Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Chicago — Fun Event on Sunday!

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Chicago SPS Mentoring Site Filming

Dear Chicago Supporters,

If you’re free on Sunday afternoon, you won’t want to miss our Safe Public Spaces Mentoring Site’s event that includes comics, spoken word, and the premiere of their film which is a parody of dating commercials.

Three couples (including one gay couple) pretend they met through street harassment. Check out a photo from the film shoot —>

Please RSVP and spread the word about the event!

Shout-out to site lead Phaydra Babinchok for all of her hard work and to BluPrint Designs for volunteering their talents to create the flyer.

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Donate and Double Your Impact Today!

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Stop Street Harassment is run primarily on volunteer hours and donations from community members so we are thrilled that a generous community member is currently matching all donations made to Stop Street Harassment!

Please consider donating. The minimum amount is $10…which would become $20 and would pay for two hours of our intern’s time or nearly one month for one blog correspondent.

What do your funds go toward?

1. The first-ever, large scale national study on street harassment in the USA. (Total cost: $47,000. We need to raise $30,00 more)

2. The Safe Public Spaces Mentoring program. (Total cost already covered this year: $750. We want to expand next year to fund 10 sites, $5,000)

3. Blog Correspondents program. (Total cost: $2250, 15 correspondents each receive $25 per month)

4. Part-time intern pay — right now SSH’s interns are researching and writing a Legal Know Your Rights Toolkit with state-by-state information on relevant laws you can use to report street harassment and how to report. (Interns are paid $10/hour and work an average of 15 hours per week.)

Thank you!

 

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Philadelphia Survey, City Council Hearing & More

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Hollaback! Philly, FAAN Mail and other groups took part in International Anti-Street Harassment Week in April 2013. Photo by Craig Carpenter.

From comic books to subway ads about street harassment, Hollaback! Philly regularly undertakes creative and compelling work. Here are a few current and upcoming things they’re doing!

1 – Survey:

Right now, they’re conducting an online survey for Philadelphia residents — please take it if you live in Philadelphia!

2 – Event with SSH:

On November 6, they will join me and FAAN Mail at the Wooden Shoe Book Store at 7 p.m. for a community discussion about street harassment. The comic book artist will be signing copies of it and I’ll be talking about/signing copies of my book 50 Stories about Stopping Street Harassers. RSVP for the free event.

3 – City Council Hearing:

The most exciting news of all is that they are working with the City Council to hold a street harassment hearing!!

The hearing will be held on November 7, 10 a.m. and Hollaback! Philly will present their survey results. Many members of the public have already signed up to share their stories. One of the main recommendations they’ll all make is for the City Council to sponsor community safety audits.  I will also testify to bring a national and international context to the issue.  Stay tuned for more information closer to the date.

4 – iReport:

Finally, check out this CNN iReport about Hollaback! Philly’s awesome work!

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Cameroon & Chicago Activists Address Street Harassment

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We’re in the final month of the Safe Public Spaces Mentoring Program Pilot, and the three projects are wrapping up nicely!

Last week, I posted a report about the group in Kabul who did workshops in high schools on street harassment.

Here are brief updates on the groups in Buea, Cameroon, and Chicago, USA:

Cameroon

Zoneziwoh at the ICPD YOUTH AFRICA gathering.

Group leader Zoneziwoh has been talking about the issue with various groups of people throughout her community. For example, she talked with women street vendors and found: 1)  Women are harassed by unknown men walking by. 2) Women like the restaurant/ bar attendants, the one selling banana on roadside, maize etc been harass by clients. They fear to speak out against it for fear of losing their clients. Many people talked about reporting as being time consuming.

She also held a focus group with 10 participants who participated in activities to explain what street harassment means to them and several conducted an audit about places where they feel safe/unsafe. She aims to hold a community event by mid-October to further bring attention to the issue of street harassment.

Additionally, this week, Zoneziwoh attended the Youth Forum preceding the African Regional Conference on Population and Development and she was able to speak about the need for policies that address sexual harassment in public space harassment.  Her recommendation was adopted and is currently included in the draft for the International Conference on Population and Development as the need to “Make public spaces safer for all, especially persons within the LGBTI community and young women.”

She believes this the first time that such a recommendation has been made about street harassment!

Chicago, Stop Calling Me Baby: Film Screening and Spoken Word

Group leader Phaydra: We have held a few meetings to work out the proposed film ideas. One meeting was composed of feminist activists and another with comedy writers. After receiving input and feedback we decided to concentrate on making one good film to satirize street harassment. We are working on a parody of dating commercials where the couples met via street harassment. We know this is a ridiculous scenario and hope it will emphasize how ridiculous it is to street harass. We will screen the film along with showcasing stand up comedy about street harassment and other common issues women encounter daily on October 13 in Chicago. It is free and open to members of the public! Info & RSVP.

 This pilot program is funded through the generous donation of Carlynne McDonnell. 

Help us expand this program in 2014 to work with 10 groups/sites with a tax-deductible donation to Stop Street Harassment. All donations made right now will be matched by a generous donor.

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