Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

It’s easy to street harass if you think women are worthless

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I was sitting on the patio at a local coffee shop, enjoying a chai, reading the paper, and waiting for my massage appointment. I was alone on the patio until two men and one woman came out and sat at the next table. I didn’t think much until they started getting into a conversation about women in general. They talked about how all women were worthless (remember, there was a woman sitting with them and she was laughing along with them) and were generally just being disrespectful.

At about that time, a woman crossed the street in front of us and one of the men wolf-whistled at her. She ignored it and kept on walking. A minute later a woman riding a motorcycle went by and that elicited another round of rude comments.

I was very uncomfortable. There was one part of me that really wanted to confront these guys and castigate them for their behavior and then there was the other part of me that didn’t feel safe doing so.

I opted to leave, feeling bad.

– Kelly

Location: Main St., Downtown Ventura, California

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“[Street harassment] is like a bubble I constantly try to escape from”

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A takeout guy on a bicycle kept looking at me inappropriately, then tried to get my attention me as I passed him. “Hola,” he said. I walked faster.

“HOLA!” he cried harder, as if I would stop because he said it louder. I almost ran across the street in my rush to escape him.

At the train station right after, I was followed by a creepy middle-aged man who kept trying to whisper in my ear. I tried to walk away to different parts of the train station, to get away from him and blend in more with the crowd. He followed me wherever I went.

I finally yelled, “Leave me alone!” He tried to act all innocently and say, “Who me?” with a smug smirk on his face. I stared back at him and said, “Yes, you.” He finally stopped following me, since he had been humiliated in front a crowd of people.

Some days, the harassment in my neighborhood is so invasive and frequent it’s like a bubble I constantly try to escape from. I have had a middle-aged man follow me to the library. One time, a guy was handing out pamphlets and asked whether or not I spoke English just because I chose to ignore his pestering me by saying “you’re beautiful, what are you 18?”

Another time, a guy rudely asserted that I shouldn’t wear headphones on the train, as he sat down right next to me in an empty train car, because I should listen to him say good morning. Um, no thank you.

Screw street harassment. Screw the foolish, rude, disgusting, ugly on the inside at the very least, street harassers. I hope one day they learn to respect women and not treat them as if they’re entitled to their attention. When you harass, even if you gaze intensely, you become an ugly pathetic version of yourself. I hope they realize that one day.

– SpeakOut

Location: New York, NY
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Dancing toward change in Israel

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Image via Jerusalem Post

Remember the ultra-Orthodox Jewish men who called an 8-year-old a whore as she walked to school in Israel? That terrible incident illustrates how many men treat girls and women across the country.

In response, on Friday, January 6, a group of 250 women from  Bet Shemesh held a Flashmob in the city square.

“[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


Via the Jerusalem Post:

“Dance organizer Miri Shalem said that the event was organized in protest of the violent extremist actions of “the group of crazies,” and to show that there is another side to Beit Shemesh. “Today the women and girls demonstrated our unity in public and I hope we will continue to do this in the future in order to improve our city,” she said.”

“We wanted to express our feelings in a unique way and highlight a different face of Beit Shemesh,” said Brenda Ganot, a flashmob organizer and Beit Shemesh resident.

“We love our city and want peaceful coexistence between the different sectors of the population; however, we will not sit quietly and let a group of crazy extremists set the tone for our city.”

Way to go!

(H/T to Hollaback for the link to the video)

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Meet Us On the Street: March 18-24, 2012

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By age 12, nearly 1 in 4 girls experience unwanted sexual comments, leers, touches, and stalking in public places by strangers. Nearly 90% of women have that experience by age 19.

Street harassment teaches girls that public places are male territory and they are prey to male predators of all ages. The harassment restricts their access to public places and impedes gender equality. Street harassment also disproportionately and negatively impacts LGBQT individuals.

Is this what we want for the next generation?

It’s not what I nor my team of volunteers want for them. Nor do the 50 (and growing) organizations and groups that are co-sponsoring International Anti-Street Harassment Week.

If you want to help us create a better future, meet us on the street, add your voice to ours, speak out, and participate in the week of collective action against street harassment, March 18-24, 2012.

How Can I Get Involved?

No matter where you are or your age, you can participate.

1. Decide what you want to do that week (6 ideas)

2. Sign-up and also PLEASE register any offline action you organize, if applicable (so others can find the info)

3. Join the Facebook page to receive updates

4. Invite your friends, family, neighbors, classmates, and coworkers to participate, too

It really is easy to participate…you can agree to talk about street harassment that week, and/or change your Facebook profile photo to the image on the right, and/or tweet about street harassment with #NoSHWeek.

If you can dedicate more time and energy, there are several ideas and guides for participation on the website. Read through them to find examples and suggestions, including writing an article, creating an art project, organizing an event, organizing a mapping project, or posting fliers or sidewalk chalk messages around your community.

But really, any idea you have is one you are welcome to pursue! Just please be sure to sign-up to help us track all the activism.

Become a Participating Co-Sponsoring Organization:

Contact MeetUsOnTheStreet AT gmail DOT com if your group or organization plans to participate and would like to be listed as a co-sponsoring organization.

Special Resources:

1. LOGOS: There are logos in 12 languages you can post on your site or use in your promotional materials

2. FLIERS: There are 2 down-loadable fliers you can use to pass out or post in your community (versions in more languages coming soon)

3. FILM + DISCUSSION GUIDE: Do you work with high school or college-age youth? Request a free DVD copy of the award-winning four-minute film “Walking Home” as well as a Discussion Guide, created by the filmmaker Nuala Cabral. Use both to generate a conversation about the issue. Ask attendees to create their own 1 minute video about their vision of a safe community and upload it to our YouTube Channel. Send requests to Lauren Domino, lauren AT artsengine DOT net

4. OP-ED WRITING RESOURCES: Do you want to write an article or op-ed on street harassment? Participate in a free conference call about op-ed writing on Wednesday, January 25, 8:15 p.m. EST with journalist Elizabeth Mendez Berry (whose 2010 op-ed partially led to the first-ever city council hearing on street harassment in New York City) and me, founder of Stop Street Harassment and author of several op-eds on street harassment. RSVP to MeetUsOnTheStreet AT Gmail DOT com by Jan. 24 to receive the phone number.

Also, co-sponsoring organization The Op-Ed Project will give a 10% discount to Anti-Street Harassment Week participants, to attend their day-long Core Seminar (see the calendar) and for every 5 Anti-Street Harassment Week participants who register before March 18, one person can receive a scholarship to attend a day-long Core Seminar (see the calendar).

5. PRESS RELEASE: In February, look for sample press releases you can use.

Questions?

Contact us.

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Video: Street harassment in Yemen

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One of the most common “arguments” I hear when it comes to street harassment is that it wouldn’t happen if women didn’t dress “a certain way.” When I give talks, I specifically point out studies that refute this, such as how in Yemen more than 90 percent of women experience street harassment, yet women are very modestly dressed, if not completely covered, when they are in public places.

Last year Ghaidaa Al Absi launched The Safe Streets campaign to address the problem of street harassment in Yemen and they just released a video about the issue.

It’s in Arabic and even if you don’t know the language, the opening powerfully shows how street harassment is not about what women wear. The video also brings up the complicated contexts for street harassment: sometimes a street harasser is a harassment victim too, but he is harassed for different reasons. Can pointing out the parallels of harassment to harassers help stop the cycle?

Al Absi sent me the following via email about the campaign and video:

“Safe Streets Campaign for anti-sexual harassment in the streets launches the opening ceremony of broadcasting a short movie called “Safe Streets” that is done as an activity for the campaign aims to reduce the rate of sexual harassment in the Yemeni streets.

The campaign aims to monitor cases of harassment and encourage community and women in particular to break the silence, and talk about what is happening to them on the streets in order to put pressure on decision makers to declare solutions of this serious social problem.

This short movie aims to present the problem of sexual harassment, that many Yemeni women are facing it in their daily life in the streets, and how the harasser of the woman can be a victim of harassment in the street too, so then he can understand how women feel.”

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