Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

“Both men continued to tell me to smile”

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I went into the liquor store to pick up a bottle of wine for a party this evening. As I was in line to pay, one of the employees walked in front of me and leered. I ignored him and continued to look straight ahead. When I got to the cashier, the same employee came up and stood directly beside me and asked the (male) cashier if I had smiled. The cashier said that I hadn’t, and asked me why I wasn’t smiling. I didn’t know what to say, so I just said something about not wanting to.

Both men continued to tell me to smile and ask me why I wasn’t smiling throughout the transaction, and the first man even told the cashier not to let me leave until I’d smiled. Luckily, they didn’t actually try to stop me, and I got out of there as quickly as possible.

– Anonymous

Location: Greenbelt Liquors, 6000 Greenbelt Rd, Greenbelt, MD

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“I’ve never walked home so fast in my life”

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It was one of those things that feels like nothing when you tell it, but when it’s happening, is so very threatening.

I was walking down a main street, and even at night, you think you’d be safe, but when a man stops what he’s doing (he’s obviously going somewhere, not just hanging around) looks you up and down several times like you’re a piece of meat and deliberately stalks towards you (it sounds fanciful, but stalk is the only work I can think of that describes what he did) and passes by as close to you as he possibly can, you have no idea what he’s going to do.

For several seconds I honestly thought he was about to grab me. Instead he gave a satisfied chuckle as he sauntered off… I’ve never walked home so fast in my life.

– Anonymous

Location: Lewes Road, Brighton, UK

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Check out the new book 50 Stories about Stopping Street Harassers!

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NYC Mayor-Elect Promises to Address Street Harassment

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Mayor-Elect Bill de Blasio with his family. Image via International Business Times

The Mayor-elect of New York City, Bill de Blasio, released a document with his vision for New York City and on page 63, he addresses street harassment!!

“End Street Harassment and ‘Subway Grinding.’

As mayor, Bill de Blasio will continue to aggressively push to make ‘subway grinding’ a felony punishable by jail time. Bill de Blasio will also further his efforts to prevent sexual assault by launching a wide-scale Public Services Announcement campaign that expands awareness and empowers bystanders to confront harassment when they see it, be it on the streets or in the subways.”

This is a refreshing and very positive change from how Mayor Michael Bloomberg viewed street harassment (“I know for a fact that any self-respecting woman who walks past a construction site and doesn’t get a whistle will turn around and walk past again and again until she does get one.”).

With the New York City Council and Manhattan Borough President’s Office already strong allies on this issue — for example, representatives from each spoke at New York City’s street harassment rally in April for SSH’s International Anti-Street Harassment Week effort — the possibility for comprehensive change in New York City is huge!

Thanks for being an ally and advocate, Bill de Blasio!

H/T to Hollaback!

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Help Out on #GivingTuesday

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Queer women of color shared their street harassment stories in New York, July 2013

It’s #GivingTuesday! If you’ve ever been street harassed or if one of your loved ones has been, please consider donating $10 or more to help fund the first-ever national study on street harassment. We need this data to better address the issue. We’re only about $21,000 away from our goal!!!

The study will include a 2,000 person national survey (which is why it costs so much) as well as 10 focus groups with under-represented voices. Already, we’ve done these focus groups with Native Americans in South Dakota, queer women of color in New York, and GBTQ men in Washington, D.C., as well as some regional focus groups in places like Los Angeles and Brooklyn.

There are various perks you’ll get in return for your donation, including a signed copy of the new book 50 Stories about Stopping Street Harassers!

With your donation, you can make a difference in people’s lives, especially the next generation of girls and boys. Everyone deserves to be safe in public spaces but it will take all of us to make that happen.

 

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