Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Morning talk

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I was going to work this morning with my iPod on, as usual. Because I am working in an office and that we have a dressing code, I always try to look nice. While I’m waiting at a subway station, a strange man came up to me and started taking to me, but I didn’t understand him because of my iPod. I caught cute, and baby, and I decided to move away because I didn’t feel like dealing with him or having to be in the same train then him the whole ride. When I turned away, he started yelling at me, calling me a bitch. I walked further. There were a lot of people waiting for the subway, and they all looked up. He didn’t follow me, and I wish I will never see him again.

– anonymous

Share your street harassment story today and help raise awareness about the problem. Include your location and it will be added to the Street Harassment Map.

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Salwa says, “fight sexual harassment”

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Salwa

The Lebanese League of Independent Activists (IndyACT) launched a new Anti-Harassment Campaign on March 30. Salwa is their animated heroine and star of a new social media campaign and her motto is “Fight Sexual Harassment.”

“’Our campaign ‘Adventures of Salwa’ comes at a time when young women cannot find any legal or social deterrent for sexual harassment in all its forms in any public place,’ said Leen Hashem, the campaign’s coordinator in IndyACT. ‘It is no longer acceptable for our streets to become a place where we are unable to walk, and being silent about such practices shows our weakness, so Salwa will speak.’”

I love it!

In addition to this new form of activism, anti-harassment activists started women-only taxi services in Beirut last year and now a Lebanese feminist group The Feminist Collective announced plans to launch a ride-sharing service, giving free rides to women waiting for taxis in the street, in an attempt to “combat harassment in taxis.” (RightRides in NYC offers a similar service, late at night on weekends.)

I love reading about the activism going on around the world to make public places safe for women!

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Money trays to prevent harassment

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Wow, in Dubai all taxis will soon have money stalls for the exchange of money. Why you ask? Because there are taxi drivers who sexually harass women passengers by touching their hands inappropriately when the women pay for the ride! This way there will be no reason for hand touching.

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SOS Link – Awesome Smart Phone App

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A blog reader sent me info about SOS Link, in her words, “an awesome smart phone app to give us just a little more power over those who see our bodies as public property.”

What SOS Link does is allow you to immediately signal for help (to people you designate) if you’re in danger in public places and it allows you to report a crime (like street harassment). From their website:

“If you encounter an emergency or find yourself in a situation where you feel threatened, you can use your iPhone to send an immediate alert. Simply press the SOS LINK™ icon on your iPhone and point it towards the event or threat. Your iPhone will instantly begin to take photos, one per second, for 30 seconds. You have the choice to run the app with or without the SOS Alert and Siren playing.

The photos you take are sent wirelessly to our servers and are immediately relayed through a secure server to those who you have designated as ‘helpers.’ They get the photos, plus the time, date and your GPS location on a bing™ Map. Your helpers will typically start receiving your alerts within 15 seconds of you capturing the event.

You can also use SOS LINK™ to take photos of other events, such as a break-in or theft, that can be authenticated (time and date stamp; GPS location; secure storage) and used as evidence.

SOS LINK™ operates on iPhone™ and Blackberry™ Models and soon on other smartphone models.”

Awesome! If I had a smart phone (one of these days…) I’d definitely get this app. It’d make me feel safer going places alone, knowing I had a way to get help. And plus, it can be really useful when you see street harassment occurring or you are the victim of street harassment because then you can get evidence to use to show the crime.

In the coming months you can look out for another smart phone app being produced by HollaBack which will let you report street harassment via a GPS mapping system. The reports then will be included in a “State of our Streets” report for city officials to review so they can take necessary steps to end street harassment.

It’s  nice when we can use technology to our advantage so we can be safer and work to end street harassment!

(& thanks to the anonymous blog reader for the SOS Link tip)

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