Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

“He sat back down, and I kept walking”

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I was walking home late from a friend’s house, when I saw a guy sitting on the curb. I crossed the street to avoid walking directly by him, but as I was passing him, he yelled, “Hey, Miss!”

Crap, I thought, there is no one around. This could go poorly. “Yes?” I replied.

“How you doing?” he said, and got up, crossing the quiet street toward me.

I held up my hand. “I’m going to need you to leave me alone – I’m a woman walking by myself at night, and this is a little scary.”

He stopped in his tracks, and said, “Oh, I didn’t mean it like that!”

“That’s okay”, I said, “I’m going to keep walking, and you can go back to whatever you were doing.” And he sat back down, and I kept walking.

– SVN

Location: Waltham, MA

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See the book 50 Stories about Stopping Street Harassers for more ideas

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USA: Weighing in on harassment against interracial couples

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Kasumi Hirokawa, PA, USA, SSH Blog Correspondent

As a car window rolled down, I waited. Perhaps my boyfriend saw it coming, too. “Chinky legs, chinky legs, chinky legs! Ayeeeee!” A male voice chanted at us when we crossed the street, hand in hand.

It was the second time people shouted insensitive remarks at us. Or to me? I do not know. Both incidents I experienced seemed to involve men yelling Asian slurs. Somehow in 2014, the sight of an East Asian woman and a black man linking arms still offends people. The sight of two people in love.

State College, Pa. is a small town of approximately 41,757, according to the United States Census data as of 2013. It’s also very white. The data estimates 83% of the town residents identified as white in 2010. I have also heard that Pennsylvania is one of KKK’s favorite hangouts from multiple sources, including this article by TIME magazine. However, none of these justify hate.

I still remember the first time something like it happened. I think I will never forget if it happens again. It was on our way home from a formal at a mutual friend’s house. We were walking back as we passed by a pair of wobbling white men when my boyfriend abruptly turned around and stopped. “What is it?” I asked. He replied through his clenched teeth, “I thought I heard them say horrible things. Something like ‘sideways pussy.’ Did you hear it?” I was not paying enough attention to even notice it. But my boyfriend is not the kind to make this sort of things up, especially when it is obvious that I am tired.

Unable to find much reliable literature on harassment against interracial couples online, I wondered if similar things happen to other interracial couples. I sought out a few friends of mine, each of whom was in at least one interracial relationship.

Mandy* is an Asian American woman and a student at a local university. She said she was at the receiving end of “judgmental” stares when she was with her boyfriend, who is black, for a gathering in a campus building. She recalled being the only Asian girl in the room: “People [kept asking me], ‘Are you with him?’”

Kyle*, a recent college graduate who lives in Green Lane, Pa., said he and his former partner was never subjected to “direct attack” from strangers but they “caught bad looks and [received] poor service” at restaurants. He said waiting staff would bring food to others who were seated after them – a white man and a black woman. “Waitresses wouldn’t stop by as frequently and you could see them looking [at us],” he recounted.

The days of racism and sexism are seemingly over in the eyes of those who refuse to look at what is happening around them. Who knows what the person behind you in the Starbucks line thinks about another from a different racial, religious or sexual orientation groups? They would shake hands with a fake smile with anyone when sober. How about when their PC façade is washed down by alcohol, mob mentality or raging sense of entitlement? Just like creepy comments hurled at me when I’m alone, these hurtful words and gestures are supposed to remind us that we have stepped out of the line and the harassers have the power to police us.

Kasumi is a recent graduate from Penn State with a BA in journalism. Her writing has been published in Valley Magazine, City Weekend Shanghai, Penn State GeoBlog and Shanghai Daily. You can follow her on Twitter, @kasumihrkw

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“I am entitled to carry on with my day unencumbered”

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Last week at the grocery store, I was harassed by a complete stranger. I had just gotten in my car after loading all of my groceries up when I noticed a man walk by the car. He looked like he was looking in the car or that he was about to come up and approach me, but I did not want to be approached by a stranger as I never do at any time. After I saw him walk away, which was very close to the car, I started pull out. He appeared behind my car, like he was coming back to talk to me. I stopped my car to make sure that I didn’t hit him but he walked right up to the driver side window and gestured for me to roll it down. I did not do this because I do not feel obligated to talk to strange man that I do not know, I have a boyfriend and I would not be interested in getting picked up at a grocery store anyway.

He began cursing and swearing; he yelled something along lines of ‘fuck you, you fucking bitch’ etc., as well as displaying body language that show he was angry. He flailed his arms around and shook his head. When I got home I checked my groceries to see if I had left something and my wallet to see if I had dropped any money, because I was alarmed that he had gotten so angry and thought maybe he had been trying to help me. He wasn’t. I had everything I needed. He was mad because I would not roll down my window down to be hit on. It is scary to live in a world were strange men think that they are more entitled to talk to me than I am entitled to carry on with my day unencumbered.

– Anonymous

Location: Albertson’s parking lot, Lafayette, LA

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See the book 50 Stories about Stopping Street Harassers for more ideas

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New Film: Out in the Night

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I’m teaching a “Representations of Women” class at George Mason University (GMU) where I am a new adjunct professor. A key lesson from my class is that women are, first of all, under-represented in most media (from tv shows and movies to op-eds and news articles) and a second lesson is that when they are there, they’re often sexualized or stereotyped.

GMU Professor Giovanna Chesler is the producer of a new film Out in the Night which encompasses both street harassment and representations of women in the media — and more.

Via Bitch Magazine:

“Who has the right to self-defense? How do race, class, sexuality, and gender expression affect what our society sees as violent? In 75 minutes, new documentary Out in the Night challenges us to consider these questions.

The film follows the case of Venice Brown, Terrain Dandridge, Renata Hill and Patreese Johnson, four women who became known as the New Jersey Four after they defended themselves against an assault on the streets of New York City’s West Village.

On August 18, 2006, seven young black lesbians friends from Newark, New Jersey, came to New York City’s West Village. As they walked down the street, they were harassed by a man named Duane Buckle. When they told him they were gay, he began threatening to rape them—then he physically attacked them, throwing his lit cigarette at them, ripping the hair from one woman’s head, and choking another woman. The women defended themselves and, at some point during the four-minute fight, two unknown men jumped in to assist them. As Buckle attempted to choke Renata Hill, Patreese Johnson stabbed him with a pen knife. The two unknown men left the scene, but when police arrived, they arrested the women. Buckle was taken to the hospital where he stated that men had attacked him. Nonetheless, the women were charged with assault and attempted murder.”

From the Out in the Night Facebook page:

“Out in the Night follows their journey to Rikers Island, to the courtroom, and through slanderous media coverage that labeled them a “Wolfpack” and “Lesbian Gang”. While exploring the fight from all sides through the security camera footage that captured it, that hot August night in 2006 can be seen from many perspectives. But our film’s purpose is to examine the events after the fight: biased media coverage likening the women to “man-hating” animals, and unprecedentedly harsh sentencing by the court. This story shows how four young, queer women of color were unfairly criminalized for defending themselves.”

The film team has been screening the documentary at film festivals (there are a few screenings coming up, see if there’s one near you!) and Professor Chesler and I plan to meet up upon her return. Stay tuned!

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