Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Today’s Events – April 17

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Posted by CoHabita DF in Mexico City

Special Global Action!

ANYONE CAN JOIN — As part of International Anti-Street Harassment Week, Stop Telling Women to Smile is organizing an international wheat pasting night on April 17, 2015. The following groups have already organized action around this:
Canada (Ottawa): Hollaback! Ottawa will be pasting the STWTS posters [3pm, Bridgehead on Bank/Gilmour] INFO
Germany (Berlin): Hollaback! Berlin will post the STWTS posters [7pm, k-fetisch] INFO
Mexico City: CoHabita/Habitajes will paste 65 #STWTS posters along 45 stations on Line 1 of the Metrobus in Mexico City throughout the week and will join the STWTS Wheat pasting night.
Illinois: Volunteers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champagne campus are hosting a Stop Telling Women to Smile Day.
Iowa: The Ending Street Harassment in Iowa City group will post “Stop Telling Women to Smile” posters throughout the community.
Join them!! Here are the details! [AFTERNOON/EVENING APRIL 17] 
Virtual Events:
April 17 | 12 – 1 p.m. EDT: @NOWYoungFems will host a Tweet chat to discuss street harassment across the broad spectrum of gender-based violence and discuss a holistic strategy to violence on every level.
International Events:
Colombia: OCAC Colombia is hosting HARASSMENT IS VIOLENCE. We will march with the Tremenda Revoltosa Batucada Feminista, and beat the drums against all forms of violence on our bodies. We’ll wait you since 5pm at Colpatria Tower. | VIERNES 17 DE ABRIL – 5PM. EL ACOSO ES VIOLENCIA. Marcharemos junto con la Tremenda Revoltosa batucada feminista, haremos sonar los tambores contra todo tipo de violencias sobre nuestros cuerpos. Les esperamos a partir de las 5pm frente a la Torre Colpatria, en la carrera séptima con calle 26.
France: Stop Harcelement de Rue Lille is launching the “No harassment bar”. This is an agreement reached between the collective and a bar (of which the name will be announced that night) in order to make it a “no harassment zone”. We are hoping to reach agreements with more bars later on. [nighttime]
Romania: FILIA: Centre for Curriculum Development and Gender Studies: ”Anti-street harassment evening” – Evening documentaries/ clips and a debate about street harassment with people interested in the subject.
Serbia: Equity Youth Association will be hosting a week long campaign to educate locals about what street harassment is. This will include flyering and handing out graphics and info across the city with information from their recently conducted survey, and hosting a chalk walk with local university students in a city park that is notorious for being  a high-harassment area [Flyering April 12-18, Chalk Walk April 17th]
USA Events:
Illinois: Volunteers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champagne campus are hosting Walk a Mile [5-6p on Main Quad] and Green Street Hug-in [6-8p on 6th & Green Streets]
Minnesota: Hollaback! Twin Cities is hosting two chalking events at the University of Minnesota [12:30 to 2:30 p.m. Location TBD.] INFO.
Missouri: The UMKC Women’s Center will be chalking around campus all week, and invites students to stop by the center to learn more! [April 13-17]
Nebraska: The sociology, queer alliance and radical notion clubs at Hastings College will be holding a talk-in to discuss street harassment experiences and solutions.
Nevada: Hollaback! Las Vegas is hosting a Chalk walk Downtown Container Park [4pm to 6pm at the Corner of Fremont and 7th]
Ohio: The People’s Justice League will be leading a chalk walk to mark problematic areas on the Ohio University campus [6pm. Meet at the bottom of Jeff Hill on campus]
Ohio: The People’s Justice League will be hosting a screening of the film Cairo 678 [8pm at Donkey Coffee, 17 West Washington St., Athens OH 45701]
Washington, DC: Nigerian LGBT activist Bisi Alimi will be speaking at the DC Center [8:30 p.m.]
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Today’s Events – April 16

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Virtual Events:

April 16 | 4:30 p.m. in Delhi, 6 p.m. in Kuala Lumpur (7 a.m. EDT): @INBreakthrough, @FemIndProject and @PixelProject will co-host a Tweet chat about cultural differences in harassment and reactions.

No Moleste di Strada has designed thought-provoking stickers and are placing them in public spaces highly affected by street harassment. They intend to creatively raise awareness on the phenomenon by also asking peoples’ contribution. They encourage our followers to spot the stickers, send us the pictures, and suggest us new ideas! Find the stickers on their Facebook page, and share both online and in public spaces near you!

 

International Events:

Bahamas: Hollaback! Bahamas will be hosting a chalk art event at College of the Bahamas in collaboration with the PRO Society (art club) as well as a free self-defense workshop for College of the Bahamas students.

Canada (Toronto): The Street Talk Project is launching their new exhibit! Inspired by the Take Back The Night movement and #yesallwomen, The Street Talk Project is a public art installation and gallery exhibition that addresses how women navigate the city and the socialized sexism that governs their bodies on a day-to-day basis. Using humour and subversive advertising, this project will bring attention to the ways in which public space is navigated differently by different bodies; address how sexism is felt viscerally on a day-to-day basis; and further the belief that we are all responsible for making public spaces accessible and welcoming for all bodies. [Exhibit Launch is April 16, 7-8pm at the Whippersnapper Gallery in Toronto.]

Colombia: OCAC Colombia will host ANY AGGRESSION WITHOUT RESPONSE. The Colectiva Urgente Anárquica y Sinverguenza (C.U.C.A.S), will do a workshop teaching feminist defense. We are still waiting to confirm the place, so please be aware. [2pm] | JUEVES 16 DE ABRIL – 2PM. NINGUNA AGRESIÓN SIN RESPUESTA. A cargo de la Colectiva Urgente Callejera Anárquica y Sinverguenza (C.U.C.A.S), se realizará un taller de defensa feminista. Aun estamos a la espera de confirmar el lugar, entonces estén muy pendientes

France: Stop Harcelement de Rue will be going in subway and suburban trains, and a Paris train station in order to distribute flyers and to sensitize people to all the types of violence women have to go through in transports. During these events, they will be wearing a super-hero costume as the “Team Zero Relou” (no streetharassers team)! They will also hold a Artistic happening in the hall of the Gare du Nord station, where actors will play scenes of harassment (the public will not be made aware of it being acting until the end) [5pm Gare du Nord, Paris]

France: Stop Harcelement de Rue Lyon will hold a chalk walk [5 pm. Location: Quai Victor Augagneur]

France: Stop Harcelement de Rue Lille are holding a leaflet distribution at Lille Flandres subway station. [5 pm]

Nepal: This is the final day of Nepal Mahila Ekata Samaj (Nepal Women Unity Society)‘s five day self-defense training with adolescent girls of the slum community.

United Kingdom: Hollaback! Nottingham is holding a clay workshop! They’ll be discussing street harassment and methods to deal with it while creating pieces for an upcoming exhibit [2pm at Nottingham Women’s Centre, 30 Chaucer Street, Nottingham UK. Women only please]

 

USA Events

California: Valley Crisis Center will have a button making machine where individuals can make/design their own button describing what they can do to fight street harassment/catcalling/degrading comments and also empower others to do the same. Today is your last day to snag one!  [Merced Community College  10-1PM]

Illinois: Volunteers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champagne campus are  holding a tabling event, and handing out buttons and sexual harassment resources [11a-1p, Main Quad]

Maryland:  UMBC’s Take Back the Night 2015: In recognition of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, join the Women’s Center on Commons Main Street Thursday, April 16th and let’s take back the night!!

Events and activities include:
– Community Resource Fair (begins at 6pm)
– Clothesline Project
– Survivor Speak Out Forum (begins at 6:30pm)
– March Against Sexual Violence
– FORCE Monument Quilt Making Opportunity and other art activism projects
and more!

[Women’s Center at UMBC 1000 Hilltop Circle, Commons 004 at 6 PM]

Minnesota: Hollaback! Twin Cities is hosting a chalking event at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. [7:30 to 9 p.m]

Nebraska: The sociology, queer alliance and radical notion clubs at Hastings College will be distributing bystander intervention flyers on campus.

New York: No Disrespect & The Safe OUTside the System Collective present: Free the Streets. Panel discussion making connections between sexualized, gendered, and police harassment + breakouts creating solutions through prevention, intervention, support, and accountability. [6:30-8:30 p.m. at Audre Lourde Project, 85 South Oxford Street, NYC]

Pennsylvania: SAFE at Temple University, Philadelphia, is holding a self-defense class. [6pm in Morgan Hall D301]

Pennsylvania: Touch Me Philly Productions will be debuting “Reasonable Fear: A Series on Street Harassment and Rape Culture.” Touch Me Philly Productions Presents two weeks of theatre and events exploring the topics of Street Harassment & Rape Culture. This series includes a main stage theatrical production, workshops, comedy, films & more. All designed to let you explore this topic in a safe atmosphere. Nine short plays were chosen from our open submission call to create our Main Stage Theatrical Production. Catch this show Thursdays – Saturdays April 16-18 & 23-25 at 8 p.m. | INFO

Massachusetts: Guerilla Feminism Boston is collecting short stories for their handmade zine, to be passed out during their Chalk Walk (see below). As they say, “As Black women, women of color, queer, trans women & gender nonconforming poc we’re often made to feel unsafe in our own communities due to gender, homophobia, race, sexuality, and gender expression. Often this affects our commutes to and from work, school, social events and other engagements.” To submit your story to be included in our zine, please email submissions to guerrillafeminismboston@gmail.com. We’re looking for artwork, poetry, stories of what it means to be YOU walking down the street, hanging out at a bar, interacting with the police, etc. Please keep these writings under 500 words. [Submit by April 16]

Virginia: Hollaback! RVA is hosting a chalk walk on the VCU campus! They invite you to visit their table to pick up candy, literature, and chalk. [VCU Campus in Richmond]

Washington:  Jaded at Club Contour, a weekly dance night with a heavy focus on safety in their community, is hosting a dance night and distributing pamphlets explaining what street harassment is and why it’s so dangerous, and (if feasible) set up a large poster board where people can write their own stories. [9pm-2am at Club Contour, 807 1st Ave Seattle, WA]

Washington, DC: American University will host a chalking on campus [10 a.m. – 1 p.m.]

Washington D.C.: Collective Action for Safe Spaces will be hosting their 6th anniversary party, “Lights, Camera, Collective Action!” [6-9pm at Room & Board, 1840 14 St., NW]

 

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Today’s Events – April 13

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Here are the main events happening for day two of International Anti-Street Harassment Week!

Virtual Events:

April 13 | 2 p.m. EDT: @StopStHarassmnt, @NoStHarassWeek and @Noacosocalles will chat about practical solutions to street harassment.

April 13, 6-7pm – Me=You Street Harassment Awareness will be hosting a Google Hangout with Erin McKelle from Stop Street Harassment (SSH), who will be speaking about this cause and answering questions on sexual harassment. INFO. 

Stop Harcelement de Rue (Paris) will be hosting a Twitter chat about sexism and harassment on public transportation (@stophdr #terminusrelou) [3 pm]

 

International Events:

Colombia: Hosted by OCAC Colombia:

5PM to 8PM: TALK “COMPLIMENT OR HARASSMENT, LET’S TALK ABOUT STREET HARASSMENT.” Street harassment is an issue that must be discussed, so we will be waiting for you at the Camilo Torres Auditorium of the Sociology’s building at the National University.

CHARLA “GALANTERÍA O ACOSO, HABLEMOS DE ACOSO CALLEJERO.” El acoso callejero es un tema del que hay que hablar, así que les esperamos en el Auditorio Camilo Torres del edificio de Sociología de la Universidad Nacional.

United Kingdom: London transit will be releasing their marketing video for the anti-harassment campaign Project Guardian called Report It to Stop It.

France: Stop Harcelement de Rue (LILLE) New poster campaign launch [8 pm.]

 

USA Events:

Georgia: Hollaback! Atlanta will be hosting  Let Me HOLLA at You – A Panel Discussion. Presented by Holla!ATL’s Tayler Mathews and Clark Atlanta University’s Women’s Initiative Program [6pm – 7:30pm at Clark Atlanta University, McPheeters Dennis, RM 201, 223 James P Brawley Dr SW, Atlanta, GA 30314

Illinois: Volunteers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champagne campus are hosting #GamerGate Hot Topics Dialogues, a discussion about online harassment [7pm, Women’s Resources Center]

Nebraska: The sociology, queer alliance and radical notion clubs at Hastings College are hosting a “Cats against Catcalling” sticker giveaway [April 13]

Utah: Fearless Self Defense is hosting “Take Back The Streets With Chalk!” [3-7pm at Liberty Park, Salt Lake City]

Washington D.C.: American University’s Take Back The Night event will in part address street harassment  [7-10pm]

Washington D.C.: GW Feminist Student Union has been creating a photo campaign in which GW students holding a sign with an example of street harassment that has happened to them. On April 13, they will be debuting the photos, adding new ones, and handing out empowering compliments to those who want them! [Kogan Plaza at George Washington University]

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Today’s Events – April 12

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It’s the first day of Meet Us On the Street: International Anti-Street Harassment Week, and we already have so much going on!

Virtual Events:

Please join Young Feminists and Allies, the National Organization for Women’s First Virtual Chapter, and Stop Street Harassment for a Google Hangout about Street Harassment from a multicultural perspective.

Holly Kearl, founder of International Anti-Street-Harassment Week, will moderate three brave women with diverse backgrounds as they discuss the similarities and differences in the ways they experience street harassment.

* Kasumi Hirokawa: TCK and trilingual feminist from Shanghai who currently lives in Japan

* MorningStar Angeline: Native American and Latina actress who lived in both the Southwest and West Coast of America

* Muneera Hassan: Bangladeshi-American, Muslim, college student from Boston currently living in Northern VA who wears hijab

There will be a Q&A section, so please send us your questions in advance or during the event at youngfeminists at gmail dot com or Tweet at at @nowyoungfems and please use the #EndSH hashtag.

International Events:

Cameroon: Young Women for a Change, Cameroon is holding a dialogue in Beau with youth and adolescents to address the different forms of Street harassment facing women and girls and how to intervene. [April 12]

Canada (Vancouver): Hollaback! Vancouver will be debuting their interactive campaign and art show “What’s Your Number?” It will enable people to record the frequency and emotions involved with street harassment for 24 hours. Clickers (or counters) will be distributed to initial participants along with a blank notebook. For 24 hours, they will click twice for direct street harassment, and once for an indirect impact. At the end of the 24 hours, the clickee is encouraged to creatively express the experience in the notebook provided through mediums like poetry, illustration or essaying before they’re passed on to the next one. At the end of the week, the notebooks will be collected by the Hollaback Vancouver team for compilation. In order to showcase the process behind What’s Your Number?, the art show will be a free event extended to the community at-large. Part education, part creative and part party, this night will get everyone together in a comfortable space to talk about the effects of street harassment and – most importantly – what can be done. [Campaign kicks of all over the city on April 12th, with the Artshow / wrap up party taking place April 30th 436 Columbia St Vancouver BC 7-11 pm]

Colombia: OCAC Colombia  is hosting SUNDAY, APRIL 12 – 9:00 a.m.: STOP THE STREET HARASSMENT: We will be in the Sunday’s Bikeway and we will will cross cycling the 7th Avenue from Plaza Bolivar to the National Park | DOMINGO 12 DE ABRIL – 9 AM. ALTO AL ACOSO. Estaremos en la Ciclovía y haremos un recorrido por la carrera séptima desde la Plaza de Bolívar hasta el Parque Nacional

Nepal: Hollaback! Kathmandu will be hosting a Stand Up Against Street Harassment event, displaying charts and boards that say street harassment is not okay. They will also be interacting with the local people about what the campaign is and what they can do to respond to street harassment and stop it. [April 12, 3-5pm at Basantapur]

USA Events:

Iowa: Hollaback! Des Moines is hosting their 3rd Annual Chalk Walk to End Street Harassment. [April 12, 1 pm at the Pappajohn Education Center]. Can’t be there in person? Sometime during the week of April 12-18, go back to a street where you experienced harassment. Reclaim that space by writing an empowering message; then take a picture and send it to them at dsm@ihollaback.org! They will post all the photos to their blog after the event.

Pennsylvania: FAAN Mail will be kicking off EndSHWeek with their 5th annual rally and community engagement event. [April 12, 2-5pm at Love Park, Philadelphia]

Virginia: Hollaback! RVA is hosting a Bystander Workshop discussing and presenting on how bystander intervention and street harassment intersect. They will provide “swag bags” and snacks to participants! [Richmond, April 12, time and place TBA]

Plus, some of our groups got an early start on things and hosted these fabulous events on Saturday, April 11th:

Bahamas: Hollaback! Bahamas hosted a meditation and stress relief workshop with the World Peace Initiative.

United Kingdom: Rape & Sexual Abuse Support Centre hosted street action focused on victim-blaming and rape culture (#ThisDoesn’tMeanYes) at Braithwait Tunnel, Braithwaite Street, London.

South Korea: Rok Gi Yeon Promotions hosted “Ladies Night Vol. 2,” a benefit concert to support the charity Disruptive Voices, in Seoul. Find the Facebook event here.

Pakistan: No to Harassment hosted a fabulous panel and discussion about how a woman is #notanobject.

New York: Hollaback! hosted the annual NYC Anti-Street Harassment Rally! The event featured local activists and speakers and include da series of workshops for folks to learn more and take action against street harassment. It also featured Hollaback!’s famous 12 foot inflatable #catagainstcatcalling cat.

Pennsylvania: University of Scranton is hosted a SHARE (Street Harassment Awareness Response and Education) Fair.

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“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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