Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

NPR Looks at Street Harassment Globally and Locally

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What’s street harassment like around the world?

This was a question that Malaka Gharib at NPR wanted to have answered after she experienced street harassment first-hand in Egypt and the USA. I connected her to women I’d worked with, from Afghanistan to Japan, from Nepal to South Africa, and they shared their stories with her. She also kindly interviewed me and gave a shoutout to International Anti-Street Harassment Week.

The article went online on Wednesday. Here’s one story example:

India: “A growing trend is pictures being taken on mobile phones”

Women and girls are constantly stared at, groped in crowded spaces and on public transportation, catcalled, whistled and commented on regularly. A growing trend is pictures being taken on mobile phones without permission by strangers. Women and girls, through experience, either avoid certain areas, do not stay out late, limit their movements in public or wear loose clothing.

Public spaces should be safe and accessible to all, especially women and girls. It is crucial and essential if we want them to fully participate in society and the economy. If not, then choices and movements are restricted — and that in turn has a negative impact on society.

ElsaMarie D’Silva, 42, founder and managing director of Safecity

The article led to over 1000 comments to the article, on Facebook, on Twitter, and today, there’s a follow-up story highlighting some of the stories shared, from Canada to Italy to Switzerland. For example:

Switzerland: “He pushed me up against a wall”

I was 14 in Endingen, Switzerland. I was walking to school when a man working on street construction grabbed me. His friends and colleagues immediately surrounded us, laughing. He pushed me up against a wall, felt me up and tried to pin me for a kiss. The men pressed closer. I got away. I told people. I told my parents. Nobody did anything. It was kind of funny, they said, and boys will be boys. — Stephanie Nakhleh via Facebook

The amazing Noorjahan Akbar, founder of Free Women Writers, and I joined Malaka and other NPR staff in studios on Wednesday to create a Snapchat video too.

The NPR team + Noorjahan and Holly
The NPR team + Noorjahan and Holly

I’m so grateful to Malaka and her team for providing space for women’s stories on the huge and respected platform of NPR.

Related, the Kojo Nnamdi Show had a segment on street harassment on Monday, featuring Jessica Raven Executive Director, Collective Action for Safe Spaces, Arthur Espinoza, Jr. Executive Director, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, and Brianne Nadeau Member, D.C. Council (D-Ward 1). YES!!!

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“With or without a shirt, street harassment in San Francisco is a frightening”

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It’s legal for both men and women to be topless in San Francisco. On the rare occasion that I exercise this freedom by myself, I am met by hoards of street harassers, slut shamers, and “well-intended” warnings about how much exposed skin warrants me being raped.

In the middle of the day as I was walking home, a man followed me very closely for 5 blocks. I told him to go away, but he kept following me. I slowed down my pace. I sped up my pace. He matched it. I started recording him. Finally I decided I had no choice but to stop and scream. When I stopped in my tracks, he backed away, circled me grinning, and finally left.

With or without a shirt, street harassment in San Francisco is a frightening, day to day reality for women. But I won’t let a few slut shamers and street harassers keep my flat chest from taking in the rare San Francisco sun.

Optional: What’s one way you think we can make public places safer for everyone?

Encourage women to report and record harassers.

– Chelsea Ducote

Location: San Francisco, CA

Share your street harassment story for the blog.
See the book 50 Stories about Stopping Street Harassers for more idea.

 

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“I got harassed by at least 15 different men”

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I am African, but my skin tone is very light. Men here are inclined to harass these type of women (light-skinned) because we are seen as being “more attractive, and more desirable” than a dark-skinned woman (grossly untrue, but it’s how our society is framed to think). Even though it happens to me often, March 4th was way worse than the other days.

I had gone to shop for  groceries, and I had to walk for about 20 minutes. I got harassed by at least 15 different men for that 20-minute walk! The harassment ranged from cat calls, my arms being stroked by strangers (very disgusting, I must say), men asking other men to stare at me… Others yelled across the streets asking if I could get pregnant. For those that felt really irked by me ignoring them, insults such as “stupid whore” were hurled at me. It was so mortifying, frustrating, and plain disgusting.

– KWA

Location: Nairobi, Kenya, along the streets

Share your street harassment story for the blog.
See the book 50 Stories about Stopping Street Harassers for more idea.

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