Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

“More people need to get involved when they witness street harassment taking place”

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I live in Barbados and street harassment is a serious problem there. I have witnessed men blatantly calling women out their names and imposing their unwanted attention onto them. Leaving home one has to garner oneself in preparation for the onslaught of rude comments and suggestions that are sure to come. Verbal and physical harassment are so interwoven into the fabric of our culture that it has become accepted as the norm. So accepted that a song called “Meat gotta pull” actually got air play on the radios here.

There is a common expression in Barbados that Bajan women are unmannerly and difficult to approach but no exploration of how this came to be the case. I’ll be generous and say that at least half of your daily encounters with men here will end with some inappropriate and unwanted comment. So is it any wonder that females are apprehensive when males approach them?

The worst part is that I believe some of them think they’re flattering you.

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

I believe more people need to get involved when they witness street harassment taking place and be the keepers of our brothers and sisters. Men are the perpetrators in many cases but they are also the victims.

– Anonymous

Location: Barbados

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Men Harass and Attack Transgender Women in Atlanta

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Trigger Warning —

A group of men on a MARTA train in Atlanta, Georgia harassed two transgender women, theb stripped one nude and violently attacked them both. The men ignored the women’s requests to stop. Bystanders, the women said, did nothing to help and some videotaped the attack. Allegedly MARTA staff did nothing when the women tried to report it, but now, after their story has received media attention, MARTA is looking into what happened.

It’s too late though. Both women are moving away from Atlanta after the attack. “I don’t feel safe here,” one of the women said.

The attack began with the type of harassment familiar to many transgender people:

“[They] just kept of asking us was we real,” said Janell Crosby. “Like really trying to get us. ‘Are you real?’ ‘Are y’all this or that?’ Just trying to embarrass us.”

“They were trying to find out if we are men or women,” said Tyra Woods. “I shouldn’t have to disclose who I am to an innocent person who I’m not even interested in talking to.”

Exactly. Their attention, time, and personal history is not the business of random people they encounter in public spaces. They — and everyone — should have the right to be safe and respected in public spaces and have the freedom to just be themselves. And they — and we — need bystanders, transit agencies and law enforcement officers to take street harassment seriously and take appropriate action.

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“It causes women to feel unsafe walking down the streets”

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I was walking towards my bank and a passing car slowed down. The driver brought out his head to tell me that I am a W#**e and a s**t and I should get in his car and let him f#@% me …

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

Strict laws to let them know that it is a crime and it causes women to feel unsafe walking down the streets

– Anonymous

Location: Tripoli-Libya

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“Why he does not treat me with more respect”

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I am 73 years old and live in Auckland, New Zealand. I recently downsized from a house in suburbs when I mostly drove to places I needed to get to, to an apartment close to the city where I now mostly walk. I have noticed that when some elderly men pass me in the street they seem to make a strange kissing noise which I find offensive. I have only just realised since finding this website that it is intentional ….. and I am now ANGRY.

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

I rather feel like pursuing the next passer by who does this and asking him, in a loud, clear voice why he does not treat me with more respect.

– Jean HH

Location: In the street, often busy areas, Auckland, New Zealand

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Men are NOT Entitled to Our Attention, Bodies, or Lives

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In the wake of the UC Santa Barbara shooting by a man angry at women and the shooting in Stockton, California, where a man allegedly fired his gun at three women Saturday morning who refused to have sex with him and his friends, a lot of people are speaking out about how common it is for some men to feel entitled to women’s attention and bodies.

In addition to articles on news sites and posts on blogs on this topic, people are taking to Twitter and speaking out using the hashtag #YesAllWomen.

Also, Deanna Zandt started a new Tumblr called When Women Refuse (Trigger Warning), detailing the violence men incite on women for refusing their sexual advances.

Street harassment is coming up a lot in these conversations because it is a very clear manifestation of this type of behavior. I see this this all the time in the stories I hear and collect on this blog.

1 – In the first place, most street harassment is the outcome of men feeling entitled to comment on, follow and touch women (and men) they do not know, without their permission.

2 – Then, when women refuse to say thank you to the harasser, give him their phone number, agree to sex, smile when he tells them to or otherwise refuses men’s demands, some men get angry and call women stuck up or a bitch, push them, chase them, throw garbage at them*, run them over and shoot them. This is insane. It needs to STOP.

SSH is releasing a huge national report on street harassment in one week. It includes summaries of 10 focus groups and these kinds of stories came up many times. I hope the report can contribute valuable information to this conversation and show why male feelings of entitlement to women needs to be addressed.

Men are never entitled to women’s attention or bodies. This is an important message that we must all spread. Women’s lives depend on it.

* See the full film for the garbage story

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