Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Polite Smile = Invitation to Stalk?

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Almost everyday I deal with men who are trying to get my attention just because I am a young woman who commutes to work everyday by myself, so I am always keeping to myself. However, if spoken to I am usually a cheerful person and will smile and take the other person into consideration in certain cases.

One day while commuting home during rush hour, I accidentally smiled politely as I walked by a man boarding the train a couple of cars down from where I was walking to, and without realizing it he started following behind me to board the same car as me.

After that, he wouldn’t stop trying to talk to me, and made it clear that he assumed many things about me like he thought I was a German foreigner (probably because I hadn’t acted like he either didn’t exist or scowled at him or something), and he insisted on trying to find out as much as he could about me and following me off when I was trying to transfer. I eventually lost him in the rush of people while going to another train, but ever since I have changed my commute route after work so that I don’t have to run into this guy again.

-anonymous

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No, no, and no!

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After a night at an expensive NYC restaurant for my friend’s birthday, a few of us were trying to hail a cab. First a taxi full of older men pulled up and said “You girls looking for a good time?” Then a van with another bunch of men stopped near us and shouted “Hey, you girls want some cock?” Then another car pulled up and told us to get in, and even when we said no, the driver shouted after us. This was all in the span of about five to ten minutes at the longest.

-anonymous

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Class Act

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Getting onto a city bus, a group of guys walked over just to stare at my butt while I got on. When guys follow me around grocery stores, even when I have my boyfriend with me, what makes them think in anyway I’m going to be flattered by somebody following me around? It’s scary more than anything. Walking and getting followed by cars, ugh. I actually had to tell a group of guys to leave me alone because they were freaking me out a couple of days ago, they then proceeded to call me a bitch in front of everybody and flipped me off, and sped away. Class act huh?

-anonymous

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Street Harassment Punishment is… Sweeping?

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Gandhi Hospital in India. Photo credit: panoramio.com
Gandhi Hospital in India. Photo credit: panoramio.com

In Hyderabad, India, a young man accused of street harassment (pulling on the scarves of two young women walking by from a motorcycle) has been sentenced to sweeping a government-run hospital (named Gandhi Hospital) one hour a day, for one month. “He is allowed to choose the hour according to his convenience.”

The escort of the two young women filed a complaint with the police, who then registered the case against the men (there were two harassers though the fate of the second man wasn’t disclosed in the article) “under section 354 (assault or criminal force to a woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of Indian Penal Code against Kumar.” And then Justice B. Chandrakumar sentenced the young man to sweeping the hospital as punishment.

What do you think about this punishment for street harassment? Too much? Too little? Too weird? Creative?

(Thanks to b for the tip)

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Haircut

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I had just cut my hair really short and some guy on a crowded subway car started pointing at me and talking to his friend about how ugly I was. It was so humiliating and people kept turning to stare at me. I finally told him to shut the f*** up and he lost his shit on me. He started screaming about what an ugly dyke I was, etc. I was scared and humiliated. It happened years ago and I still feel sick when I think about it.

-anonymous


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