Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Activists in 17 countries meet for street harassment conference

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This past weekend, activists from 17 countries like Egypt, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia met in Cairo for a two-day conference to discuss the serious problem of men’s public harassment of women.

At the conference, attendees concluded that harassment was unchecked because “laws don’t punish it, women don’t report it, and the authorities ignore it. The harassment, including groping and verbal abuse, appears to be designed to drive women out of public spaces and seems to happen regardless of what they are wearing.”

Here is more information from the conference (via the AP):

  • “We are facing a phenomena that is limiting women’s right to move … and is threatening women’s participation in all walks of life,” said Nehad Abul Komsan, an Egyptian activist who organized the event.
  • Sexual harassment, including verbal and physical assault, has been specifically criminalized in only half a dozen Arab countries. Most of the 22 Arab states only outlaw overtly violent acts like rape, according to a study by Abul Komsan.
  • In Syria, men from traditional homes go shopping in the market place instead of female family members to spare them harassment, said Sherifa Zuhur, a Lebanese-American academic at the conference.
  • Amal Madbouli, who wears the conservative face veil or niqab, told The Associated Press that despite her dress, she is harassed.

I’m so happy to hear they were able to come together and discuss these issues. We need a global street harassment conference too, to discuss how we can work across all borders to make public places safe and welcoming for women!!

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NYC steps up efforts to make subways safer

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As any woman living in or visiting NYC, or as anyone reading the website HollaBackNYC will know, street harassment is a major problem there.

Public transportation is one of the hot spots for such offenses. The NYC Transit says there have been 587 reports of sexual offenses in the subway system so far this year, mainly on the Lexington Avenue 4, 5 and 6 lines. Harassment and assault are very under-reported, so the real numbers are far worse.

For more than a year, New Yorkers for Safe Transit have been working specifically to make the subway and bus systems harassment-free. For example, for over a year there have been anti-sexual harassment print ads and, for almost a year, audio ads on several subway lines, thanks to their efforts. Recently they testified at a hearing on sexual harassment on public transportation.

Their continued pressure and activism is leading to more efforts on the part of NYC’s transit system.

  • MTA reports they will increase the number of automated messages in the subway stations warning against assaults and they will begin distributing anti-groping posters and brochures.
  • They are working with the NYPD to have more officers at stations, especially during rush hour, so targets of sexual harassment can more easily report offenders. Victims of subway sexual harassment can also call NYPD’s Sex Crimes Report Line at 212.267.RAPE.
  • Building off the method HollaBackNYC uses for “hollaback”ing at harassers with camera phone photos, NYPD is working on a pilot program that would enable victims to send photos of harassers to police officers, who can investigate the case even after the harasser has slipped away into a crowd. This is essential because so often harassers only harass when they know they can escape or when they know there will be no witnesses.

Lastly, here are recent tips released by the NYPD for dealing with sexual harassment on the subway:

  • Do not be ashamed or afraid to report the offense to the police or an MTA employee immediately.
  • During off hours, wait at the marked waiting areas on the station platforms and sit in the conductor’s car when the train arrives.
  • Know your way around your subway stations: the locations of exits and where stairwells lead.
  • If the sex offense happens on a crowded subway car, if you can do so safely, step away from the perpetrator and loudly let others know what the offender is doing.
  • If you are in an empty car, leave the car and find one with more passengers.
  • If you can do so safely, use your cell phone to take a photo of the perpetrator, or make a note of any distinctive features or items of clothing.
  • If the perpetrator follows you off the train, call the police and stay in a crowded area.
  • Remain alert and awake.

Kudos to the New Yorkers for Safe Transit for keeping on the pressure and to the MTA and NYPD for stepping up their efforts to make subways safer and freer of sexual harassment.

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Hearing on NYC Subway Harassment

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Earlier this week I called out the New York Times for trying to compare street harassment to loud cell phone talkers and said I hoped one day they would address the problem of street harassment in a serious way. Lo and behold, yesterday they covered harassment on public transportation.

The New York Times reported on a joint hearing of three City Council committees — Transportation, Women’s Issues and Public Safety — and officials from the Police Department and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to discuss sexual harassment on subways and buses.

At the hearing everyone acknowledged that this is a big problem in New York City, especially during late morning rush hour (8 to 10 a.m.) and early afternoon rush hour (4 to 6 p.m.).  The crowded Nos. 4, 5 and 6 lines between Grand Central Terminal and Union Square, they said, is a particular source of complaints.

James P. Hall, chief of the Police Department’s Transit Bureau, said that sexual harassment was the “No. 1 quality of life offense on the subway.” As of Nov. 15, there had been 587 reports of sex offenses in the subway system this year. He said, “However, we strongly suspect this is a highly underreported crime.” I agree!

Some of my street harassment activists friends who formed New Yorkers for Safe Transit testified too.

They are working on getting better reporting methods and numbers for sexual harassment and assault on the subways. This week Councilwoman Jessica S. Lappin introduced a bill that New Yorkers for Safe Transit support, one that would require the police to collect data on sexual harassment in the subways.

“This is important because historically, harassment is overlooked by law enforcement authorities,” said Oraia Reid, a founding member of New Yorkers for Safe Transit who testified at the hearing.

Ms. Reid, who is also the executive director of RightRides for Women’s Safety, said another challenge was to get law enforcement to take the harassment more seriously.

She added, “It’s actually been very disempowering to report sexual harassment and assault.”

Yeah, like remember when a woman got a photo of a man masturbating on the subway and reported it to a police officer who then told her, incorrectly, that it wasn’t a police matter and to call 311?

Another example – one woman who took my informal anonymous survey last year and lives in NYC said one time when she reported a man that was following her in the subway station to the police, the officer said he didn’t blame the guy (implying she was pretty and so it was natural for a man to follow her…). So clearly there are police officers who need more education and training on the issues and how to help people who report harassers.

But I’m glad the NY Times covered this story and this issue. We need them to keep on doing so!

I also want to say a big GREAT JOB! to New Yorkers for Safe Transit!! They’ve only been around about a year and already they are making a huge difference in the NYC community. Check out their website and submit your NYC mass transit sexual harassment story.

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CTA anti-harassment ads

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Chicago transit riders may notice something new on their commutes. CTA recently launched print Public Service Announcements that say:

If it’s unwanted, it’s harassment. Touching. Rude comments. Leering. Speak up. If you see something, say something.

At the bottom, the ads list information for who to contact if a rider is the target of sexual harassment.

Both Boston and New York City have anti-sexual harassment subway ad campaigns too.

The Young Women’s Action Team‘s 2009 subway & bus survey results and recommendations led to Chicago’s campaign. They have been doing amazing work since 2003 and hopefully their successes will inspire other people to take action and work to make a difference in their own community too.

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It’s not the same

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Loud cell phone talkers are annoying and exhibit bad manners. The same is true for men who harass women on the streets. But, oh yeah, the men also are obnoxious, insulting, demeaning, infuriating, scary, and sometimes dangerous!

In an article about rudeness in public, the New York Times highlights ways some people confront those who have loud cell phone conversations in public or play their ipod way too loud. Then near the end of the article, the author mentions how one woman posts people’s cell phone conversations she overhears on her blog and that HollaBackNYC is a blog where women can submit photos of street harassers.* Whaatt?!

I hate that a big newspaper like the New York Times can characterize groping, stalking and sexually explicit comments as “bad etiquette” comparable to loud cell phone talkers in almost the same sentence. It’s a hell of a lot more than that!!

It’s predatory, bullying behavior that also oozes of male entitlement. (Men, it is not your right to talk to or try to get the attention of a woman in public just because you see her.) It contributes to women’ s continued inequality and leads most women to feel less safe and welcome in public than most men.

I hope that one day the NewYork Times will publish substantial articles about the problem of street harassment instead of articles like this one, in which it is mentioned offhand and out of context. And when I say substantial, I mean articles that don’ t just go: man masturbates on subway, woman takes photo and reports him, man is arrested. I mean stories that get at some of the complexities of street harassment and the very serious impact it has on the lives of so many girls and women.

*(I also think the author’s comparison of loud cell phone talkers to people who illegally park in handicap spots is off base. That is a fine-able offense; talking on a cell phone is not. Also, street harassment negatively impacts women and is perpetrated by men, illegal parking negatively impacts persons with disabilites and is perpetrated by able-bodied persons. As far as I know, loud cell phone talkers are not found primarily in any one demographic and they don’t impact only people in one demographic.)

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