Genius idea from the I am Not an Object Tumblr:
Street Harassment is Not a Compliment
Protests Held for Murdered Woman & Her Alleged Murderer is Arrested
Last week, a street harasser in Egypt murdered a 16-year-old woman after she stood up to him. Outraged, students at the nearby Assiut University held a protest in her memory.
Via the Daily News Egypt:
“Mustafa is not the victim of her harasser and murderer, but the victim of an entire society which blacklists any girl who stands up and defends herself against harassment as shameless” [medical student Mo’men Assem] Hassan said, explaining the protest was also to send a message to college girls that they should defend themselves the way Mustafa did.
“This is more than just a harassment case, or even a murder case” Hassan said “it’s about a village girl, neither a political activist nor informed of human rights, yet determined to resist the harasser.”
According to Hassan, there are now calls for a march to be held on 14 October, demanding an anti-harassment law.”
A few days ago, police arrested the alleged killer. He denied harassing her and claimed she spat at him for no reason and that he fired a “shot at the wall,” not at her. Yeah right. How come she’s dead?!
Daily News Egypt reports:
“Assiut security director, Major General Mohamed Ibrahim, said an automatic rifle and ammunition were found with Nassar upon his arrest near a mountainous area, according to independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm. The investigation also revealed Nassar had previously been accused of murder, attempted murder, and resisting authorities.”
How is he still free to walk around murdering more people?! Our legal systems outrage me.
A lot of people agree. On Sunday, there was a protest outside the Presidential Palace, decrying the woman’s murder and calling for stricter harassment laws. It was co-organized by Basma and Nefsi.
The Egyptian Independent reports:
“About two dozen protesters lined the sidewalk along the main boulevard at rush hour, holding signs bearing messages such as ‘I don’t want to be afraid when I walk in the streets,’ and ‘Morsy, Morsy, where are you?’ in reference to President Mohamed Morsy. Basma has also organized patrols in metro stations to identify sexual harassers and report them to police.”
I am continually inspired by Egyptian activists who simply won’t give up and protest, patrol, and creatively address street harassment every week. I am confident that one day, they will succeed.
Digest of street harassment stories, news, announcements & tweets: September 22, 2012
Read stories, news articles, blog posts, and tweets about street harassment from the past few weeks.
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Street Harassment Stories:
Share your story! You can read street harassment stories on the Web at:
Ramallah Street Watch in Palestine
Street Harassment in South Africa
Many of the Hollaback sites
Street Harassment In the News, on the Blogs:
* Ebony, “STREET HARASSMENT: Every Woman’s War“
* All Africa, “Egypt: Movement Urges Interior Ministry to Put an End to Sexual Harassment“
* The Jerusalem Post, “Egyptian women battle harassment on the streets“
* The New Zealand Herald, “Catcalling – it’s not a compliment“
* World Pluse, “Street Harassment: How it looks like in Afghanistan“
* Huffington Post, “Sexual Harassment: IPhone App ‘Not Your Baby’ Suggests Responses“
* Jezebel, “Band of Homeless Men Stop a Creep from Sexually Assaulting a 15-Year-Old Girl“
* Shiny Shiny TV, “Not Your Baby street harassment app tells you how to respond to scumbags“
* Yale Daily News, “THURSTON: How studying abroad made me a feminist“
* Al-Akhbar, “The Widespread Plague of Sexual Harassment in Egypt“
* Relando Thompkins, “Aspiring Humanitarian Joins Efforts to End Street Harassment“
* Video: “Sexual abuse in Egypt is rampant, victims say – An Al-Monitor exclusive“
* Collective Action for Safe Spaces, “On hitting on that cute girl at the coffee shop“
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Announcements:
New:
* Stop Street Harassment welcomes and announces its new board of directors!
* New hotline to report sexual harassment cases – News – Aswat Masriya #Egypt #EndSH
Reminders:
* Harlow Project Seeking Participants For Street Harassment Web Video Series
* METRAC released a free “Not Your Baby App” to provide responses you can use when experiencing harassment
* Sign a petition about ending street harassment in Egypt.
* Stop Street Harassment recently incorporated as a nonprofit organization. Please donate so we can conduct a national street harassment study and gather much needed data documenting the problem.
* Contact Bowlmor and the New York City Transit to complain about this offensive subway ad.
* Activists in South Africa launched a website about street harassment
* The anti-sexual harassment public service announcement signs are now up in several Washington, DC metro stations!
* The Stop Street Harassment book is available in paperback for $15.
* Submit art about street harassment for the VoiceTool Product exhibit in San Francisco, CA
* The Adventures of Salwa campaign has a hotline for sexual harassment cases in Lebanon: 76-676862.
* In Bangalore, India, there is a helpline for street harassment 080 – 22943225 / 22864023
* Report #streetharassment in Pakistan at @NameAndShamePk, email nameandshame@ryse.pk, SMS 0314-800-35-68 or online at http://www.nameandshame.pk
10 Tweets from the Week:
1. @_MissBre Street harassment scares me. I don’t even defend myself because I have no idea where his head is.
2. @tinydancer06 It’s like the men of Chicago have never seen legs or cleavage before. #doubletakes #catcalls #wtf
3. @psichedelico insert tweet about how much i hate rape culture and street harassment.
4. @timmesa It is getting increasingly irritating to walk by a building with construction workers every day to get to work. #catcalls #Iamalmost40
5. @katyadodds I swear I get whistled an honked at more in Hawaii than I ever have in my life #catcalls #creepers
6. @maps4aid CCTVs to be installed, Helplines numbers to be posted to check Street Harassment in Barasat, West Bengal. http://bit.ly/P2MqVW #Win
7. @ashaberry You know what’s never cool? Street harassment. #funwithcreepers #waitfunisnottherightword
8. @FatFemPinUp Street harassment can be truly traumatic for women & the WORST thing you can do as a friend/lover/significant other is deny them validation
9. @joannajpost #Egypt anti street harassment initiative is awesome – let’s create something similar for #Israel http://harassmap.org
10. @MeLaMachinko The age old ‘wear your headphones even if u aren’t listening to music to ignore street harassment” trick… tried & true!
“Don’t dress like such a dirty little SLAG”
I was recently waiting at a bus stop on my way back from the doctors. I was wearing black leggings, a shirt and a big cardigan as it was a little chilly. My bus was very late so I was daydreaming and had my head turned round looking at something else.
I was startled by someone beeping crazily at me. It was a young lad on his own in a black BMW. He was yelling at me while cruising past really slowly. The beeping made me jump and he was telling me how sexy I was so I stuck my middle finger up at him. In response to this he slammed his breaks on, climbed half way out his window and shouted at me, “Don’t dress like such a dirty little SLAG if you don’t want the attention then you stupid bitch,” and he drove off yelling.
This was in the middle of no where and the fact he stopped to shout at me was obviously very unsettling.
I frequently get yelled at and stick my fingers up, only to guys getting angry I don’t want to jump in their van and have it off there and then! I am sick of being treated this way, it’s as if I am made to feel I deserve this 24/7 harassment just because I am blonde or whatever.
– Emily Denton
Location: Norwich, Norfolk, England
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