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Women Should Not Be Harassed at UK Clinics

April 15, 2016 By Contributor

Earlier this week, author and Everyday Sexism founder Laura Bates spoke at an Abortion Rights event in Parliament on protecting women from harassment and abuse at UK clinics. She gave me permission to share the speech here, as part of International Anti-Street Harassment Week:

UK parliamentLet’s be very clear –this is not a debate about abortion. That debate already takes place, vociferously, elsewhere, from our parliament to our media to our universities to our streets.

This is not about freedom to have a conversation that is already happening widely. This is about harassment. It is about the aggressive, intimidating, upsetting experience of women being harassed at the point of access to a wide variety of different healthcare services, including reproductive healthcare.

This is not about protest, which could take place anywhere, it is about bullying women, making them feel anxious, creating a hostile and unpleasant environment for both service users and healthcare workers.

This is not a debate about abortion.

Because anybody who wants to have a real impact on abortion recognises that place to do so effectively is not at the point of access, but in and outside parliament, where policy is debated, not outside clinics where women already have the legal right to access services and should be able to do so without fear, harassment and intimidation.

The impact on women at what may be a very vulnerable, private and personal time must not be underestimated. Harassment doesn’t have to include shouting, threats or abuse to be deeply impactful and upsetting. Simply being shown some of the extremely graphic and sometimes inaccurate images protesters often hold, being filmed against one’s wishes at this private time, or being made aware that somebody is actively praying against you can cause huge emotional turmoil and distress. When a United Nations Delegation on human rights visited an abortion clinic in Alabama and experienced anti-choice protesters outside, they described it as “a kind of terrorism”.

Writing about their experiences of clinic harassment on Twitter, women said:

It made me feel like I was taking the walk of shame

It made me feel sick

I’ve never seen anything like that in real life

The protesters scared me

One woman wrote:

I used to work at an abortion clinic. Now I’d be too scared.

There is no reasonable argument that such harassment is necessary or effective, because there can be no reasonable argument that any woman reaching the point of attending an appointment with an abortion provider hasn’t already heard the arguments against abortion – because we live in a society where these arguments are everywhere. No woman grows up thinking of her control over her own body as complete and unchallenged, because we do not live in a society where that notion goes without loud and vigorous debate, and indeed, because we live in a society where our sisters in Northern Ireland, for example, are still denied such basic rights.

In fact, women are forced to hear other peoples’ opinions about abortion throughout their lives, as these Everyday Sexism Project entries show:

“While in year 10 my science teacher felt it appropriate to share his views on how he believed abortion was too flexible and should not be allowed up to 24 weeks. After telling him that I believed that it should be allowed up to 24 weeks he looked at me in disgust and told me that ‘those’ women should not be allowed to have children at all.”

“A male colleague told me men should decide about abortion law and time limits because women are too emotional and have a personal bias which is why we have 24 weeks which he says is “really late” and puts too much focus on “what the woman herself wants”.”

“In my 1st year at University I remember a young man standing up and announcing: “I would never date a woman who has had an abortion, this is disgusting, these kind of women are damaged goods.”

“My husband said that a women should be able to decide to take her top off for men if she wants to that she should have control over her own body but that a woman should not be able to have an abortion because that is murder”

“I was watching a discussion of abortion on a political panel show. There was one woman who kept trying to speak up while the men around her loudly spoke against abortion. She even tried to start sentences like ‘well since this is an issue that particularly affects women…’ but the man next to her said ‘hold on a second, let me finish’. The show went to commercial and moved on to a new subject before she got to speak at all.”

Across society, the voices we hear least in debates about abortion are those of people who have actually had one. Women are shouted down in these conversations because a lot of these conversations are driven by thinly veiled misogyny. The sexist idea that bearing children is a woman’s sole purpose and responsibility. The patriarchal notion that society has a greater right to dictate what happens to a woman’s body than she does herself. The misogynistic idea that women’s lives are less important.

That’s why it is so vitally important that at the point when a woman is accessing the reproductive healthcare which is her legal right, she is, in that moment, at the very least, able to do so safely, without harassment, bullying, shaming or intimidation.

This is not a debate about abortion. It is about harassment, misogyny and bullying.

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Filed Under: anti-street harassment week, public harassment Tagged With: abortion, bullying, everyday sexism, harassment, laura bates, parliament, UK

Chariots for Hire, No Groping Buttons and Other Ways to Make Transit Safer

April 13, 2016 By HKearl

The ride-sharing service Chariots for Women will be launching nationwide on April 19 as an alternative to Uber and Lyft. In this model, all drivers and customers will be women to “ensure safety, comfort, and pleasure.”

Since stories about sexual violence of women at the hands of male Uber and Lyft drivers and taxi drivers are not uncommon, it’s understandable that there is a market for such a service. Indeed, I’ve supported a similar but free service called RightRides in both New York City and Washington, D.C. On select nights, women and LGBQTI-identified people can receive a safe, affordable late-night-ride home.

In San Francisco, a similar service called Homobiles offers rides that are free, with a donation suggested, to members of the LGBTIQQ community, who similarly may feel unsafe or discriminated against by drivers or be unable to pay for expensive taxi fares.

I understand why these services exist and many countries offer some form of women-only public transportation. But I do not believe that these kinds of women-only or LGBTIQQ-only services should be the ultimate goal. They are problematic for many reasons. Namely, they do not address the root causes of harassment and sexual assault, and they place the onus on these communities to keep themselves safe.

But there are no quick-fixes and easy answers for making public transportation (or any public spaces) safer, and I applaud those who are at least trying. And lately, there have been many groups that are trying. These are four examples, just from the past few weeks:

 

JAPAN:

In Japan, men groping women and girls on public transportation is a problem, but it’s challenging for them, especially girls, to speak out in the moment when it happens.

A female high school student in Tokyo who was regularly groped by men on her ride home from school (and reported it, but that did not stop it) and her mother designed a button that said “Groping is a crime” and “I won’t let the matter drop” which she attached to her school bag. The buttons seem to be a deterrent, and no man has groped her since she put them on her bag.

Her success inspired others. Recently, thanks to a fundraising campaign (“Stop Chikan Badge Project”), the Chikan Yokushi Katsudo Center expanded on her idea and mass produced buttons. The designs on the buttons were also selected through crowdsourcing – there were 441 submissions and five designs selected. Recently, volunteers from the organization distributed 500 of the buttons at the JR Shibuya Station, with plans to distribute them at other stations. Not only did girls and young women take badges, but adults took them too to distribute to their daughters.

Japan Times March 2016 groping

MEXICO:

In early April, twenty women wearing dark clothing across their body and faces held a flash mob protest against sexual harassment on the transit system in Mexico City. They were organized by the group Information Group on Reproductive Choice after one of the women’s colleagues was attacked. A 2014 study found that more than 60 percent of women in Mexico City and faced sexual abuse while riding public transit.

The women demonstrated at various stations and on the subway itself. Both metro authority staff and passengers were respectful and many women passengers stopped to thank them for raising awareness through their demonstration.

metro_mujeres11 - march 2015 mexico city campaign

UK:

Transport London conducted a survey in 2013 of their riders and found that around one in seven women had experienced unwanted sexual behavior on public transit. In response, they launched Project Guardian in conjunction with the British Transport, Metropolitan and City of London police forces and local advocacy groups, to raise awareness and train employees. But even still, few people reported harassment when they experienced it.

One year ago, they released the Report It to Stop It campaign. The video captures the way harassment can escalate and a voice asks at various points, “Would you report it?”

This month, one year later, Siwan Hayward, TfL’s deputy director of enforcement and on-street operations said there’s “not enough data yet to say it’s a trend” but “we are beginning to see what we hope is actually the prevalence of sexual offences falling.”

Notably, the video has been viewed nearly five million times and 36 percent more people are coming forward to report harassment, resulting in a 40 percent increase in arrests. As Ellie Violet Bramley wrote for the Guardian, “the real win is the cultural shift this signals – women won’t accept this behaviour as routine any more, and neither will the authorities.”

USA:

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) has been working in collaboration with Collective Action for Safe Spaces and Stop Street Harassment on an anti-harassment campaign that has included station-wide awareness posters, an online reporting form, the training of employees, and outreach days at Metro stations. All of these efforts set the tone that sexual harassment is unacceptable and is taken seriously.

Over International Anti-Street Harassment Week, the three organizations released the results of the first-ever survey on the system. This is the biggest study of its kind for any transit system in the United States.

In the 1,000 person-regionally representative survey conducted in January 2016 by Shugoll Research, 21 percent of riders had experienced some form of sexual harassment, with verbal harassment being the most common form. Women were three times more likely than men to experience sexual harassment.

In positive news, 41 percent of the riders were familiar with the latest anti-harassment campaign and those who were familiar with it were twice as likely to report their experiences of harassment. Based on the findings, WMATA, CASS and SSH are currently working on a new awareness campaign that will be released in a few weeks.

11.28.15 WMATA Ad! Falls Church, VA 4

 

Find ideas for how YOU can help make public spaces safer.

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Filed Under: LGBTQ, News stories, public harassment, street harassment Tagged With: groping, japan, mexico, taxi, UK, usa, women-only

“Tell them when they insult you.”

March 29, 2016 By Contributor

Being a student studying at an art school in downtown San Francisco, I always dread slow tourists as I try to get to class. I overtook a slow-walking tourists without even touching his shoulders or having contact with him. I literally just passed on the left side and kept fast walking. He started shouting insults to me and I was shocked as I never did anything to get such reaction. Now I get such insulting reactions almost once a week.

Optional: Do you have any suggestions for dealing with harassers and/or ending street harassment in general?

Fight back. Tell them when they insult you.

– Alek Picardal

Location: Union Square area, San Francisco, CA

Share your street harassment story for the blog.
See the book 50 Stories about Stopping Street Harassers for more idea
.

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Filed Under: public harassment, Stories

Obama Talks about Online and Offline Public Sexual Harassment

March 17, 2016 By HKearl

Yesterday, President Barack Obama talked about both online & offline sexual harassment in public spaces!! I believe this is the first time he has publicly done so regarding street harassment, so this is big.

ObamaSHMarch2016

Here is a short excerpt, but to read or watch more, jump to around minute 40 of the video (for online harassment) and 50 (for offline harassment).

“…’Obviously, this is not unique to the Internet,’ Obama added. ‘Women have been up against this kind of nonsense since the beginning of time. As long as women have dared to enter the public space — whether they’re fighting for their rights or simply walking the streets, there have been times where they’ve been harassed by those who apparently see the mere presence of women as a threat.’

Obama said that while it’s important for women to continue to speak up about online harassment, it’s also integral that men join in. ‘This is not just the role for women,’ he said. ‘It’s about men speaking up and demanding better of themselves and their peers, their sons, their friends, their coworkers. Because we’re all in this together.'”

Thank you so much, Obama!!

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Filed Under: male perspective, News stories, online harassment, public harassment Tagged With: Barack Obama, male allies, offline harassment, online harassment

New Studies in the Philippines and Israel

March 8, 2016 By HKearl

The UK was not the only country to have a new study about street harassment released for International Women’s Day, statistics were released in the Philippines and Israel, too.

Philippines:

In February 2016, SWS surveyed people in barangays Payatas and Bagong Silangan in Quezon City regarding sexual harassment in public spaces.

Prevalence:

88% of women ages 18 to 24 experienced sexual harassment at least once.

1 in 7 of the surveyed women experienced sexual harassment at least once every week in the past year.

Types:

Across all ages, 12 to 55 and above, wolf whistling and catcalling were the most common forms. However, 34% of women experienced the “worst forms” of sexual harassment: flashing, public masturbation, and groping.

Perpetrators:

Seventy percent of women said they were harassed by a “complete stranger,” while others said it was by “someone they see around the neighborhood,” acquaintances, and “someone they are close to.”

3 out of 5 men surveyed confessed to committing a form of sexual harassment at least once in their lifetime, while 1 in 7 admitted to doing it at least daily over the past year.

When:

The majority of the incidents happen in broad daylight. Seventy percent of cases happen during the day, between 6 am and 6 pm, and only 4% of cases were reported occurring at night.

You can read more survey results and learn about the UN Women campaign underway in the city via this Rappler article.

 

Israel:

The organization NA’AMAT release a survey about youth and sexual harassment, the following is pulled from a Jerusalem Post article about it.

Prevalence:

68% of girls responded that they were harassed by a man they didn’t know on the street at least once, while 45% said this happened more than once.

Perpetrators:

47% of boys admitted that they had shouted out to a woman or girl that they didn’t know on the street and around 34% said they had done this more than once.

Attitudes:

“A little over a third of youth – both boys and girls – said that if a woman acts or dresses provocatively then she shares in the blame of sexual assault.  Only 53% of youth felt that only the attacker was to blame in the case of sexual assault.”

 

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Filed Under: public harassment, Resources, street harassment Tagged With: Israel, philippines, statistics, study, victim blame, youth

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