Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Afghan men promote women’s rights, Indian men harass girls

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Via Huffington Post

Via HuffPost:

“A group of Afghan men marched through the capital, Kabul, on Thursday to draw attention to women’s rights by donning head-to-toe burqas that for many people worldwide have come to symbolize the suppression of women.

The hardline Taliban forced women to wear burqas in public during their rule in the 1990s and concern is growing in Afghanistan and among its allies that gains for women made since the 2001 U.S.-led ouster of the Taliban are at risk. The men marched under a leaden sky, with the bright blue burqas falling over their heads down to muddy sneakers and boots.

The demonstrators, associated with a group called Afghan Peace Volunteers, said they organized the march ahead of International Women’s Day on March 8.”

Meanwhile, in India, 8 young men on bikes harassed 20 schoolgirls who were riding a bus on their way home from their Board exams. The bus drivers stood up for the girls and the young men escalated their actions, injuring the bus drivers. One girl was also injured when the young men pelted the bus with rocks.

Parents of the girls registered complaints and two of the young men have been found and arrested.

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Kabul Woman was Forced to Flee

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Images and news of Kubra Khademi’s protest in Kabul, Afghanistan have been spreading online. She explained in an interview for this article why she chose to walk through the streets wearing metal armor:

“She first experienced street harassment when she was only four or five; a man touched her backside and she couldn’t say or do anything about it. At that young age, she wished she had an armored shirt so she couldn’t feel the touch of the man. As she grew older, she realized there was another body part of her that caught the attention of men: her bosoms. She says she experienced more street harassment on the streets of Kabul as she grew older. Her experience with street harassment motivated her to make the armored costume, adding that ‘I want people to remember my work, and they will remember my work…I wanted people to start talking about street harassment,’ and she succeeded in that.'”

Today I found out that a lot was happening that we didn’t see in the photos. Men were harassing her, insulting her, throwing rocks at her, and groping the female friends who came to support her. She planned to walk for 10 minutes but after just 8 ran into a taxi to escape the harassment. And even then, men hit the taxi with their hands. That wasn’t the end of it: “After her performance, angry men showed up at her door. Since then, the young artist has been forced into hiding at friends’ homes in the suburbs of Kabul.”

It takes a lot of courage to speak out in the face of that level of backlash and hate. I applaud her efforts, hope she can feel safe soon, and that her bravery will ultimately contribute to a cultural shift in how women and girls are treated in public spaces.

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Peru’s Congress Approves Street Harassment Bill

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Yesterday Peru’s Congress adopted the bill proposed last summer against street harassment!! Now it goes to the president for his signature. Congrats to our friends Paremos el Acoso Callejero who were instrumental in making it happen.

Via their Facebook page:

¡VICTORIA HISTÓRICA EN LATINOAMÉRICA! ¡El Congreso de la República del Perú ha APROBADO EL PROYECTO DE LEY de Rosa Mavila que PREVIENE Y SANCIONA EL ACOSO SEXUAL CALLEJERO sin ningún voto en contra!

Hasta hace tres años era normal que nos faltaran el respeto en la calle y tocaran a niñas en espacios públicos, ¡hoy el Estado reconoce que hay que tomar medidas para erradicar este problema!

Ahora continuemos trabajando por hacer efectiva la ley, que se enviará al Presidente para su promulgación. ¡No más violencia en las calles!

Representatives from the groups that worked to draft and get the law passed:
Como Paremos el Acoso Callejero Asociación Apala La Marcha de las P.U.T.A.S. la participación y compromiso de la congresista Rosa Mavila León asumido en el Un Un Billón de Pie – Perú del 2014
Image by: Diana Portal Farfán
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What I’m Reading: Early March Edition

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Here are a few street harassment-related articles from the past week or so!

But first, some exciting news:

New Jersey Assembly Bill No. 3938 (to strengthen legislation so it includes up-skirt photos in public spaces) is scheduled for consideration by the Assembly Judiciary Committee on Thursday, March 05, 2015 at 10:00 AM in Committee Room 12, (4th floor), State House Annex, Trenton, New Jersey. We are proud to know & have inspired the actions of the assembly woman who introduced the bill.

Kill Screen Daily:

In Swetha Kannan’s game Stasis, players must learn how to endure  street harassment‬….Nivetha Kannan, Swetha’s sister and a fellow game designer who helped conceptualize the game, says that “when we were developing the system, we wanted to really focus on that repetition. When the speech bubbles block your path once or twice, it’s mildly annoying. The third and fourth time, it’s aggravating. But by the end, when the woman cannot walk very fast or far at all, it’s absolutely enraging.”

Khaama Press:

Kubra Khademi, a 25-year-old Afghan artist, wore metal armor as she walked the streets of Kabul for her artistic protest of street harassment called “Armor.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Medium: 

After she was harassed, Indian teenager Rajkumari “stood by her demand that the boy himself apologize to her and be punished for his behavior. So, threatening legal recourse, the council gave him only one option. They required the boy to bow down and apologize to Rajkumari in the presence of the entire village, which he finally did.

Promising not to mistreat any girl again, the boy was given a chance to mend his ways or face police intervention. The incident not only brought the issue of “eve-teasing” and street harassment to the attention of the village council, it also strengthened Rajkumari’s confidence in her own power to demand respect and to create change for herself and others.”

Run Haven:

“As a transgender woman and activist, I fight for people to understand that I’m just like any other woman. In reality, I’m not. I’m different. Not in how much of a woman I am, but because I actually know what it’s like to just run and to do so without fear.”

The Telegraph: 

“A girl is far more responsible for rape than a boy,” said one of Delhi college student Jyoti Singh’s rapists and killers.

“The interview [with him], which BBC Four will air on its Storyville programme to coincide with International Womens’ Day this Sunday, will be seen by women’s rights groups as compelling evidence of the appalling attitudes shown by many Indian men towards women.” Yes, so appalling!!!!!!!!!

Daily Dot:

Mantouching is “an assertion of one’s masculinity, at the expense of the personal comfort of those around you. When a man touches a woman without asking, he’s doing so because he feels entitled to access to her body. For him, it might feel like a meaningless or friendly gesture. After all, what’s the matter with touching the small of a woman’s back? It’s not like you’re sexually assaulting her.

But for women, it sends a different message. Nancy Qualls-Shehata of Patheos writes, “Your body is not your own, and any good ole boy can grab your butt and no one will stop him. Oh, and you have to pretend it’s OK even if you are seething inside. You have to smile and give him a friendly wag of the finger and hug him.”

The Guardian:

“Men will only stop killing, raping, injuring and oppressing women if they change. That means tackling attitudes within their ranks that make possible the objectification of women, for instance, or which normalise violence against women.”

The Telegraph:

“Men in Azerbaijan have been posting photos of themselves wearing mini-skirts to protest against the murder of a Turkish woman who resisted rape.”

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Collaboration with Lyft

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Lyft connects people who need a ride with trained community drivers. Along with Collective Action for Safe Spaces and Hollaback!, next month SSH will be collaborating with Lyft on creating sexual harassment training videos for their drivers. They are also joining the White House It’s On Us campaign to address sexual violence. We are thrilled that Lyft is prioritizing this issue and committing to creating safer vehicles for passengers and drivers alike.

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