Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Girls in Illinois face assault on the streets

By

This breaks my heart.

Many girls in Chicago and Illinois “face serious violence in their lives,” including physical and sexual abuse, threats and injury in school, and assault on the streets, according to a new study called the “Status of Girls in Illinois.”

A Chicago Tribune article about the study included the following story:

“Eighteen-year old Chelsea Whitis tries to forget what happened that night two summers ago. While walking near her family’s home in southwest Evanston, a man grabbed her from behind and dragged her into a nearby alley. He ran off when a car turned into the alley.

Now a senior at Lane Technical High School in Chicago’s North Center neighborhood, Whitis keeps memories of the attack bottled up inside. She hasn’t had any professional assistance to help her cope.

‘I just feel like I’m never going to be safe,’ she said. ‘I’m so close to my house and I get attacked. … I never feel safe.'”

Young Womens Action Team members
Young Women’s Action Team members

Now Whitis  is a member the Rogers Park Young Women’s Action Team and working to raise awareness about street harassment and domestic violence.

During my book research, I’ve come across too many women who similarly never feel safe. One of my chapters is devoted to women’s fear of attack in public and all of the ways they alter their lives to try to avoid it. It’s really important for people to understand that street harassment isn’t complimentary or harmless. For one thing, it reminds women over and over that they are vulnerable to attack and it seriously impacts their mobility and sense of safety. And for another, the harassment can include or escalate into assault and even murder. So yeah, that’s not harmless at all!

The Illinois study recommends that policymakers pay closer attention to the stories that girls share about their experiences so they know how to better address their needs, their fears. I agree 100%. Street harassment is rarely discussed outside of feminist and womanist circles as being a problem and it must be understood as such on a wider scale before we can really work to end it.

So, do you have any stories you want to share?


Bookmark and Share

Share

It never ends

By

I am 70, in good shape, look much younger, but thinner than I’d like to be due to stomach problems which is no excuse for being harassed or made fun of on the street. Someone in a car yelled “twig” at me yesterday. I’ve been honked at ever since I’ve been a teen and it still goes on even at my age. I try to ignore it except for one time when I stopped dead, pulled out my mace and yelled “Back off.” He did. I’ve never had to use mace but I wouldn’t hesitate to use it on some bozo in a heartbeat if he deserved it.

When I was young and out for a walk in the daytime, I was touched on my bottom by a guy on a bike. I ran after him and almost caught him. I almost knocked him off his bike as he sped away.scared. I called police when I got home but they didn’t find him. A few days later a girl was almost raped on her way to school but luckily a neighbor heard her screams and yelled out the window and the guy ran off.

On my way home from work , I sat in the back of the bus and suddenly this guy opened a sex book and tried to show it to me. I tried to get up but he wouldn’t move so I poked him in the stomach with my umbrella and he let me up. The bus driver acted deaf and dumb when I reported it so I called the CTA when I got home. The next few days, the CTA had their detectives watching me and they caught the creep. As I was coming down the stairs from the el to the bus, he was following me but I never knew it. Luckily the CTA detectives saw it and they grabbed him and patted him down, taking out his wallet and everything in his pockets. I asked the detectives if they needed me to testify but they said they would handle him. I never saw him again.

– anonymous

Location: Chicago, IL

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.

Share

Rape Culture

By

Check out this new youth-made documentary by Hard Cover, a television program in Chicago that is completely created and produced by teens, called “Our Hidden Culture” about “rape culture,” including how and why rape persists in American society, statistics about how many people are raped, and the impact rape has on survivors.

The video opens with a tie to street harassment, which I find timely as today for my book I’ve been writing about how the fear of rape complicates and informs the way many women feel in public spaces, particularly when they see or are harassed by a man in an isolated area.

While most rapists (73%) know their victim, the other 27% don’t, and this fact combined with the widespread socialization of women to fear stranger rape, causes a lot of fear among women.

In their study The Female Fear: The Social Cost of Rape, published in 1991, Margaret T. Gordon and Stephanie Riger found that one-third of the women they studied worry at least once a month about being raped. Many said they worry daily about that possibility. A third of the women said that their fear of rape is ‘part of the background’ of their lives and ‘one of those things that’s always there.’ Another third claimed they never worried about rape but still reported taking precautions, unconsciously or consciously, to try to avoid being raped.

In every street harassment study I’ve read, the majority of the women said the fear of rape greatly impacted their street harassment experiences. Does it impact yours?

Share

Not expecting to have to be on the defensive

By

I live in South Side Chicago, and I like to get my hair cut on the North Side. I take public transportation, so for me, this means taking the Green Line.

It was an early appointment and I had had a long day; I fell asleep on the way back. I’m woken up by someone hitting me on the knees. It’s some creep in glasses and a do-rag. “Regulations apply to everyone. No sleeping!” Groggily, I get up to see what stop we’re at. Still seven away from mine. I try to make polite conversation (I’m still in North Side mode). The creep is not only a jerk, but incomprehensible. I go sit down on the other side, because I am not in the mood for a fight.

He follows me, sits right across from me. He waits until I get off at my stop, and starts making obscene comments. I am tired and in no mood to fight, so I wait for him to pass and go home.

If I were more awake, I would have argued with him. As is, I’ve been hit with esprit d’escalier all day, and pretty mad at myself for not saying something. I punched a guy on the Beijing subway for groping me; I was just not expecting to have to be on the defensive here.

It happens all the time on the Southside; catcalls are the norm. And the worst part? It’s much, much worse if you’re a Black woman. I’m Asian; thankfully, this intimidates some of them. My roommate, however, is Black. Once this guy followed her for several blocks trying to get her number, even after she made it clear she wasn’t interested. She makes eye contact with a guy, he starts seriously harassing her. When we talk together past single men or men in groups, we know we’d better be in a very involved conversation.

Usually, police presence keeps the guys from bothering you too much, but that’s so rare around here. My roommate has given me one good mantra to keep in mind, though: “What makes them think they have the right to talk to ME?”

– Sandra

Location: Green Line Subway in Chicago

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.

Share

Weekly Round Up – July 26

By

Stories:

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.

In the News:

Upcoming Events:
  • The Young Women’s Action Team is holding a free “Anti-Street Harassment Summer Camp” on August 1, in Chicago, IL. It looks like it will be a great event, so check it out if you’re in the Chicago area.

Announcements:

  • I’ve been offered a book contract for my proposed book on street harassment! Submit your stories for inclusion.
  • Enter a photography contest for photographers who capture or depict street harassment, particularly in the DC area. Selected winners will have the chance to show/sell their work at a reception the evening before the Holla Back DC: Make DC Harassment Free Summit.
  • RightRides in NYC recently has expanded their services of a free ride home from Saturday nights to include Friday nights too! They offer this service from 11:59 p.m. – 3 a.m. in 45 neighborhoods across four boroughs. To call for a ride, the dispatch number is (718) 964-7781 OR (888)215-SAFE (7233).

Street Harassment Resource of the Week:

A video by a Penn State student showing the volume of harassment women experience on campus.

Share