Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Take Action: Tell Snickers to Remove Its Street Harassment Ad

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Sign the petition telling Snickers to remove its demoralizing ad!

By Julie Masterine, USA

More than 6,000 people have signed a Care2 petition demanding Snickers’ latest Australian ad be removed.

Have you seen the commercial? It opens by asking, “What happens when builders aren’t themselves?” It then shows a group of construction workers shouting empowering things to unsuspecting women on the street:

“I’d like to show you the respect you deserve!”

“A woman’s place is where she chooses!”

“You know what I’d like to see? A society in which the objectification of women makes way for gender-neutral interactions, free from assumptions and expectations. You go, girl!”

Sure, women used to a lifetime of “Hey baby,” “Nice legs,” “Smile for me,” “Show me your tits,” and any other number of degrading comments often thrown our way in public spaces would certainly find these pro-feminist comments refreshing. One woman in the ad even puts her hand on her heart and mouths “thank you” to the men.

Refreshing, that is, until the ad ends and the rug is pulled out from under the viewer. “You’re not you when you’re hungry,” reads the text.

Taken as a whole, the Snickers ad is sending a message that pro-feminist men are unnatural — men are only feminist when they’re hungry and therefore “not themselves.” When they have junk food on hand, they go right back to being the sexist street harassers they normally are.

This ad isn’t just insulting to women fighting street harassment — it’s insulting to men, particularly construction workers, who are often stereotyped as being street harassers. This isn’t true, obviously — men from all walks of life street harass, and it’s unfair to peg this behavior on just one group, especially blue-collar workers (classist much?) It’s also insulting to project the idea that any man’s default position is anti-feminist.

One thing’s for sure: we won’t end street harassment by keeping men hungry. You can sign Stop Street Harassment and Care2’s petition asking Snickers to pull the ad from the airwaves here.

Julie Mastrine is an activist, feminist, and writer. She is the Activism Marketing and Social Media Manager at Care2, and is a social media volunteer for Stop Street Harassment. Follow Julie on Twitter and check out her e-book, Make Your Own Sandwich: A 20-Something’s Musings on Living Under (And Smashing) The Patriarchy

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“An incident that left me terrified to leave my apartment”

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Being harassed on the streets of NYC has been a common occurrence in my life since before I was 13 years old.
The summer that I turned 21, there was an incident that left me terrified to leave my apartment and having violent nightmares every night.

A group of 6+ men were hanging out and eating on the street corner across from my subway stop. As I walked past, one of them lunged at me. When I jumped away, all of them started laughing. I fled. The one who lunged called after me, “Hey slut, nice hair.”

I had never met or seen these men before. I am not a slut. I was not dressed provocatively (not that what I was wearing should give them any excuse). I did not “ask for it.”

What I did do was run to my apartment, lock every door and window, and sit shaking and crying in my room.

Even though they haven’t been on the street corner since, I see them almost every day in my nightmares and in the faces of all the men who have harassed me since.

– SW

Location: Jackson Heights, NY

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“They ALWAYS seem to travel in packs when they harass me”

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I’ve been dealing with street harassment by both men and teenage boys all of my life; more times than I can count. I’ve also noticed women being groped and verbally abused in public which makes me feel powerless to do anything about it. I’ve been verbally abused in public places of all kinds. I’ve been called “bitch”, “ho”(i.e.whore) countless times and, have endured men and teenage boys making sexual remarks about my body throughout my life.

One thing that I’ve noticed with them is that they ALWAYS seem to travel in packs when they harass me and other women. If they’re alone, they don’t bother me or, other women. It’s as though they’re trying to impress their “boys” when they’re verbally abusing me and other women in public. I usually just ignore it.

However, I also remember being whistled at once by some guy when I was about 22 yrs. old. That time, I fought back and, I can’t recall what exactly I said but, I told him something to the effect of I didn’t like what he did and he needed to stop. I think I remember he apologized. I remember feeling very empowered when I fought back!

I also am verbal abused by men when I drive. I’m called a “bitch” alot. I guess they feel big knowing that they tried to hurt my self-esteem when they can just call me a derogatory term and, speed away which is what they do after they’ve cursed me. All of the verbal abuse and harassment that I’ve endured over the yrs. as contributed to the hatred that I have for men/boys (especially Black men/boys since I’m a Black women who’s lived in Black communities all of my life and, Black males are usually the culprits of verbal abuse that I’ve endured). I usually don’t get harassed by any other race of males other than Black males.

– Amanda

Location: Countless places

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Day 4: #EndSHWeek 2014

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Today was the fourth day of International Anti-Street Harassment Week!

Here are a few highlights:

More media coverage, including:

Daily Beast | BuzzFeed | Autostraddle | Liberation (France)

There were THREE tweet chats today:

1) Everyday Feminism and Fem2Pt0 hosted a conversation about street harassment, sexism, homophobia and transphobia.

2) Everyday Health hosted a chat about street harassment and health with several anti-street harassment groups and health leaders.

3) Secular Woman hosted a chat about harassment women face at conferences.

Notable Achievements:

Congratulations to our co-sponsors Safetipin for winning the Avon Communications’ Innovative Campaign Award! Download their free app and document how safe you feel places and check out what others have to say!

Some of the events that took place:

Safe City Nepal held dance performances and handed out flyers at a new location in Kathmandu again.

Hollaback! Dublin organized an event called “Exploring Street Harassment through Film” where the showed a variety of street harassment documentaries.

Hollaback! Bangalore led a workshop at a university in India.

Hollaback! Tucson and OASIS held a “Street Harassment 101: An Introduction” workshop at the University of Arizona’s Campus Health building.

A University of Illinois student group painted anti-street harassment messages on the windows of local businesses along Green Street, a campus town street rife with street harassment.

Hollaback! Twin Cities hosted an Open Mic Night at the Minnehaha Free Space in Minneapolis.

The Brooklyn Movement Center and the Brecht Forum held the event “PLANET BROOKLYN: Beyond Catcalls,” which explored street harassment incidents and organizing in the borough over the past 40 years. The intergenerational panel featured four Brooklynites contextualizing unhealthy masculinity, criminalization and gentrification within the broader anti-street harassment movement.

FORCE: Upsetting Rape Culture and Collective Action for Safe Spaces co-hosted a workshop at MLK Library

There was a Human Trafficking Awareness Month event at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania.

BraveHeart Hawaii did sidewalk chalking yesterday (we missed the pics until today!)

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See the photo album of events.

Remember — here’s the report form where you can say how your action went (no matter how big or small). This information will be used for the annual wrap-up report and potentially for articles about the week.

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“I feel repulsed by it”

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Every day is the same story: I leave my house and someone is “amazed” by something about me. So much so that they use the worst medium of communication to tell me that they have the worst intentions toward me. I don’t like that, I feel repulsed by it, and it needs to stop NOW. I’m not willing to be fearful of people on the street, and I won’t ever look different, so if that’s your excuse, then close your f***ing eyes or look away.

– Silver

Location: San Diego, CA

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