Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Harassed while gardening

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This afternoon I was prompted into thinking about how it’s pretty rare these days for construction crews to catcall (as opposed to the 70’s-80’s, when pretty much ALL construction crews harassed women/teens), but for some reason the roofers working on the new 4-plex out my back alley have no problem catcalling me, while I’m gardening in my own fucking yard, from their roof. This is not the first time this has happened to me either (in totally different parts of town). Now that it’s happened to me a couple times, I wonder how common this actually is? Are roofers the new “untouchables” when it comes to ‘street harassment’, just because they feel safe from criticism way up on their second-story perches??

– Lynnette B

Location: Edmonton, Alberta

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USA: How we can take back the streets?

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By: Erin McKelle, SSH Correspondent

We all know that street harassment is a huge problem and that we must work hard to end it. Street harassment happens to (by conservative estimates) 80% of women and because of how prevalent it is in our society and around the world, it means that the issue is that much more important and that ending it is that much more critical.

So the question is, how can we take back the streets? Not just for ourselves, but for every woman who has ever been harassed? How can we make the streets safe for everyone and create safe public spaces? It’s obviously a daunting task, so how can we go about it?

The answer lies in activism and taking an active role as bystanders. We have to be willing to not let things slide that make us uncomfortable or that are clearly sexist. It’s about going against the grain and letting harassers know that what they are doing isn’t okay.

To give a better and more thorough understanding of this, here is a list of 5 ways that you can take back the streets, whether you are the target of harassment, seeing harassment happen to someone else or are just simply wanting to make a difference.

1)    Stand Up to Harasser’s…if you feel safe, of course. The best way to do this is to use strong and assertive body language and speech. Tell the harasser directly exactly what they did that that was offensive and to stop. Keep your composure and remain cool, calm and confident. If you don’t feel safe enough to directly stand up to your harasser, report your story to Stop Street Harassment and/or Hollaback! to raise awareness and indirectly stick up for yourself. You could also report the incident to the police (although you may or may not have success with this) and take a picture or video of the harasser with your cell phone.

2)    Be an Active Bystander and help others who are experiencing harassment. If you see someone being harassed, step in and try to diffuse the harasser and also look out for the victim. Depending on the circumstance, you could use a distraction to get the harasser’s attention away from harassing (for example, asking them for directions), pull the victim aside and ask if they are okay and need help or even directly call out the harasser in front of a crowd, which will probably shock them and cause them to stop. Just be mindful of safety, the situation and use your judgment to form the best plan of action.

3)    Actively Resist and take action to create social change. Hold a march or rally to protest street harassment, create a short film or vlog on the issue or even leave information about Stop Street Harassment in public restrooms, subway cars or sidewalks. Volunteer or write an op-ed for organizations that work to end street harassment. Do something to get other people’s attention and raise awareness about the issue. Be creative and use your imagination

4)    Be an Advocate and talk to people young and old about street harassment and start conversations with friends and family. By talking about the issue openly, you are creating a safe space for others who have probably experienced the same thing and are simultaneously educating and erasing the stigma around street harassment. You could also act as a mentor to young boys and girls and talk to them about why harassment is not okay and empower young women to stand up for themselves and know that they never deserve or are inviting harassment.  Also, think about starting a town hall at your school or work to get your colleague’s talking about the issue.

5)     Use Social Media: Tweet information, facts and statistics about street harassment on your Twitter or Facebook page. It’s a very easy way to get a lot of people to engage with this issue and to make others aware of what street harassment is and how to end it. If you want to tweet your harassment story, include the hashtag #streetharassment or #hollaback and it will be added to the @Catcalled @ihollaback and/or the @StopStHarassment Twitter thread.

Remember, no action is too big or too small and any and everything you do to take back the streets brings us one step closer to ending street harassment for good.

Erin is an e-activist and blogger based in Ohio. You can find more of her work here and here.

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“It’s time to focus on changing the mindset of people and understanding your rights”

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According to The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, 99.3% of Egyptian women have experienced some sort of harassment.

We have sadly become numbed to these statistics because the simplest of verbal harassment is experienced on a daily basis. Taking action is rarely an option in a highly patriarchal society where most men would blame the girl for getting herself into such a situation.

Yesterday I was at a local mall with a female friend of mine and the usual lurkers were standing by escalators staring at women. Young single men walking around staring down women are common sighting in malls in Egypt. I never feared my safety as I usually just ignore and keep walking.

As we took the escalator to leave the mall two guys hissed at us. We ignored and they did it again so I turned to look at him and he nodded as to reaffirm he was directing it at me. Something at that moment told me I didn’t want to ignore it and go home frustrated as usual so I ran back up the escalators to give them a piece of my mind.

The confrontation started and so did their denial. As if I was completely delusional, they asked me if something was wrong.

“Who bothered you?”

“Did I direct anything towards you? huh? What did I say, tell me exactly what I said?”

“Do you think you look like a person I’d want to flirt with?”

The frustrating part is that most men don’t consider hissing or staring a sort of violation and this is why he kept asking me to repeat what he said but he didn’t actually SAY anything.

I then asked a vendor to call security and they came right away asking me what happened. I explained that this was unacceptable to happen in a mall and he proceeded to explain their security policy; I could either file a report at the local police station or let the Mall security office handle the situation. Considering it was late at night and I didn’t exactly know my legal right or the process I would go through, I decided to do the latter knowing that kicking them out of the mall would be enough. The security was very cooperative and was willing to help me out with filing a report by providing me with surveillance camera evidence.

The guys finally decided to apologize to me and my friend and it turned out one of them was actually a police officer! I thanked him for serving our country the way he did and left.

I’m sharing this story not because of the gravity of the situation but because this matter is taken too lightly. When a society has a problem defining sexual harassment and young men pass their time throwing ugly words at girls thinking it’s normal then it’s time to take action. Instead of thinking twice about what I’ll wear or where I’ll walk, it’s time to focus of changing the mindset of people and understanding your rights. The more we focus on how girls could avoid sexual harassment, the more it will keep happening.

I am also sharing this to encourage other people to share their story. It seems ridiculous to take action action but empowering once you actually do it!

– Dina Hosny

Location: A mall in Egypt

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“I don’t like your kind”

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I was having the most awful commute in the world. It was 2 a.m. and I was waiting for the 4 train on the 59th Street and Lexington Avenue station and had just missed my train by a second. As I was waiting, I was already uncomfortable because there was almost no one on the platform and the few people that were waiting were all men.

I suddenly heard this guy say, “I like white women.” I ignored it as usual because there are always crazy people saying all kinds of thing in the subway. I wasn’t sure if it was directed towards me. Then I heard it again and noticed that a guy is looking straight at me and saying this and is coming closer. He finally says, “I don’t like your kind..” (FYI, I’m brown).

Being a temperamental New Yorker, I wanted to deck him in the face for being racist. However, I held back and before I could take out my cell phone to record this (a tip I learned from hollaback). He stopped and then started back again.

Fearing that it might escalate (although I stayed calm and just didn’t pay him any attention hoping he would go away) I decided to just cab it home. My safety is worth more than a $25 cab ride.

What was really scary has been the hate crime against brown people after 9/11. I was panicking what if this guy pushes me onto the tracks because I’m brown (which happened a few months ago and the victim died). This sort of behavior is unacceptable. And if the guy was mentally ill or had some issues, he needs to get treated before he causes chaos in public. I wish I took a picture, but I will be more prepared if this happens to me again. Just in case, he was an older Latino man wearing a denim cap and a plaid jacket. His skin was light brown and he had light brown eyes. Probably in his 50s.

– Queenie

Location: 59th Street & Lexington Avenue 4 train stop, New York City

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New Jersey: Remember Sakia Gunn

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“MAY 11, 2013 MARCH TO REMEMBER SAKIA GUNN: Saturday marks the 10th anniversary of the murder of Sakia Gunn, a 15-year-old straight-A student who identified as a lesbian, and was stabbed to death by two men after rejecting their sexual advances and cat calls at a bus stop in Newark, New Jersey.

We will join our allies from the Liberation in Truth Social Justice Center at the corner of Broad and Market Street in Newark, the site of Sakia’s murder, at noon, and we will march to the LIT Social Justice Center, which will be re-opened as the Sakia Gunn Memorial Social Justice Center, where community groups and leaders will create a safe space for all youth in Newark. Following the march we holding a community conversation on street harassment and ways to take action.”

More info: lenahan@gardenstateequality.org

Twitter: @GSEquality

 

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