Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

16 Days: Day 4, Israel

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During the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence (Nov. 25 – Dec. 10), Stop Street Harassment is featuring activists who took action against street harassment this year, one new country per day.

Image via the Jerusalem Post

Day #4: Israel

At the end of 2011, it surfaced that ultra-Orthodox Jewish men were continually calling an 8-year-old a whore as she walked to school in Israel.

To protest and challenge this outrageous behavior, in January, a group of 250 women from Bet Shemesh held a Flashmob in the city square. This was revolutionary because women are not supposed to dance in public.

“[They] decided to raise their voices against the exclusion of women from the public domain by holding a mass public dance in the city square. The women, residents of the city from all ages and sectors, religious, traditional and secular, gathered together in a flashmob dance, in the city square and started dancing towards a change.” – via YouTube

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Now Available: HoodRules thebook

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HoodRules BookAre you looking for a practical book about how to deal with crimes on the street, including street harassment? Then consider purchasing Aqueelah Grant’s new book HoodRules.

From Amazon.com:

“HoodRules thebook, emphasizes that every place is a neighborhood or a “Hood” and crime can happen anywhere so preparation is key. Sometimes shocking and often funny, HoodRules thebook is a quick read, that is designed not to scare you, but to empower you! Crime will always be a problem, but you can decrease your chances of becoming a victim with sufficient awareness. Ms. Grant was not cowed by her experiences-she examined her habits, took self defense classes and came out fighting. She shares her journey with the hopes of helping others to avoid victimization and perhaps create their own set of “Hood Rules”

When I asked Ms. Grant what inspired her to write the book, she said:

“I constantly read articles about crime that hit home:  An assault, a gun point robbery, a car- jacking, a murder, a missing person, a snatched phone. I then read the comments on the articles and they often read: “Oh that’s terrible”, “The world isn’t safe anymore”. When reading these comments as someone who has been victimized, I realize that comments like these aren’t enough and they certainly don’t mean much after the fact.

So two years ago I started writing HoodRules thebook. I wanted to speak to people like a parent, a best friend, and older sister by combining laughter and seriousness. I wanted to give people options on different Street Safety techniques that most people never think of or may have simply forgotten. Also letting people know it is their job to design a personal safety plan because there will be times when the cavalry might not ever come. I’ve had those times where I hoped for a cavalry that never showed up and realized that was because I was meant to be my own Calvary. In the same breathe I also wanted to let the people who have been victims of crime know they are not alone and that some of our most scariest and embarrassing moments are our greatest life lessons.

One quote I created to help myself cope was “If we all had the same story to SHARE there would be no story to TELL”. Which means no one’s journey will be the same because some will be pretty rough. However, when you can tell a story to lift someone else up that’s the moment you realize your journey was worth it.”

Her book is available in print and for digital devices.

Learn more about the topic and the book here: Book Website | Tech Blog | Facebook | Twitter

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16 Days: Day 3, Myanmar

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During the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence (Nov. 25 – Dec. 10), Stop Street Harassment is featuring activists who took action against street harassment this year, one new country per day.

Image via the Myanmar Times

Day 3: Myanmar

In February, a new anti-harassment campaign launched in Myanmar called “whistle for help.” As part of the campaign 150 volunteers distributed whistles and pamphlets to women at eight busy bus stops in Yangon each Tuesday morning that month and they’ve continued to do so for nine months. The pamphlets tell women to blow the whistle when they experience sexual harassment on the bus and advises them to help other women when they blow the whistle.

The whistle campaign is so popular, riders regularly ask for extra whistles to pass out to their friends and family and some have requested the organizers expand their campaign to other regions.

The bus drivers have been supportive too: “U Tun Aung, a driver one the No 51 line, said sexual harassment had been tolerated on buses for too long and he praised the “whistle for help” organisers for devising an effective, non-violent campaign to stop it.”

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HappyRat’s HarassMap

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Editor’s Note: HappRat recently started posting her street harassment experiences on a map to show all of the places and times she’s harassed. This is why she decided to do so —


View HappyRat HarassMap 2012 in a larger map

I decided to make the HappyRat HarassMap because, quite plainly, people are visual animals. For some reason just reading the the constant flood of individual stories about street harassment still leaves people the ability to dismiss each one as just another isolated, extreme incident. that isn’t in their world. Many people are just desensitized to the stories, or think it happens elsewhere (as in, “This is modern America, it can’t happen here,”), or believe isn’t a real problem (read: “You’re just being too sensitive,”), or suspect it’s really the fault of the person who gets harassed (aka, “What were you wearing?”).

There are a lot of directions we can take to address the issue of street harassment, but I wanted to show the geographical patterns in the areas where I personally have the most problems so people can see that it is indeed a real problem. In one sense the dismissers are right –  while this does happen in all parts of America (and the world) the frequency does have to do with the area you’re in, and that can tie into a lot of cultural factors that can and should be addressed to make the streets there safer for every person.

If the neighborhoods that have the most problems can see a visual map of what is happening in their community, on their streets and on their block where their little girls are growing up, maybe they can work together to do something about it. Maybe businesses there will realize that there is a reason women aren’t shopping at their stores and be motivated to get involved. Who knows what the knowledge could do for the community. I’d like to find out.

I also want to point out these are only the experiences of one person. Just me. I am one of thousands of women who live in my area. If this map seems like a lot of incidents, multiply it by a thousand and you’ll have a closer idea of what’s going on every day.

I feel like I really should have said that the reason I chose to make this map is because I’m sick and tired of letting harassers off the hook to enjoy their day, and I like collecting data, and I like maps, and I really want every harassment to leave a stain on the place it happened instead of being invisible, and that’s why I try to mark the spot with chalk whenever possible. But that doesn’t really sounds as thoughtful. So I’ll just stick with, “Because people are visual animals.”

-HappyRat

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Share Your Story: “Uprising of Women in the Arab World “

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حملة “احكي قصتكِ”

صفحة انتفاضة المرأة في العالم العربي تطلق في 25 نوفمبر، وهو اليوم العالمي لمناهضة العنف ضد المرأة”، حملة “احكي قصتكِ” والتي تمتد على مدى أسبوعين (من 25 نوفمبر وحتى 10 ديسمبر).
لأن على قصصنا المخبّأة تحت وسائدنا أن تخرج مدويّة إلى العلن
لأن علينا أن نخرج من دائرة الخوف والعزلة إلى دائرة الضوء والفعل
لأن الفضيحة هي في فعل المعتدي لا المُعتَدَى عليها
لأن صمتنا جريمة بحق أنفسنا وحماية للمعتدي
لأن كل واحدة منّا تحمل قصة سريّة عن: عنف جسدي أو نفسي أو جنسي تعرّضت له لكونها امرأة، أو حرمان تعسّفي من حريتها، أو تحرّش جنسي، أو حادثة اغتصاب (الاغتصاب الزوجي ضمنًا)، أو عملية ختان رهيبة، أو جريمة تحت مسمى “الشرف”، أو إجبار على الزواج المبكر…

اكتبن قصصكن مع اختتامها بجملة “لذلك أنا مع انتفاضة المرأة في العالم العربي” ثم أرسلنها لنا عن طريق الرسائل على الصفحة أو على الإيميل مع ذكر الاسم الأول والدولة

فلنحكي ونحكي ونحكي كي نملأ العالم ضجيجًا
علينا أن نحكي وعلى العالم أن يسمعنا كي نتحرر
هيا أيتها النساء، أرسلن قصصكن من الآن
قصصكن قد تكون نصًا أو صورة أو لوحة أو رسم أو فيديو مصور
نحن بالانتظار

للتواصل مع فريق عمل صفحة “انتفاضة المرأة في العالم العربي”
الفايسبوك: http://www.facebook.com/intifadat.almar2a
تويتر: @UprisingOfWomen
البريد الإلكتروني:

arabwomenuprise@gmail.com

“Tell Your Story” campaign

On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on November 25, “The Uprising of Women in the Arab World” movement is launching “Tell Your Story” campaign, a new call for women in the Arab world. This campaign will last for 2 weeks: from November 25 until December 10, 2012.

Because the stories hidden under our pillows need to come out in the open
Because the only finger of blame should be pointed at the aggressor, not the victim
Because the scandal is in the criminal act, not the victim’s reputation
Because our silence is a self-inflicted punishment and an impunity to our aggressor
Because we have to step out of the circle of fear and isolation into the circle of confidence and confrontation
Because almost each one of us has endured a form of physical, psychological or sexual violence, just for being a woman: an arbitrary deprivation of liberty, or a sexual harassment (at home, at school, at work, in the streets…), rape (including marital rape), female genital mutilation, forced marriage (including marriage of minors), crimes in the name of “honor”…
Write your story, ending it with the words/sentence: “This is why I am with the uprising of women in the Arab world”.
Send it to us via message to our FB Page or via email and we will publish it, mentioning only your first name and your country.
You can choose the format that fits best your expression: text, photography, drawing, painting, video…
Let us speak out to liberate ourselves, and make the world listen.

Contact – Uprising of Women in the Arab World :
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/intifadat.almar2a
Email: arabwomenuprise@gmail.com

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