier or dressed conservatively enough to avoid sexual harassment on the street. But one gets tired.

9. MeganFinnegan Creepiest street catcall ever, me w/ scarf over my rain-soaked head, no umbrella: “I like the way you cover your head, sweetheart.” Really?!

10. MustBol When did you realize that street harassment exists ?

Look out Lebanon, an anti-harassment truck is heading your way

December 2, 2011 By HKearl

From today until December 9th, two trucks will roam the streets of Lebanon, playing a message about sexual harassment, “Catcalls are not acceptable words to say,” and “The word is sexual harassment, fight back.”

This creative idea comes from the feminist collective Nasawiya as part of their The Adventures of Salwa Campaign. Salwa is a cartoon character who whacks street harassers and sexual harassers with her red purse.

You can read the Adventures of Salwa guide for fighting sexual harassment and watch all of the videos online.

I think it’s time for Salwa to get an American cousin who fights sexual harassment in the USA too…!!

70 percent face harassment on public transportation in Sri Lanka

November 28, 2011 By HKearl

More than 70 percent of women aged 15 to 45 surveyed in Sri Lanka said they’d experienced sexual harassment on public transportation. The survey was conducted by the Legal Aid Commission.

Via Lankasri News:

“[Chairperson of the commission] Mr. Wijeratne said that the victimized women in public transport were reluctant to complain the matter to the bus conductors, bus driver or the police. “The bus drivers and conductors alone cannot stop this menace, and the male commuters themselves should be shameful of doing such kind of bad habits. He further told the bus drivers and conductors were reluctant to give evidence against the culprits in Courts as it was effecting to their daily income.

LAC chairman further said the LAC with the participation of Road Passenger Transport Authority have allocated a two-week period to make the public aware to deter sexual harassment in public transport from last Friday (25) to December 10.”

This is not new information. More than 95 percent of women feel it’s unsafe to travel alone in public spaces in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and one in four women report sexual harassment on public transportation in the country, according to a new report from the Transport Ministry.

In response, goups like Reach Out and Beyond Borders are doing important work to address and stop street harassment. One of my favorite initiatives was the “Man Up” event held over the summer.

I’m glad that the Legal Aid Commission is bringing attention to harassment on public transportation during the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence, and I hope they will continue to address it more long-term, or support groups that are, like Reach Out and Beyond Borders.

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