Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Afghanistan Videos: This is My City Too

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The Afghanistan-based organization Young Women for Change celebrates its one year anniversary this week! The young women who lead the organization continue to make street harassment one of their central issues of concern (read an article by co-founder Noorjahan Akbar about her harassment experiences). Below are two new videos they produced about street harassment, with English subtitles.

They’ve conducted a 4,000 person study about street harassment in Kabul and it will be released this summer at a press conference event. This is the largest study on the topic that’s ever been conducted. If you can, please donate a few dollars to them as the funds will enable them to print women’s stories and the survey results and then hand those out to attendees and people in the streets. Most Afghans do not have computers/Internet access so print materials is the best way for Young Women for Change to spread their message.

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She-Hulk mode — “I’ve had enough of being harassed on the street”

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Photo by Mark Garfinkel, via the Boston Herald

In Boston, a young woman would not let a public masturbator intimidate her during her trolley ride home from work. Instead she called him out and got him arrested.

Via the Boston Herald:

“This guy was just being a real creeper,” she said. As she shuffled along the train, he followed her. She zoned out, listening to music, only to look up and see him standing over her.

“I looked up and felt awkward, so I looked down,” she said. She said the man was exposing and touching himself, but tried to cover himself with his shirt.

The woman — not someone to meekly let an alleged creep get away with it — shouted out what he was doing, but no one stepped in to help. She said one male passenger even shrugged. So, she said, she went into “She-Hulk” mode, lunging as the man tried to bolt at Packard’s Corner in Brighton.

She said she held the man with one hand and “berated” him while she waited for the cops to arrive. She said he looked frightened.

“He kept saying sorry, but he was just sorry for himself,” she said.

The man told transit cops that the “packed and jostling” trolley caused his shorts to fall, according to a police report. He told police that he was unaware he was exposed until the woman started screaming.

T cops charged Michael Galvin, 37, of Somerville with open and gross lewdness. He was released on his own recognizance and ordered to stay off the T.

The woman said she acted because, “I’ve had enough of being harassed on the street. I’m tired of it and I want it to end. It was the last straw.”

She also had some choice words for the people who stood by and did nothing on the train: “That’s appalling. That makes me so angry. I want everyone to know that they have to say something.”

Her courage and determination are commendable. Hopefully that man will think twice before masturbating on a trolley. Her story reminds me of the amazing Nicola Briggs in New York City who did something similar when a man exposed himself to her on the subway.
When we feel safe and have the time, engaging in public shaming can be a very effective way to stop a harasser.

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“I was shaking inside, but so glad that I’d made a stand”

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I was sitting in a central line Tube train, on the way to work in the morning. It was fairly busy (usual rush hour crowds), and two men got into the carriage a stop after me.

I was sitting in one of the window seats and they came and stood by me. They weren’t speaking in English but every now and then would say the word ‘sex’ loudly and then look at me, laugh, and then carry on talking. It was plainly obvious that they were talking about me, and this coupled with their staring made me more uncomfortable than I have been in a long while (I’m afraid I’ve gotten used to the odd lingering stare on the trains).

I waited for a bit to see if they would stop. They didn’t. I then made eye contact with the man nearest, and it was fairly stern eye contact as I wasn’t very happy! This seemed to make him laugh and they carried on.

I thought about getting off the train and then decided that there was no way they were going to make me leave. I turned to the one nearest to me and asked in a strong tone what his problem was. He replied ‘nothing’ to which I said ‘good, then you can stop staring at me’. I asked the other one the same question and he too made an excuse and said he’d been staring into the carriage behind me. I asked them to stop.

They stood there for about another minute or so and then slowly shuffled away into another part of the train.

I was shaking inside, but so glad that I’d made a stand. There were a couple of men on either side who would probably have heard me but they didn’t intervene or even ask if I was okay. Oh well, I stood up for myself and of that I’m proud! Maybe they’ll think again before they start harassing someone else. I hope.

– SM

Location: Central Line tube between Gants Hill and Leytonstone, London, UK

Share your street harassment story today and help raise awareness about the problem.
Find suggestions for what YOU can do about this human rights issue.

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Snapshot of street harassment stories, news, announcements & tweets: April 22, 2012

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via Post Noon

Read stories, news articles, blog posts, and tweets about street harassment from the past few weeks.

** Sign up to receive a monthly e-newsletter from Stop Street Harassment ***

Street Harassment Stories:

Share your story! You can read street harassment stories on the Web at:

Stop Street Harassment Blog

HarassMap in Egypt

Resist Harassment in Lebanon

Ramallah Street Watch in Palestine

Name and Shame in Pakistan

Safe Streets in Yemen

Many of the Hollaback sites

In the News, on the Blogs:

* The Times of India, “Child rights panel takes up cases of sex abuse of street children“

* Tunisia Live, “Talk is Cheap: Addressing Sexual Harassment in Tunisia“

* Mama Mia, “Is wolf whistling sexual harassment?“

* Deccan Herald, “Woman power hits back with ‘girlcott’“

* Sunday’s Zaman, “Is harassment cultural?“

* Jeddah Mind Trick, “Walking While Covered“

* RH Reality Check, “Dispatches from AWID 2012: Arab Spring Becomes a Chill for Women, But The Organizing Continues“

* The Washington Examiner, “D.C. bill targets gropers and flashers on Metro“

* Nieuwsblad Brussels, “Met stoepkrijt ten strijde tegen seksueel geweld“

* BBC 4 Radio, “My Name is Not ‘Hey Baby’“

* Chicago Tribune, “Neighbor thwarts assault on woman“

* The Times of India, “Hounded by eve-teasers, girl ends life“

* Rookie, “All Locked Up“

* Bell Bajao, “Do we dare to wear what we want?“

* Washington Post, “Man sexually assaulted near National Gallery of Art“

* Times of India, “Male passengers forcibly occupy women coaches in mainline electrical multiple unit trains“

* Bougie Black Girl, “My and probably your experience with Street Harassment.“

* Reston Patch, “It’s Trail Season – Be Careful Out There” | My response blog post.

Activism Announcements:

New:

* Siobhan Benita is an Independent candidate for Mayor of London and she put street harassment on her campaign agenda

* In Washington, DC, Ward 4 City Council Member Muriel Bowser introduced legislation that will make it easier to prosecute people who expose themselves in public (e.g. public masturbators and flashers)

* @fluffmuffin10 I’m looking for interviewees for street harassment research. Email me for further info! emma.lovell10@googlemail.com

* Submit art about street harassment for the VoiceTool Product exhibit in San Francisco, CA

* Report #streetharassment in Pakistan at @NameAndShamePk, email nameandshame@ryse.pk, SMS 0314-800-35-68 or online at http://www.nameandshame.pk

Reminders:

* If you’re in the New York City area, take this survey about harassment on public transportation.

* Gay and bisexual men, take this survey about street harassment (you can be in any location).

* 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

20 Tweets from the Week:

1. @bianchisoul Walking down street, 2 guys lean out of car and subject me to unprovoked, vile and sustained barrage of verbal sexual harassment #feminist

2. @garnethenderson Had a man try to touch my leg on the subway and got catcalled on my walk home all in one night. #streetharassment

3. @pilotbacon Some guy just yelled “get in my car” at me & I got insulted that he didn’t compliment me first. C’mon bro, that’s a command, not a catcall.

4.  @ThisIsBlueKid What if everytime I get a catcall or an ‘aye mami’ I licked that person’s face? Best/worst social experiment ever?

5. @Make_it_nASHty “The street harassment needs to stop” #whoisthisdude

6. @LDRphotography The amount of street harassment we women have to put up with in this town is outrageous. Worse place I’ve ever lived

7. @DracoDoza #Street #harassment makes me want to punch people in the face. Repeatedly. Because I endure it, repeatedly.

8. @RidiculousMegan First street harassment incident of my move to #Toronto so not cool.

9. @EFLI_LiFe Safe street campaign: “Let’s change social acceptability of sexual harassment!” why is it ok? Babies say: don’t harass my mom! #awidforum

10.  @sarahofaoh Street harassment is a daily thing for me whenever I’m in cities. Ugh. So happy I have headphones.

11. @chaneldubofsky what if everyone who saw the #street #harassment called the person out on doing it? instead of ignoring it? #accountability

12. @sparksf Egypt: take blame away from women- her dress, the time of day she is on street- there is now a sticker for anti-harassment biz #awidforum

13. @enf_2 walking home alone at 11:20 pm, some guy yells out his truck window, “you’re —-ing smoking hot.” #leavemealone #streetharassment

14.  @blasianallie #YouKnowWhatAnnoysMe? #streetharassment.

15.  @lucyswope Over-the-shoulder finger to “damn, boo, look at the hips on that.” #streetharassment

16. @thleenzo Told @gallo_extreme that #streetharassment is the #1 reason I don’t wear revealing clothing. Now he wants to know how he can help stop it.

17. @vanillawindz Just being a women walking on the street regardless of whether in Sari or shorts invites sick comments from cheapsters #streetharassment

18. @Melissa_Higgs On TFL Northern line: man deliberately walking into women walking on the left towards him to get a grope, then grinning #streetharassment

19. @iHollaback “No means no means no. In the bar, a bedroom, and the STREET.” Biden on VAWA. Think he knows about hollaback?

20. @thekateblack Police are looking for this L train masturbator for targeting me and a gradeschool aged girl. http://pic.twitter.com/G5X6MekW

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