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Street Harassment Snapshot: June 20, 2011

June 20, 2011 By HKearl

(Sorry – a day late this week!) Read stories, news articles, blog posts, and tweets about street harassment from the past week and find relevant announcements and upcoming street harassment events.

Street Harassment Stories:

I accept street harassment submissions from anywhere in the world. Share your story! You can read new street harassment stories on the Web from the past week at:

Stop Street Harassment Blog

Hollaback

Hollaback Baltimore

Hollaback Buenos Aires

Street Harassment in the News, on the Blogs:

Mideast Youth, “Sexual Harassment in Egypt (Part I: The Bad and the Ugly)“

Mideast Youth, “Sexual Harassment in Egypt (Part II: The Good News)“

Essence, “Sound-Off: The Heat Brings Waves of Sexual Harassment“

Alternet, “Eight Ways Men and Boys Are Helping to End Gender-Based Violence“

Ivy Says, “An Hour In A Lebanese Woman’s Heels“

Clutch Magazine, “Summertime Street Harassment, How Do You Handle It?“

Stop Street Harassment, “Dear Prudence, Street Harassment is Not Okay“

Jezebel, “Will You Miss Catcalls When You’re Old?“

Bitch Magazine Blog, “Takin’ it to the Streets: Class-ifying Street Harassment“

Service Women’s Action Network, “Hey Baby, Let Me See a Smile!“

Newsworks, “‘Hollaback’ strikes back at harassment”

The Sydney Morning Herald, “Egypt embarks on a sexual revolution“

Al Masry Al Youm, “The Sexual Harassment File: Can culture be blamed?“

Bikyamasr, “Another face in the crowd: Sexual harassment in Egypt“

The Telegraph, “One-stop solution for every gripe – Call centre with GIS to make debut, tender floated“

ABC News, “Feature film tackles sexual harassment in Egypt“

Announcements:

New:

* Activists in Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and Sudan led a day against sexual harassment through blogging and tweeting (with the hashtag #EndSH) on June 20 (and part of June 19 for those of us in the USA)

* On June 26, 2 p.m., activists in Washington, DC, will be marching to remind people that these are Our Streets, Too, and street harassment should end!

* There’s a new anti-street harassment group in Sri Lanka

Reminders/On-Going:

* The Window Sex Project is June 25, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. and it’s a FREE street harassment event for Harlem women ages 18-35.

*Learn about and help fund Hollaback’s bystander campaign, “I’ve Got Your Back“

* Sign Mend the Gap’s petition to address subway harassment in Delhi, India

* Help fund the Hey, Shorty! on the road book tour to end gender-based violence in schools and on the streets.

* College students, enter the Hollaback essay contest, entries due August 1.

* Are you in Egypt? Use HarassMap to report your street harassers

* Have an iPhone? Download the Hollaback iPhone app that lets you report street harassers

15 Tweets from the Week:

1. ohbendorf I’m sick and tired– of the street harassment experienced by women, trans and queer folks, and POC.

2. shani_o Love capping off my day with a healthy dose of street harassment

3. galuk1 @Cristalzheat Street harassment sucks. Any man who thinks they have a right to comment on a woman’s body can walk out into traffic.

4. kayleesays Street harassment in Maine: When the same car drives by four times because you’re sunbathing.

5. PoshBirdGabi Company working on new Moore’s store @ Dunfield & Eglinton engages in #streetharassment. See pic http://yfrog.com/kl1eckj

6. danabalicki Every kind of transportation malfunction topped off by #streetharassment BS. #awesome

7. Fleegull Amazing that a woman who has experienced street harassment has the nerve to tell other women that the harassment they receive is positive.

8. khellonmars I have resolved how I will battle street harassment: saying quietly to myself, “God Bless You.” Brings me peace.

9. BluDissertation Last night, coming home, I had to walk fast, keep my mean mug on, and hold my purse tight. Street harassment is NO joke.

10. DonnaeWahl So, before you start making my Sunday unpleasant, ask yourself, who would Jesus street harass? #streetharassment

11. Sarahcarr Gentlemen of the world: do any of u think that women enjoy verbal harassment from strangers in the street? Be honest.

12. hkearl Happy Father’s Day to all the great anti-street harassment male allies, including my dad! male ally resources: http://tinyurl.com/3levfzw

13. MAswad I honestly believe that to #EndSh, women need to stand up for their rights, shout, fight, and kick the harasser’s ass. Simple.

14. PoshBirdGabi Called cops re #streetharassment by construction workers on my street. Cops went and cautioned them.

15. nasawiya Tomorrow, #Lebanon bloggers & tweeps join #Egypt #Syria and #Sudan to raise awareness about sexual harassment. Join in! #EndSH

Making the streets of Sri Lanka safer

June 17, 2011 By HKearl

There’s a new group in Colombo, Sri Lanka, speaking out against street harassment/sexual harassment in public places. Their group is Join the Fight Against Harassers. Via their Facebook page:

“More than 95% of women find it unsafe to travel alone in public spaces in Colombo. Every woman has faced some form of public harassment in the form of leering, stalking and catcalling, sometimes even leading up to physical harassment.

Public spaces are for every citizen to use without any hindrance or threat of sexual harassment. This campaign aims to make the streets of Sri Lanka safer for all its citizens, to create awareness on the measures that can be taken to protect ourselves from harassment and to empower people to stand up against sexual harassment in public spaces. Most importantly, to change the attitude that it is a menace that simply cannot be stopped.

This page will update you on how and what you can do to clean up the streets of Colombo. Join us now in the fight against harassment.

This campaign is run by Reach Out and Beyond Borders.”

I’m excited by all the international groups speaking out right now! From Lebanon and Egypt to South Africa and India, to the UK and Chile, and of course all of the Hollaback sites, global efforts are going to make a difference!

Harassers escalate to sexual assault in Leeds – police seeking info

June 15, 2011 By HKearl

— Trigger Warning —

A British Stop Street Harassment reader shared a link to the following story on the Facebook page. I’m reposting in case there are any readers who may be able to help. This is via 96.3 Radioaire:

“West Yorkshire Police are appealing for witnesses and information following a serious sexual assault in Leeds city centre in the early hours of Monday morning.

A 22-year-old woman was walking along Vicar Lane at around 1.45am when she turned into Fish Street, which is a popular cut-through to King Edward Street and Kirkgate.

At this point she was grabbed by a group of males and dragged into a nearby doorway and seriously sexually assaulted by at least one male. The males then left the alleyway in the direction of Briggate.

The woman had been at the Hi-Fi club on Central Road earlier in the evening, and on leaving the club she was approached by a group of around four males who made sexually suggestive comments towards her.

The woman ignored their advances and continued walking towards Vicar Lane to get a taxi home.

Following enquiries it is believed that the same group of males, who are all described as being dark-skinned, may have made other similar approaches to other women in the city centre around midnight and possibly earlier in the evening….

The senior investigating officer, Detective Superintendent Paul Taylor, said: “This is an extremely serious incident involving a group of males who have attacked a lone woman before at least one of them has subjected her to a serious sexual assault.

“I am appealing to any other lone women who may have been approached by this group of possibly four males to contact police as soon as they can. Information they have could be vital to tracing these males.

“It is also possible that other members of the public may have seen the group in and around the Fish Street or Vicar Lane areas, and I would also ask for anyone who thinks they have information to contact us….

“There were a number of males involved in this incident, some of which we believe will have been involved to a lesser extent than others. I would also encourage those males who may have been involved in the initial incident but not the serious sexual assault to come forward and speak to us immediately.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Homicide and Major Enquiry Team via 0845 6060606. Alternatively you can send text messages to 07786200805, starting your message with the word ‘LEEDS’.”

The junction of King Edward Street and Fish Street, where the attack took place.

Not only is this “shocking” and upsetting, but also it sounds like a gender HATE CRIME if these men were strolling the town looking for lone women to harass and then attack. Women should have the right to walk home in the early hours of the morning safely and when even a few men attack women, it makes all women in the area feel less safe.

If you have information please contact the police and if you live in the area, please spread the word.

Street Harassment Snapshot: June 12, 2011

June 12, 2011 By HKearl

Read stories, news articles, blog posts, and tweets about street harassment from the past week and find relevant announcements and upcoming street harassment events.

Street Harassment Stories:

I accept street harassment submissions from anywhere in the world. Share your story! You can read new street harassment stories on the Web from the past week at:

Stop Street Harassment Blog

Hollaback

Hollaback Buenos Aires

Street Harassment in the News, on the Blogs:

Hackney Gazette, “Hackney feminists to join SlutWalk protest“

Street harassers in Buenos Aires — Via IPS News

Inter Press Service News, “Street Harassment, Not ‘Compliments’“

Kate Spencer, “Today A Man Touched Me On The Subway And So I Hit Him“

Al-Masry Al-Youm, “The Sexual Harassment File: Can’t you girls take a little flirting?“

The World is Watching, “On fear of street harassment being ‘ridiculous’”

Bikyamasr, “Egypt men fight future with rape, sexual violence“

Bitch Media, “Takin’ it to the Streets: The Perfect Victim (Part II)“

Muslim Matters, “Sex & the Ummah | Sexual Harassment: A Muslim Problem?“

North County Times, “GEEZ, LOUISE: Looking ignorant, baby“

We Mixed Our Drinks, “Street harassment on a sunny Saturday“

Laura Leu’s Cyber Funhouse, “On Harassment“

Announcements:

New:

*Learn about and help fund Hollaback’s bystander campaign, “I’ve Got Your Back“

* Sign Mend the Gap’s petition to address subway harassment in Delhi, India

* The Window Sex Project is June 25, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. and it’s a FREE street harassment event for Harlem women ages 18-35.

* Anti-street harassment documentary Objectified is nominated for best documentary in the Epidemic Film Festival in San Francisco

On-going:

* Help fund the Hey, Shorty! on the road book tour to end gender-based violence in schools and on the streets.

* Watch the new anti-street harassment film out of Nottingham, UK.

* If you live in Atlanta, Georgia, take a MARTA survey so Hollaback Atlanta can better tackle harassment on public transportation

* College students, enter the Hollaback essay contest, entries due August 1.

* Are you in Egypt? Use HarassMap to report your street harassers

* Have an iPhone? Download the Hollaback iPhone app that lets you report street harassers

15 Tweets from the Week:

1. NvrComfortable Things a man shouldn’t say at 11:24 at night to a woman: “aye where you going girl, I was walking right behind you girl.” #streetharassment

2. kiddododo Women need new laws and a fightback if we’re going to put a stop to street harassment

3. readheadgirl tired of being harassed b/c of my looks everytime I leave the apartment. Looking nice isn’t an invitation, jerks. #streetharassment

4. Happy_Sai Street harassment is rarely, if ever complimentary. Usually it’s just creepy and disgusting #Iamnotyourproperty

5. WriteAboutIt “You got some pretty toes,” said the creepy man on the street while ogling my boobs. #streetharassment #allday #everyday

6. hollabackdc looking to make inroads (pun intended) with @metroopensdoors. anyone know of an empathetic ear there who may get #streetharassment?

7. LiahAMaccallam Why do so many men feel it’s acceptable for a woman to have to deal with sexual harassment when she walks down the street. It makes me sick.

8. mortari @fullenglish71 @mediocredave Actually, most women find unsolicited street harassment very unpleasant. It is often threatening & intimidating

9. HollabackOttawa Retweet if you think #streetharassment is NOT a compliment. I have a name and it isn’t ‘Hey baby!’

10. jezebeljenna Walking, my arms crossed in the cold, the local street harassment c’ttee issues its verdict: “I’ll hug you, you ain’t gotta hug yourself.”

11. TheBlueStone It’s not just harassment & z disgusting words they impose on our ears 4no reason than just we happen to be women on the street #egymen #WTF

12. xoAvaAdore Walked a total og 2 blocks so far. 1 catcall per block. Why do people even still do that?

13. squidla And no, creepy dude at hotel, you cannot catcall me from your hotel door. Fuck.

14. HollaBackBmore New cities that holla against #streetharassment! @ihollabackBrmUK @hollabackWY @HollabackBrasil @HollabackBristl @hollabackCHD

15. iloveeebabs For all the guys who catcall and hoot at me while i’m walking home, get some fucking decency. #stupidasswipes.

Men who victim-blame women are more likely to be harassers

June 10, 2011 By HKearl

Researchers at the University of Tennessee, Martin, found that men who blame women for being sexually harassed are more likely to be harassers themselves.

As we in the anti-street harassment movement are all too familiar with, the study found that the victim-blaming usually focused on what the person was wearing and what they were doing.

So how was the research conducted?

The researchers of the study wanted to test a theory called “defensive attribution” which suggests that people will try to protect themselves from blame in a given situation. Using this theory, the researched hypothesized that victim-blaming men would be the ones who were most likely actual or potential harassers.

To test the theory, researchers asked 119 college men, ranging in age from 18 to 28, to take a survey measuring how likely men are to sexually harass women.

Via Live Science:

“The survey doesn’t ask men directly whether they harass women, but rather asks about attitudes associated with harassment, such as whether women use sex to their advantage or are flattered by sexual advances…

Next, the men read eight short vignettes about instances of sexual harassment. In one, a male restaurant server tells his female coworker that her tips would be higher if she’d show more skin. The study participants were then asked how likely it was that they would be in the shoes of the man in each vignette and how much the fictional men and their victims were to blame for the harassment.

Unsurprisingly, the men with a high proclivity toward sexual harassment, as rated from the initial survey, said they felt more similar to the fictional harassers. They were also less likely to blame the harasser for his behaviors and more likely to blame the victim, [fitting with the self-protection theory].

The men’s attitude seemed to be, ‘I might do that kind of thing and I don’t want to get in trouble.'”

The researchers noted that their study only focused on college-aged men and focused on sexual harassment in a workplace setting, so more research is necessary.

But it doesn’t seem like much of a stretch to think that men who are okay with engaging in sexual harassment in the workplace (and blame women for it) would act the same way about sexual harassment of women in public places (street harassment).

As study researcher Colin Key said,

“The current research should provide some comfort — and an early warning — to women who have been sexually harassed and encountered victim-blaming….[They can think], As a woman, when I get blamed, maybe I shouldn’t give a crap about what that guy thinks because maybe he’s the kind of guy who would do this to me, too.”

So remember that – if someone blames you for the harassment based on what they’re wearing, there’s a good chance they’re a harasser or would-be harasser or a harasser-sympathizer! So call them out on it.

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