Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

One Week Until Anti-Street Harassment Week 2021!

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Dear Friends, 

My body is not public property.

The results of a groundbreaking street harassment survey conducted by our partner L’Oreal Paris of 14,000 women in 14 countries will be released for International Anti-Street Harassment Week (April 11-17).

The findings highlight how global this human rights violation is and also includes statistics from the pandemic year. They show how much this issue continues to affect people everywhere, even during this unusual global health crisis.

Indeed, street harassment is an on-going global health crisis. This is evident by the recent statistics and campaigns around the world that document it and work to end it.

Will you join us next week in speaking out against this human rights violation? Use the hashtag #stopstreetharassment and tag @pinthecreep and @stopstharassmnt on social media.

Need an Idea? — Submit to the Safecity Campaign
Safecity is inviting people to participate in Week by submitting quotes for posters they’ll create and share on social media.

“This year the campaign is Confidence is Beautiful. Confidence to walk down a street without worry, confidence to loiter in public spaces, confidence to travel further to explore work, leisure and more. But that cannot happen if streets are not safe. We need to spotlight the issue, create urgency to act and encourage men to take action.” Submit your quotes and pictures here.

Need another Idea? — Share Your Pandemic Street Harassment Stories
Share your experiences and stories with street harassment across the pandemic – and/or submit artwork to stopstreetharassment@gmail.com.

Sexual Assault Awareness Month
In the U.S., April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Learn more about how to get involved with this month-long campaign. April 6 is the Day of Action — find ways to participate.

“Support Survivors During Sexual Assault Awareness Month”

Anti-SH Week Partners
Thank you to Safecity/Red Dot Foundation, Catcalls of NYC and L’Oreal Paris for partnering with us this year. Over the week, you can take part in L’Oréal Paris and Hollaback! training on how to safely intervene if you witness or experience street harassment.

Watch the Catcalls Turns 5 Event
If you missed our joint event with Catcalls of NYC for their 5th anniversary, you can watch it here! What an empowering and uplifting program.

Thank you! 

-Holly

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New Research, Campaign & Photo Project

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Research conducted by experts at the University of Melbourne in Australia demonstrates how common sexual harassment is in the lives of women and documents the possible impact this can have on how women think about themselves. The full results were published in the British Journal of Social Psychology.

Two key findings are:

1. Women reported being the target of a sexually objectifying event once every two days.

2. Both being personally targeted or witnessing others being objectified was associated with a “substantial increase” in “self-objectification”, proving that instances of sexual harassment can have a negative impact on the way women think about themselves.

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In the Netherlands, Stop Straatintimidatie launched a new campaign against street harassment. Campaign founder Gaya Branderhorst shared, “The message to the public is clear: everyone should be able to walk the streets without harassment,” and “street harassment will be fined in Amsterdam and Rotterdam from 2018 onwards, and other cities are planning to follow soon.” Great!

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In the UK, photojournalist Eliza Hatch created a new photo series called Cheer Up Luv to raise awareness about street harassment. An article for the Guardian states, “Hatch found her female friends had all experienced harassment regularly, while her male friends were shocked by how frequently it occurred. Her photographs often feature women in environments in which they have been harassed, alongside their accounts. ‘I really wanted to capture the woman in her surroundings,’ says Hatch. ‘Instead of it being somewhere where she felt vulnerable, I wanted to make it a stage for her to speak out from. And I wanted you to actually look into her eyes as you’re hearing her story.'”

See more at: instagram.com/cheerupluv

 

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Statement of Support for Jordyn Haime

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Image via The New Hampshire Digital

Jordyn Haime, a University of New Hampshire (UNH) undergraduate student, conducted a local street harassment survey among her peers and shared quotes and stats from it in a display on campus (with support from the campus sexual assault dept.) and it was going to be up for International Anti-Street Harassment Week. But campus administrators had it taken down within hours because the language was “offensive” (e.g. what street harassers said). You can read more here and read Jordyn’s great op-ed.

When I reached out to offer help, one thing suggested was for SSH to write a statement in support of Jordyn. Last night, the SSH board of directors drafted this statement.

STATEMENT OF SUPPORT FOR JORDYN HAIME

Stop Street Harassment (SSH) applauds Jordyn Haime, a University of New Hampshire (UNH) undergraduate student, for her recent campaign about gender-based street harassment.

Her campaign began with documenting the street harassment experiences of her classmates and peers through conducting a survey. The results of this survey were powerful in revealing that the rate of street harassment locally was similar to that nationally.

Ms. Haime’s next step, taken with support from the campus Sexual Harassment and Rape Prevention Program, was to share quotes from the survey — quotes detailing the real life experiences UNH students endured — in a display on campus alongside statistics, facts and resources. This is commendable. Sharing stories, engaging in public education and raising awareness efforts are crucial steps to take toward creating community-driven and localized solutions for safe public spaces.

If people were offended by reading the street harassment stories, imagine what the person who was targeted felt when she or he experienced it first-hand. How can we work to stop these comments from being spoken if we try to hide that they are said at all? Instead of censoring campaigns to raise awareness about street harassment — an issue that, as Ms. Haime says, she and others normally regard as something that “just happened to them” — the administration should celebrate one of its student’s efforts to bring attention to such an important issue.

Street harassment is offensive. It is deplorable. It is uncomfortable. It can cause real emotional harm and even pose health risks when it’s extreme and/or repeated. It is a human rights violation and a form of gender-based violence. But this does not mean we should ignore it or that it is too controversial to discuss.

SSH supports Ms. Haime and anyone else who works to bring attention to the issue of street harassment, especially when those efforts are done in such a thoughtful, measured, and well-researched manner.

Signed,

SSH Board of Directors
March 30, 2017

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South Africa: The Safe Ride Campaign

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Nyasha Joyce Mukuwane, Johannesburg, South Africa, SSH Blog Correspondent

taxi3
Pictures courtesy of Sonke Gender Justice

taxiAbusive male passengers and taxi drivers can make riding public transport in Johannesburg a harrowing experience for a woman. More often than not, a woman faces harassment or sexual abuse aboard a taxi. Taxi drivers and the queue marshals have a notorious reputation for this and there have been many recorded and unrecorded incidents of verbal abuse, harassment, physical violence, sexual assault and rape of girls and women whilst using taxis. One lady spoke to me about how some men thought it funny to poke her breast and how paralysed with fear she felt as she could not stand up and leave the taxi. The other passengers simply looked on and ignored that she was being harassed.

Fortunately, there is a new campaign to change this.

taxi4taxi2Sonke Gender Justice is a NGO working  across Africa to strengthen government, civil society and citizen capacity to promote gender equality, prevent domestic and sexual violence, and reduce the spread and impact of HIV and AIDS. On the 17th of  August 2016, they partnered with the South African National Taxi Council (SANTACO), with support from the Danish Embassy, to launch the Safe Ride campaign. The goal of the campaign is to prevent and respond to the abuse of women and girls at the hands of taxi personnel, including drivers and queue marshals.

The Johannesburg launch of the campaign was the beginning of a year-long programme that will traverse the country to educate the taxi community about how they can help prevent and stop harassment and sexual violence against women and children. Over the next year, supported by funding from the Danish Embassy, the Safe Ride campaign will host events with taxi drivers, queue marshals and commuters in all nine provinces. They are also planning a few three day intensive training sessions for drivers and their assistants on gender-based violence, how to report such incidents and where survivors can go to for help.

This is one of the most innovative campaigns in Johannesburg to challenge patriarchal beliefs, change the way that taxi drivers deal with street harassment, and promote active citizenry against street harassment.

Nyasha is the public awareness coordinator at the Nisaa Institute for Women’s Development in Johannesburg, South Africa, where the main goal is counselling and sheltering survivors of domestic abuse. She has edited two books by survivors that are available to download for free from the website www.nisaa.org.za.

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#WEcount: Reclaiming our Streets for Women

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The Women’s Equality Party is a political party that was founded last year in the UK. One of their agendas is addressing violence against women, including street harassment. Last week I had the honor to Skype with one of their co-founders and their Head of Policy & Partnerships, Halla Gunnarsdóttir. We brainstormed possible policy solutions they could suggest or campaigns they could run.

Fortunately, the new mayor of London Sadiq Khan identified the issue in his campaign, specifically on public transit, saying: “Women face specific challenges on our transport network that are not currently being addressed.” He promised, “As mayor I will take these problems seriously.”

And the Women’s Equality Party has already taken measures to begin to address the issue. The have campaign called #WEcount: Reclaiming Our Streets for Women. Here’s info from their website, including how you can participate:

“WE are now extending #WEcount across the UK so that women right across the country can make their voices heard and say: this must stop,” said Sophie Walker, leader of the Women’s Equality Party.

“WE are asking our supporters to post photos of their hands on social media with the hashtag #WEcount, showing a postcode or place where they have experienced sexual harassment, assault or verbal abuse. Alternatively, they can email their photos to WEcount@womensequality.emailnb.com to be posted anonymously.”

The campaign also includes a film featuring Pavan Amara, who built the “My Body Back” project after being attacked and has helped hundreds of women who have been assaulted to reclaim their lives.

Women can mark their experiences on an interactive map of the UK (wemap.org) by dropping a Google-maps-style pin. In London, this map will be on display for the week on a dedicated billboard at Westfield shopping centre, Shepherd’s Bush.

And in a digital first, the campaign will be brought to life for Londoners with the use of a new visual browsing app, BlippAR.

WE have painted 10 physical markers – which show the Google maps pin transformed into an exclamation mark – at locations around the capital, from the Houses of Parliament to Parliament Hill. People who ‘Blipp’ the mark will receive a host of content and information about the campaign, as well as details of what support is available.

Walker added: “An estimated 400,000 sexual offences against women occur in the UK each year. Despite their frequency, the majority of these incidents are unreported, and women are left feeling unsafe and unable to walk without fear on their own streets. WE want to reclaim our streets.”

“WE are the only party who are making the sexual abuse and harassment of women a political priority. WE will show that women right across the UK are affected by this every day – and that every one of us counts.”

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