Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

“No groping” on buses in Colombia

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Via Love Matters in the Netherlands:

“We don’t need that kind of support,” runs the slogan on a poster showing a man thrusting himself up against a woman.

“We don’t want that hand,” reads another ‘no groping’ poster. They’re part of a campaign against sexual harassment on the buses of Colombia’s capital Bogota, set up by a group of women who’ve had enough of wandering hands and offensive sexual comments.

“During rush hour, when the buses are packed, the male passengers take the opportunity to stand close to women and feel them up,” says Marisol Dalmazo of the Latin American Women and Habitat Network in Colombia. “It’s offensive and restrictive to women.”

Marisol has been running a programme since 2007 in Bogota to promote neighbourhood women’s centres and make the streets safer for women and girls. And she’s the driving force behind a campaign to put a stop to one of the harmful side-effects of Latin America’s macho culture: street sexual harassment.

“It’s something that’s always happened and not only in Latin America,” she stresses. “It’s now important that we draw attention to the issue and make men aware that what they’re doing is sexual harassment and mustn’t be tolerated under any circumstances.”

“We put up posters at every bus station and bus stop,” she says. “The bus company employees help us – they even wear t-shirts with slogans against sexual harassment.”

Marisol and her organisation also act out role plays about sexual harassment on the bus. Women dressed as men perform scenes about groping, and then ask passengers what they think about the behaviour.

“We generally get positive responses,” she says. “More and more, people think sexual harassment should be condemned, that this kind of behaviour mustn’t be tolerated.”

I love how Marisol and other women took the issue of groping on the buses and street harassment into their own hands and even have bus employee cooperation in their efforts to prevent it. Their initiatives should be inspirational to people everywhere who are fed up and have had enough of sexual harassment on the streets, in the parks, on the buses and subways.

Find ideas for what YOU can do at an individual and/or a community level. Every action makes a difference.

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“What if he makes good on that threat?”

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I was catching a bus home one night and some guy came on after me when I’d already sat down. I don’t like talking to total strangers (I have a bit of a social anxiety, especially around men) so I just smiled and nodded when he said, “Hi.” I kept smiling and nodding when he said, “How are you?” This was some stereotypical wankster, short and scrawny with rat-like features. They’re a dime a dozen in Cambridge (Ontario, Canada). Pissed that I wouldn’t answer him, he stalked off to sit at the back of the bus, muttering (as loud as possible, as contradictory as that sounds), “Bitch,” and then “All I wanted to do was stick my cock up your ass.”

So naturally was like BITCH NO YOU DI’IN’T, so I went and told the bus driver, who called security, and got him kicked off the bus and banned. A nice older gentleman at the front of the bus (where the bus driver had moved me for safety reasons) was kind enough to back me up.

I had a couple panic attacks afterward (one which resulted in a breakdown), but then I was fine. People kept saying, “I’m so proud of you!” but to me, it was just logic. All I could think was, “What if he makes good on that threat? What if he gets off at my stop and follows me home and tries to rape me?” I’d rather be “brave” and get his sorry ass kicked off the bus and be a “whiny bitch” and kick up a fuss about it than risk being assaulted.

– M. Hammond

Location: 55 St. Andrews bus, Ainslie Street Terminal – Cambridge, Ontario, Canada

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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“STOP STARING AT ME”

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Every morning on my way to work, I ride the same bus. I have been riding this bus for 3 years. A couple of months ago, I started noticing that this middle-aged white male in business suit attire would stare at me continually for the duration of the bus ride. He sits sideways in his seat so that he can swivel his head 180 degrees and see me no matter where I sit on the bus – in front of him, behind him, to the side; it doesn’t matter where I sit because he’ll adjust his posture to find me. His constant leering makes me incredibly uncomfortable and ruins my morning commute.

In the beginning, I stared back, hoping to make him uncomfortable. One time I mouthed the word, “NO,” and shook my head at him. These passive attempts have had no effect and he continues to ogle me.

Yesterday, I was waiting for my bus to return home and all of a sudden this same man was standing next to me. I had my hands full of two heavy grocery bags and felt completely defenseless. I started to feel scared that he was beginning to stalk me. He knows what stop I get off/on the bus. What’s to stop him from following me home one afternoon?

Today I was close to standing up from my seat on the bus and saying something to him. I want to say, “Stop staring at me,” loudly so that everyone on the bus can hear me. I think that the more people who witness assertive actions against harassment the better because the peer effect is incredibly strong. Another option I’ve considered is simply writing or typing out “STOP STARING AT ME” on a piece of paper and giving it to him.

This is by far the worst “street” harassment I’ve experienced in my 13 years riding public transportation. I would say that I experience harassment from men on a daily basis while out on the street/at work/shopping, etc., but never to this extreme on a bus.

I consider myself to be a very tough person and am used to living in an urban environment where one has to constantly deflect “attacks,” but I didn’t realize how damaging mere leering could be. When I was in Chicago this past weekend, I saw advertisements on the CTA which read: “If it’s unwanted, it’s harassment. Touching. Rude Comments. Leering. Speak up. If you see something, say something.” After reading that, I realized that I didn’t even know that this kind of harassment was something I didn’t HAVE to endure. I just accepted it as life.

Minneapolis public transit NEEDS these advertisements on its buses and trains. The more people who are exposed to these sorts of messages, the more likely it is that this kind of harassment will cease. I find it sad that we need to tell men how to behave in 2010. Our society is going backwards.

– anonymous

Location: Minneapolis, MN

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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Made to feel cheap for standing at a bus stop

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It was around 2 o’clock Easter Monday, and I was standing at a bus stop in Dublin City Center looking at the timetable when a man came up and slammed something against the glass structure of the stop separating us. Glancing up, I realized he was holding a 50 euro note, winking, and nodding with his head for me to come along. It took me a good 5 seconds to realize what he was propositioning.

Too horrified to do anything, I looked around in mute fear when he ran off laughing. I was wearing the (respectable) clothes I had worn to to a family Easter meal. When I got over my shock, I was disgusted with myself when I realized I was insulted he insinuated I was only worth 50 euro. I know I shouldn’t find my value in one pervert, but still. One should not be priced when merely walking down the street, and one certainly shouldn’t be made to feel cheap for standing at a bus stop.

– a.ryan

Location: Dublin, Ireland

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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Harassment on buses in Pakistan

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Via Islamabad Metblogs

Sadly, many girls and women in Islamabad, Pakistan, report feeling unsafe when waiting at bus stops and when riding the bus. Bus drivers were commonly cited culprits in a Daily Times article, with girls and women saying they used their mirrors to ogle women and blasted sexually vulgar music. Women and girls who must sit in the front seat also can be groped or otherwise touched indecently by the driver.

Because taxis are expensive but they do not want to be harassed either, some women and girls try to wait until the buses aren’t so crowded to ride them, but then that can make them late and otherwise inconvenience them.

The article says the government has considered women-only transportation, a cop-out and band-aid fix many other countries have opted to have in their big cities. The downside of course is they do nothing to check harassing men’s behavior and still leave women who wait at bus stops or who do not live along women-only bus routes vulnerable.

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