FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
04/07/15
Contact:
Holly Kearl, hkearl@stopstreetharassment.org
More than 30 Countries to Participate in 5th Annual International Anti-Street Harassment Week
WASHINGTON — In its fifth and largest year, International Anti-Street Harassment Week will be observed in more than 30 countries from April 12-18, 2015. Tens of thousands of people will take action to speak out against the prevalent social problem of gender-based street harassment, something that studies suggest most women and many LGBTQ individuals face.
Groups in countries like Afghanistan, France, Kenya, Nepal, Nicaragua, Mexico, South Korea, and Zimbabwe will host various actions, both offline and online.
Stop Harcelement de Rue members will distribute information about street harassment at various Paris subway stations. CoHabita/Habitajes will paste 65 “Stop Telling Women to Smile” posters along 45 stations on Line 1 of the Metrobus in Mexico City. Volunteers from HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation Nepal will be chalking sidewalks and hanging posters around Kathmandu throughout the week. The Women Against Street Harassment Movement in Zimbabwe will be speaking at schools, handing out information, hanging posters, appearing on radio and television, and inviting people to sign a street harassment petition.
“Street harassment is a global problem that limits people’s access to public spaces,” said Holly Kearl, author two books and a national study on street harassment and the founder of the nonprofit organization Stop Street Harassment. “I am thrilled that so many people plan to band together to challenge this human rights violation and to advocate for safe public spaces for all.”
Stop Telling Women to Smile is a primary co-sponsor of the week and any interested people and groups can request PDFs of the famous “Stop telling women to smile” posters and paste them on walls in their community on April 17. “The idea behind the wheat pasting night is to create a night of solidarity,” founder Tatyana Fazlalizadeh said. “People from all over can participate in a night of action, knowing that hundreds of people in different parts of the world are doing the same thing.”
Events hosted in the United States include a rally in New York City; chalk walks in states like Arizona, Florida, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, and Pennsylvania; workshops on bystander intervention, and the distribution of information about harassment on transit systems. The Washington, DC-area alone has eight scheduled events. The week falls within Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
There will be many virtual events as well, including a Google+ Hangout panel on April 12 at 7 p.m. EDT and six Tweet Chats (use hashtag #EndSH). Twenty groups will co-host a Tweetathon on April 14 to share facts and resources about street harassment throughout the day from seven time zones.
Any individual can help speak out against street harassment during the week simply by sharing stories on and offline. Visit www.MeetUsontheStreet.org for more information about the week and how to be involved.
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Stop Street Harassment is a nonprofit organization dedicated to documenting and ending gender-based street harassment worldwide through public education and community mobilization. SSH organizes International Anti-Street Harassment Week annually and helps activists with local campaigns through the Safe Public Spaces Mentoring Program. They commissioned a 2014 nationally representative survey on street harassment in the USA.
