Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

“To End Harassment We Need To…”

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Dear Friends,
Today is the day! The 9th annual International Anti-Street Harassment Week is here. We hope you will join us.

Recently, AJ in Arizona shared a story about harassment she faced walking to work and how she dealt with it. She eloquently wrote about WHY she decided to do something about it.

Image by Miranda Smith

“I started thinking of everyone who has experienced harassment and those who will experience it, including my daughters. Suddenly it hurt too much to stay silent.

I know others may see what happened to me as no big deal, but I decided to send the message that harassment of any degree is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.”

She then went on to share her thoughts on how to stop street harassment:

“To end harassment we need to talk about it, write it down, share your story, and educate others. We need to support those who experience harassment by creating loving and supportive spaces where we can share and discuss our experiences. By opening up we will learn what harassment looks like in all its ugly forms. If we all know what constitutes harassment we can gain courage to step in and stop those behaviors.”

I agree. Please, always and especially this week, consider following AJ’s suggestions!

GET INVOLVED WITH THE WEEK – APRIL 7-13:

It’s not too late, if you will be leading or joining action, please complete this form to let us know about it. We’ll add it to the website!

Please tag @StopStHarassmnt in your social media posts or email pictures and write-ups about your actions to StopStreetHarassment@gmail.com. We will feature events across the week on our social media accounts and blog and in our annual write-up about the week.

YOU can make a difference!

-Holly
Stop Street Harassment Founder & CEO

P.S. Please consider a tax deductible-donation to support our work.

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“It was unwelcome behavior based on my race”

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I work at the university and free street parking is scarce, so I left early to find a parking spot close to my building. I found my preferred spot was taken by a white truck, a trailer and three men in yellow construction vests. I found a spot a few yards down which meant I had to walk past them.

As I approached I heard one of them grunt a greeting and instinctively turned to see who had spoken. Immediately after seeing my face the 1st man asked his coworker if I was a Native girl. The second man said no. She must be African American, they mulled it over before the 2nd man settled on Cuban. They said this all while I was feet away, obviously in earshot.

At first I wanted to brush it off, but by the time I was inside I was fuming. I was uncomfortable, confused, and angry. What gave them the right to talk about me like that?

All the insecurities and fears of being a women of color in public washed over me. I struggled with what to do next. It seemed like too small an incident to report or even talk about but I couldn’t let the experience go.

I decided to call my husband who went into action. He went and collected the license plate number and the company name, and spoke with the men. Turns out they are not allowed to speak with the public. He even took it a step further and called the employer. When I learned they would be around the university on a project for a while, I filed a police report.

I still don’t know if I responded correctly. I am not one to make waves, even when it means standing up for myself. I struggled to know if my experience met the definition of harassment. I was not hurt or threatened, just ignorant men talking about my race as if I were an object.

It took time to realize that yes, it was harassment. It was unwelcome behavior based on my race. I lost 2 hours of work productivity and the feeling of security coming to and from work and that is unacceptable.

I started thinking of everyone who has experienced harassment and those who will experience it, including my daughters. Suddenly it hurt too much to stay silent.

I know others may see what happened to me as no big deal, but I decided to send the message that harassment of any degree is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.

Optional: Do you have any suggestions for dealing with harassers and/or ending street harassment in general?

To end harassment we need to talk about it, write it down, share your story, and educate others. We need to support those who experience harassment by creating loving and supportive spaces where we can share and discuss our experiences. By opening up we will learn what harassment looks like in all its ugly forms. If we all know what constitutes harassment we can gain courage to step in and stop those behaviors.

– AJ

Location: Flagstaff, AZ

Need support? Call the toll-free National Street Harassment hotline: 855-897-5910

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

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One Week Until Anti-SH Week 2019!

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Dear Friends,
This week, “The Good Place” actress Jameela Jamil and Canadian journalist Joanna Chiu both raised important conversations in the news and on social media about street harassment by sharing their stories of experiencing and witnessing it, respectively.

Sharing our stories is an important way to not only raise awareness about the issue and show its seriousness, but research shows it can also help us feel better and recover more quickly from upsetting experiences.

April 7 (within Sexual Assault Awareness Month in the USA) marks the start of International Anti-Street Harassment Week — please join us and share your stories that week!


April 9 is an especially a good day to do so online, as we’ll host a global social media blitz and invite people all over the world to share stories and message about street harassment across the day, on all social media platforms, using #StopStreetHarassment. If you need shareable images – here are ones you can use!

If you need quick ideas for how to be involved offline too, here are four!

REMINDERS:
One week from today is the start of our 9th annual International Anti-Street Harassment Week, April 7-13! www.meetusonthestreet.org

If you will be leading or joining action, please complete this form to let us know about it. We’ll add it to the website!

If you’d like to be listed as a participating co-sponsor (we have participants in 15 countries so far!) and/or if you’d like to do a guest blog post, please let me know! Contact StopStreetHarassment@Gmail.com.

-Holly
Stop Street Harassment Founder & CEO

P.S. Please consider a tax deductible-donation to support our work.

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“For women it’s all day, every day”

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On the skytrain. A hot night. Rare for this time of year. I wore a long flowy red dress. I had a jacket zipped up over my breasts, so i was covered head to toe. Trying to go home.

I was sitting at the back of the train, and a man saw me board the train and sit behind him. He looked at me but i was wearing earbuds. Music on full blast. As we were one stop away from my stop, i took my earbuds out. He wasn’t facing me directly, because he was sitting in front of me, but he was half turned in his seat so literally the second my earbuds came out, he immediately turned to face me and tried to introduce himself and then mumbled something and made a weird hand gesture.

I couldn’t understand what he was saying because he wasn’t speaking properly. I thought maybe he was drunk, but then he kept saying it. I finally heard him. He was asking if i wanted to do cocaine with him. And smaking his lips in a gross leering way. I was like “no! Gross”.

And i got off at my stop.

He started chasing after me saying it was cool. But i walked fast away. I hate that I can’t ever just wear pretty things or go out without crap like this happening. Men never talk to other men in such a disrespectful manner at random on the skytrain, but for women it’s all day, every day.

– Christina

Location: Surrey Central station, Vancouver, Canada

Need support? Call the toll-free National Street Harassment hotline: 855-897-5910

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

Share

Research, PSAs & Two Weeks Until Anti-SH Week!

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Here is the latest programmatic updates from SSH!

Research: Our latest national survey data is newly back from the field! The analysis team at UC San Diego’s Center on Gender Equity and Health will begin work this coming week.

PSAs: We are working with WMATA and Collective Action for Safe Spaces on our FOURTH wave of print PSAs for the Washington, DC-area transit system. This wave will focus on what witnesses to harassment can do, and it should be up on the system in early April.

In 14 Days: International Anti-Street Harassment Week


Two weeks from today is the start of our 9th annual International Anti-Street Harassment Week, April 7-13! www.meetusonthestreet.org

If you will be leading or joining action, please complete this form to let us know about it. We’ll add it to the website!

If you’d like to be listed as a participating co-sponsor (we have participants in 13 countries so far!) and/or if you’d like to do a guest blog post, please let me know! Contact StopStreetHarassment@Gmail.com.

Action during the week can be as simple as sharing a personal story with a friend, posting a message on social media, or writing a message with chalk on the street. Together, our voices are stronger! Please, join us!

-Holly
Stop Street Harassment Founder & CEO

P.S. Please consider a tax deductible-donation to support our work.

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