Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Street Respect: Language check

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This is part of the Monday series “Street Respect. “Street respect” is the term for respectful, polite, and consensual interactions that happen between strangers in public spaces. It’s the opposite of “street harassment.” Share your street respect story and show the kind of interactions you’d like to have in public in place of street harassment.

I was waiting at a bus stop (a layover en route to university) near a hospital in a nice enough part of town. Two gentlemen joined me at some point. Based on their conversation and demeanor, it seemed they had some recent experience in jail or maybe prison. At one point, one of them cursed and his companion responded, “Watch your mouth. There’s a lady present.”

As a sociologist, I know that social decorum is sometimes lost (if not simply rusty) after time spent “inside.” I was warmed in that regard . . .

– MCM

Location: 1201 West 38th Street, Austin, TX 78705

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Snapshot of street harassment stories, news, & tweets: October 9, 2011

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Read stories, news articles, blog posts, and tweets about street harassment from the past week and find relevant announcements and upcoming street harassment events.

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Street Harassment Stories:

Share your story! You can read new street harassment stories on the Web from the past week at:

Stop Street Harassment Blog | “Street Respect” stories

Hollaback

Hollaback Berlin

Hollaback Buenos Aires

Hollaback Chandigarh

Holla Back DC!

Hollaback France

Hollaback Israel

Hollaback London

Hollaback Mumbai

Hollaback NYC

Hollaback Philly

Hollaback Puerto Rico

Hollaback Queretaro

Activism High-Fives:

* Safe Streets AZ in USA

* The Pixel Project in Malaysia (they have an international scope)

* Gawaahi in Pakistan

In the News, on the Blogs:

* Splatter Zone, “On Street Harassment“

* Nicole Clark, “Street Harassment Stops When Men Says it Stops“

* Pink News, “Transgender woman tells of street abuse“

* NPR, “Violent Attacks On Transgender People Raise Alarm“

* The Age, “Sexual harassment in clubs seen as ‘normal‘”

* Venus Genus, “Is Street Harassment a Punishable Crime? Yes it is“

* Daily News & Analysis, “Mumbai girl stabbed for resisting eve-teasing attempt“

* Black Feminists, “Street Harassment Part 1?“

* The Gloss, “NerdGlam: How to Shut Down Street Harassers“

* But I Love Me More, “Street Harassment“

* Women News Network, “INDIA: Mumbai college women shame men who perpetrate ‘eve-teasing’ – sexual harassment“

* NDTV, “‘Offended’ eve-teasers try to abduct girl“

* Sketchbook Radical, ““Hey Baby/Bitch/Slut-” or, I Wish I Could Say Hello To Strangers (Part 1)*triggers*”

* D for Dalrymple, “Picture This“

Announcements:

New:

* Congratulations to Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, women’s rights activist Leymah Gbowee from Liberia, and democracy activist Tawakkul Karman of Yemen for being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their women’s rights activism!

Reminders:

* Last Monday, Stop Street Harassment launched a new weekly “Street Respect” series highlighting the type of stories we want to see instead of street harassment stories!

* Call for men to share views/stories about street harassment

* Sign Mend the Gap’s petition to address subway harassment in Delhi, India

* Are you in Egypt? Use HarassMap to report your street harassers

* Have an iPhone? Download the Hollaback iPhone app that lets you report street harassers

15 Tweets from the Week:

1. grrrlrevolution *sigh* i love how, without fail, i go from “sexy” to “bitch” in the span of five seconds as soon as i stand up for myself #streetharassment

2. LikeaStar1032 When men catcall/make lewd comments they’re generally trying to assert dominance. When you bring yourself to their level they lose interest.

3. msorvam: also…i find that being “plus sized” street harassment comes w/the attitude of “you should be happy to be getttin ne att”

4. nawaf11g @MunaAbuSulayman in Saudi we need a secret police that handles street sexual harassment. Secret police that doesn’t look religious.

5. grrrlrevolution writing to @hollabackdc about my street harassment experiences really does make me feel better and more empowered. Thanks!

6. ruthie_dee Oh lovely. The builders outside my window have just realised I exist and started making crude gestures. Street harassment in my own room!

7. TeslaDethray Note to people driving around at night: Don’t catcall the running woman all by herself. It makes her feel very vulnerabile. *sigh*

8. vawmonth: Day 8- Our topic for today is Street Harassment and Eveteasing. #VAWAM #takebackthetech #Pakistan

9. Hollaback_DSM #Top10Lies Street harassment is flattering to women.

10. KimFoxWOSU Today was a milestone: walked through the Khan el Khalili by myself and didn’t get sexually harassed! A-maze-ing! #Cairo #Egypt #EndSH #wwpw

11. debzalebz The best thing about cycling is it reduces street harassment and limits opportunities of eating junk food.

12. ConnellAnnie Dear dirty ass man on the street, just because you’re giving me compliments doesn’t mean it’s not verbal harassment #getthefuckouttahere

13. thetrudz @AsiaBrown I face less street harassment when I wear makeup; it’s not the lie that men don’t like it b/c harassment isn’t about “liking.”

14. Salencita Three run-ins with street harassment in two blocks. This is not okay.

15. mishsolomon “Rape culture is street harassment and groping on public transportation…”

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“I’m on my guard”

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I was at work when i received a phone call from a private number. It was a man who at first seemed to be a customer, asking common questions about products, then to strange personal questions, or strange questions about the store. He called again, within 10 minutes, and on the second call, he informed me he would be waiting for me outside of work, ”baby.”

Now i have no idea what this man looks like, he obviously knows details about the store, and has been here before, and he knows my name. I was shaking i was so terrified. I informed my boss and my co-worker, who were less then concerned. I was livid, and felt helpless. On my lunch break i went next door to another business (99% of them are young males), and told them what happened. One of them taught me self defense, and told me that if i was ever afraid for any reason, i could hide out in his store. Then another one texted me after i got out of work to ask if everythin g went okay. It feels really nice to know someone is watching out for me.

In the end, no apparent signs of the man who called. But he could be in the store, and i would have no idea. I’m on my guard.

– MB

Location: Water st Augusta,ME 04330

Share your street harassment story today and help raise awareness about the problem.
Find suggestions for what YOU can do about this human rights issue.

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“I’m so happy that, after months of this happening, someone finally stood up for me.”

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I’ve mentioned this guy in previous posts before, but quite often when I ride the bus there’s this man on it who will constangly turn and stare at me for extended periods of time, and always give me these little half smiles. I’ve tried ignoring it, openly glaring at him, and even telling him, out loud, to, “Stop staring at me; it makes me uncomfortable.”

But still, he hasn’t gotten the message.

Today as I was standing near the door waiting for the bus to pull up to my stop, he was facing completely away from the bus door, but turned around, looked at me, and gave me his creepy half smile. I was freaked out and tried to just ignore him, when I hear a laugh behind me. When I turn around, I see this big man chuckling behind me. When he sees that I saw him, he gives a friendly smile and says – loud enough for the other guy to hear him: “that guy… just a little half smile and staring” and does a funny imitation of the guy’s smile. The other guy stopped staring at me and turned around when he heard that. The guy repeats, “just a little half smile” and laughed again.

This is a story of harassment, and a story about when other people recognize the harassment. That big guy behind me made me feel safe by vocally calling the guy out on what was making me uncomfortable, and even made fun of him about it. I’m not sure if he even meant to have that effect, but he made me laugh at his imitation, and he got the guy to stop staring, which is more than I could do. And he was genuinely friendly when he spoke to me. I’m so happy that, after months of this happening, someone finally stood up for me.

Though, this wasn’t a happy ending type story. Five minutes later, as I was crossing a busy road, a taxi van passed me, and some college guy leaned his torso out the window and shouted something incoherent at me as I passed. I caught “HEY!” but nothing more.

– Emmaline

Location: Madison, Wisconsin

Share your street harassment story today and help raise awareness about the problem.
Find suggestions for what YOU can do about this human rights issue.

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Street Respect: Glove Found

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This is part of the Monday series “Street Respect. “Street respect” is the term for respectful, polite, and consensual interactions that happen between strangers in public spaces. It’s the opposite of “street harassment.” Share your street respect story and show the kind of interactions you’d like to have in public in place of street harassment.

I am so used to harassment by males on the streets of NYC that when a man last winter kept calling after I had passed him, “Miss, Miss,” I walked on angry that once again I can’t walk on the streets without a male starting up a conversation with me, a stranger. This persistent man finally caught up to me and handed me my own glove said, “You dropped this.”

I felt horrible and grateful at the same time. It was a nice reminder that not every male on the street who approaches me sees me as a piece of beef to drool over.

– Beckie

Location: New York City, USA

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