Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Mauritius addresses sexual harassment on public transportation

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Last year, Amnesty International sponsored a country-wide anti-street harassment campaign in Mauritius, following the first-ever anti-street harassment report for that country by Alyssa Fine.

Street harassment is widespread in Mauritius, including on public transportation, yet women rarely report it because they feel shamed. Yesterday, the Mauritian Gender Equality, Child Development and Family Welfare Minister, Ms. Sheilabai Bappoo, released a booklet titled “Breaking the Silence on Sexual Harassment in Public Transport,” to encourage women to speak out and for people to help women who are most vulnerable to this violence (such as young or poor women who must take public transportation).

She also is calling on non-governmental organizations, the civil society and community-based organizations to come together and denounce sexual harassment.

I think this is a better way to address the problem than to separate men from women on buses and subway cars (like they do in Indonesia, India, Japan, Brazil, and Mexico).

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Weekly Round Up: August 29. 2010

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Story Submissions Recap:

I accept street harassment submissions from anywhere in the world. Share your story!

In the News, On the Blogs:

Events:

Announcements:

10 Tweets from the Week:

  • missandrealuise Want to influence mayoral policy on street harassment? See London Anti Street Harassment (LASH) Campaign’s survey: www.lashcampaign.org
  • Eliza “street harassment is on the same spectrum of violence against women” SO TRUE.
  • StreetHarassmnt Man riding bike sneering at Laura & I falls over curb because he was too focused on us hot ladies! There is a god!
  • CatCall “Hey pretty!” on Ave C. I’m starting to think C stands for CatCall.
  • ThatWasLaura Seriously man? “Helloooo nurse?” what the fuck kind of catcall is that? I’m not a cartoon.
  • motheroflight What is it, Catcall Thurs? I guess the men of downtown arent ready 4 the return of skinny jeans&books. #StopCallingMeHoney
  • stephenlacour It’s 2010 and I can’t believe that old gross dudes still catcall random girls so hard.
  • kitchentop fuck u asshole who specifically stuck yr hand out 2 grope me as i passed u on the sidewalk. #streetharassment
  • TheOpEdProject Over 80% of women are harassed, just for walking on the street. Check out new book by @hkearl Stop Street Harassment http://bit.ly/a4E8Mw
  • SakuraChica I will be reading “Stop Street Harassment: Making Public Places Safe and Welcoming for Women” by @hkearl. “catcalling” is NOT a compliment.
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Weekly Round Up: August 22, 2010

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Story Submissions Recap:

I accept street harassment submissions from anywhere in the world. Share your story!

In the News, On the Blogs:

Events:

Announcements:

10 Tweets from the Week:

Resource of the Week:

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Egypt, Indonesia, and the United Kingdom

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What do these three countries have in common? Besides all starting with vowels, the commonality is that I’ve read a street harassment-related article from each country in the last 24 hours. Here’s the scoop:

Egypt: Justin D. Martin, a journalism professor at The American University in Cairo wrote a great opinion piece for the Christian Science Monitor about the widespread problem of men blaming women for sexual harassment and why.

He points to studies like one from 2008 which showed that 50 percent of men blamed women for the harassment they inflicted on them, and a new study from the Population Council which showed nearly 80 percent of Egyptian boys and men ages 15-29 agreed that a woman who is harassed deserves it if she had dressed provocatively.

And he explores how Egyptian men aren’t wired to blame victims of sexual harassment, instead they are taught to do it. Proposed legislation against sexual harassment would help, he says, but what’s really needed is an ideological shift. Definitely!

Indonesia: AFP reports today that Indonesia is joining many other countries in creating women-only public transportation to reduce the rates of sexual harassment. Right now these carriages are only found on the Jakarta to Bogor line. They are distinguished from the other cars by their pink seats and they are located at the front and back of the trains. “We want to improve our service and protect female passengers so they feel more safe,” rail official Makmur Syaheran said.

Sounds like another band aid fix to a serious problem…

United Kingdom: Earlier this month Dawn Foster began the blog 101 Wankers where she calls out the men who harasser her while she rides her bicycle around London. Yesterday she shared her experiences with harassers and with creating the blog in a Guardian article.

Let’s hope she doesn’t reach 101 incidents of harassers, but if she does, at least it will be cataloged for the world to see and have to acknowledge. Way to go, Dawn. Call out the wankers!

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Grocery store semen shooter

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Michael W. Edwards is accused of spraying semen from a bottle onto women’s backs in Giant grocery stores and Michael’s craft stores in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

Edwards has confessed to the crime and there is video evidence of his actions on his cell phone. Clothing from two of the women has been tested as evidence. Detectives have charged Edwards with five counts of second-degree assault and say there might be additional victims. He had no prior convictions.

I’ve never heard about this kind of harassment before, but I know there is an endless supply of men who think nothing of humiliating, harming, harassing, and assaulting women in public places for their own amusement.

The Washington Post article author does not seem to know this, though. The writer kept noting how “normal” Edwards is, how he was raised in the church, has a college degree, a long-term girlfriend, and until his charges, a job. I find that focus problematic because it implies that harassers – or other criminals like rapists – are ususally “deranged” people. But in fact, many of the perpetrators are “normal” people who are indistinguishable from our friends, family, colleagues, neighbors, and national heroes. Yes, that’s scary, but the sooner we as a society face this fact, the sooner we can address the root causes and increase conviction rates instead of ignoring or being shocked when these crimes are committed by “normal” people.

(By the way, Edwards worked as a security guard at a water treatment plant. He was fired. The company said there was no evidence he’d done anything wrong, but when someone who likes to squirt semen has access to drinking water, I say thank goodness for water filters!)

Many thanks to reader MRH for the story tip

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