city council hearing Archives | Stop Street Harassment

Street Harassment Testimony Before DC Council – Moughari

December 5, 2015 By HKearl

On Thursday, the DC council held an historic hearing on street harassment. This was the testimony of our board member Layla Moughari.

Our board member Layla before she gave her testimony — *Layla right before she gave her testimony.*

Good morning, Committee members. My name is Layla Moughari. I am a resident of Ward One and a member .of the Stop Street Harassment Board of Directors. Thank you for the opportunity to speak at this roundtable.

I’m here to request that you take action against street harassment.

Many people see street harassment as harmless, and a fact of life. But street harassment can be terrifying and inhibit mobility, and there’s always a possibility that street harassment can escalate into violence or sexual assault.

In the 10 years I’ve lived in DC, street harassment has been a regular feature in my life. There have been times I’ve experienced it daily.

In Columbia Heights, I’ve experienced several aggressive and upsetting interactions. On one occasion, two men shouted obscenities at me because I didn’t respond to their advances. Another time, someone grabbed me as he rode past me on his bike.

And in another situation I was alone, walking to the gym at 6 o’clock in the morning. It was pitch black out and no one was around. I heard someone hissing at me. I looked around and couldn’t see anyone. The hissing continued but closer this time. I realized that someone was following me, getting closer to me, but hiding from me. I was alone in the dark. When the hissing continued, I felt that I was in imminent danger and completely helpless. I started to run and scream down the street. A concerned neighbor asked if I was OK. I was still scared, but I felt better instantly.

I skipped the gym that morning, and never felt safe walking home again. In fact, the harassment I experienced in Columbia Heights contributed to my decision to move from the neighborhood in 2012 after living there five years.

Unfortunately, this experience is not unique to me as is evident by the others here today and the many people who submit their stories to the CASS and Stop Street Harassment blogs. A national study commissioned by SSH found that two-thirds of women and one-quarter of men had experienced gender-based harassment in public spaces.

While some research exists on street harassment, we lack concrete data for DC and are limited in what we know about the rates, causes and consequence of street harassment here in the District, as well as the best practices for combating it.

I request that the city council assist in collecting data so we can better understand the scope of the problem and where specifically it happens. Then, once we understand the issue more, I hope the city council can work with local organizations on non-criminalizing, community-based solutions such as public awareness campaigns.

I hope that one day street harassment will be viewed the same way workplace sexual harassment is largely seen now, recognized by our culture as disrespectful, inappropriate, and harmful. Workplace sexual harassment was also accepted as normal not long ago. But with research, policies, laws, enforcement of the rule of law, and culture change, workplace harassment is much less pervasive today.

Historic DC City Council Hearing

December 4, 2015 By HKearl

The fourth ever hearing on street harassment was held in Washington, DC, on December 3, 2015. The first was held in 2010 in New York City, the second in Philadelphia in 2013 and the third in Kansas City in 2014.

The hearing was requested by Ward 1 D.C. Councilmember Brianne K. Nadeau and co-convened by the Committee on the Judiciary and Committee on Housing and Community Development. Our ally organization Collective Action for Safe Spaces was instrumental in helping the hearing happen, organizing witnesses, and crafting talking points and assisting people with their testimonies.

This is from Councilmember Nadeau’s website:

“Unfortunately, many residents in the District have experienced some form of street harassment, which can include vulgar remarks, heckling, insults, innuendo, stalking, leering, fondling, indecent exposure, and other forms of public humiliation, often focused on the individual’s perceived gender, gender identity, race or ethnicity, or disability. Street harassment impairs the ability of District residents to move freely and safely and contributes to a broader culture of violence. The roundtable will provide an opportunity for stakeholders to identify additional steps that could be taken to better understand and address the issue.”

The hearing lasted for four hours and 15 minutes. During the public portion, there were people representing various organizations, including CASS, SSH, Defend Yourself, Muslim American Women’s Policy Forum, Casa Ruby DC, and the Washington Area Bicyclist Association. There were individuals who shared heartbreaking and moving stories, including a mother and her teenage daughter, three transwomen of color, women of all races, and four male allies, including three men of color. CASS did a commendable job ensuring that a range of voices and viewpoints were represented in the panel.

Government officials also testified at the end, including the chief of police for the transit system and a representative from the mayor’s office in the department of human rights.

I was proud to join SSH board member Layla in testifying. You can read or watch her testimony here and read my full testimony here.

It was exciting to have SSH’s national study cited numerous times by the council members and people testifying. Many of us who testified advocated for the city council to collect DC-specific data so we can better understand the problem and work on non-criminal, community solutions. There was a special focus on asking for help working with bars — common sites of harassment — for CASS and Defend Yourself’s Safe Bars program.

Many people live tweeted throughout the event using #RaiseTheBar. A Storify will be available soon.

Photos:

(Click on the photo to see a larger version.)

DC councilmembers Anita Bond and Brianne Nadeau with their staff	First panel of speakers (L to R): Paris Sashay, Nelle R Pierson, Holly Kearl, Jessica Raven
Second panel of speakers (L to R): Schyla Pondexter-Moore and her daughter Carol Pondexter, Krystal Leaphart, and Lauren Taylor	Third panel of speakers (L to R): Melissa Yeo, Darakshana Raja, Robyn Swirling and Layla Moughari
Fourth panel of speakers (L to R): Star Silva, Dave Chandrasekaran, Ramin Katirai, and Julia Strange	Fifth panel of speakers (L to R): Tanisha Phllips, Ruby Corado, Lissa Alfaro, and Marty Langelan
Sixth panel of speakers (L to R): Mindi Westhoff, Rudhdi Karink, Shannon Kreider, and Jazmin Gargoum	Seventh panel of speakers (L to R): Carshena Chambers, Melissa Kleder, Valenteen Love, and Ben Merrion

Testimonies:

You can watch the entire hearing via the DC Council’s website. Closed Caption is available. I also recorded videos of several people who testified and those are available in this playlist on the SSH YouTube Channel. These are two of my favorite testimonies.

An amazing mother-daughter duo talk about how this issue unique affects teenage girls.

A passionate plea from a survivor of sexual abuse.

Media Coverage:

NPR interviewed councilmember Nadeau and CASS’s interim director Jessica Raven for a morning segment before the hearing (I was thrilled to hear on my drive to the hearing!).

In the evening, there were segments on NBC4, Fox5, and WUSA9.

The Washington Post, Washington Blade, The DCist and the Washington City Paper covered it too.

USA: City Council Member Tackles Street Harassment

October 28, 2015 By HKearl

NYC Hearing on Street Harassment, Oct. 2010

Five years ago this week, NY City Council Member Julissa Ferreras called the first-ever hearing on street harassment. My first book was used in the briefing papers and I was the first to testify. More than a dozen of us, ranging in age from 14 to 52 and representing many races and genders, gave testimonies about street harassment and how it impacts our lives. The hearing was covered by scores of outlets and CM Ferreras has remained committed to the issue in various ways ever since.

One of our former volunteers Raquel Reichard works for Latina.com and did a great interview with CM Ferreras this week. Here is an excerpt, but the whole interview is worth a read!

CM Ferreras and Holly Kearl in Feb. 2011

“In 2010, when you were chair of the committee on women’s issues, you organized the first-ever city council hearing on street harassment. Why was it important for you to do this?

As young girls, we are taught to ignore this behavior, but then we are told to not put up with domestic violence when we are grown up. How does that make sense? So, for me, it was a great opportunity to share with women that their situation mattered.

I had just gotten elected in November of 2009, so I felt I had the opportunity to use my authority as a council member to have a hearing on this topic. Seventy-five women came up to testify. Women took time off from their day, sat through testimonies and talked about street harassment, because it’s an important conversation.

How can governments make streets safer for women?

For starters, it’s important to create a space where we can hear women speak about the problem. When I held the hearing, I heard stories about girls and women being harassed when walking up the stairs to elevated trains. If you stand underneath the stairs, you can look up the girls’ skirts. Maybe we need to rethink the way we build train stations and the stairs, and that becomes a governmental issue. Also, here in New York, we deal with Daylight Savings Time, meaning it gets dark when we still have whole days ahead of us. And we know, from studies, that women feel unsafe in dark settings. So we need to work on improving lighting in neighborhoods, and we need to work with small businesses that might leave their lights on throughout the night. I’ve done this in the past, and bodegas are willing to leave their lights lit if it’s for the safety of their community

But also, we need to get police departments to take this issue seriously, to listen to women and take their reports.”