Check out this awesome interview our board member Relando Thompkins did for The Root last week!
“”One of the best things men can do to work against street harassment is talk to other men,” says Relando Thompkins, who sits on the board of directors of Stop Street Harassment. As a resident of Detroit, he talks to a lot of men who gripe about the responses they get from women, and he tries to make them understand that what she finds offensive is not up to him. “Just like a white person can’t tell me what I find offensive in terms of race relations, I can’t tell a woman what’s offensive.”
In my conversation with Thompkins, he compared men who holler at woman to police who engage in stop and frisk. Whatever benefit the New York Police Department claims from its stop-and-frisk programs, numerous studies and statistics have shown it targets men of color more than any other group, thus making an already complicated relationship between the police and black and brown communities more fraught.
“My experiences with racism have helped me become increasingly aware of others who have to deal with oppression of any sort because of targeted identities,” said Thompkins, referring to woman who are cat-called and consider it a form of harassment.
There are also other benefits to talking to other men about street harassment. Every guy I know has a story of being out with a woman and hearing another man say something to that woman. That kind of experience can probably help a man check himself. Then there’s also the benefit of being able to better understand that rejection from women happens to the best of men. Just like we mean no offense when we approach a woman, most women don’t mean any offense when they reject us. Is it offensive for women to label as street harassment every unwelcome but respectful attempt at engagement? Well, no one can tell you what offends, right? Our reaction is up to us.”
