EndSH Archives | Stop Street Harassment

The Netherlands: The Revolution Will be Tweeted

December 16, 2015 By Correspondent

Eve Aronson, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, SSH Blog Correspondent

What’s in a word? In a character?

During last February’s Super Bowl Sunday in the US, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton found out.

With her excruciatingly ordinary tweet about American football and politics, Clinton unintentionally showed the power of 140 characters broadcast to 4.9 million vaguely- connected social media followers.

According to blogger Bridget Coyne, the tweet was retweeted over 57,000 times and prompted 33,600 new followers, ten times Clinton’s average daily follower growth.

While there are plenty of social media critics out there (and there are many), there is no denying the powerful potential of social media platforms to provoke engagement and build interest in everything from funny cats to presidential debates.

In the sphere of anti-street harassment, social media is being used to not only quickly broadcast people’s experiences but to connect and empower folks with shared experiences.

Not unlike Clinton’s wildly popular tweet, more and more people are engaging with social media platforms like Twitter, and important issues like street harassment are gaining some serious momentum.

The figure below maps the global conversation about street harassment using the hashtag #endSH from 2014-2015:

(Source: Followthehashtag 2015)

With a reach of over 13 million, the above map speaks not only to global experiences of street harassment, but also to individuals around the world collectively exposing the phenomenon and, in doing so, working to unsettle and resist the power structures that sustain it.

Towards Sousveillance

We can also look at simple actions like tweeting as a means to empower those targeted in street harassment interactions— like women of all backgrounds and people of color or LGBTQ folks of all genders— by turning what is conventionally known as the “gaze” back onto harassers.

This practice of using social media to do this— either by sharing a story, an opinion or by offering virtual support to someone else posting about their experience— is what is called “sousveillance”.

Coupled with digital technologies like mobile phone apps, geo mapping or online platforms for sharing experiences about street harassment, what ‘sousveillence’ does is put the ball back into the court of the individual who experiences street harassment.

We can see in the map below how, for example, Hollaback! New York embeds geo mapping into its site to “sousvey” harassers as well as to visualize and map bystander presence. On the map, red dots represent reports of street harassment, while green dots represent individuals reporting bystander presence:

(source: Hollaback! NYC)

The image above isn’t just a bunch of red and green dots— each dot represents an experience of street harassment like hissing, leering or groping. And having experienced street harassment and knowing that you’re not along has a greater impact than you might think.

“[I]t makes me feel better to know that there are other women going through the same thing,” stated an anonymous submitter to Hollaback!. “I know I can be a little star on the map for someone else so they know they are not alone either”.

In the Netherlands Online

Although most Amsterdam survey respondents in my research earlier this year had not visited a specific website dedicated to combatting street harassment, almost half have tweeted or posted their thoughts or experiences of street harassment on social media. This finding is huge and signals a need that, for example, engaging more with these technologies could help to fill.

When searching for online platforms and digital technologies in the Netherlands being used to map and resist street harassment, Straatintimidatie (Street intimidation), an online campaign in the Netherlands that is vying for a law against street harassment, was the only online presence that I came across.

Straatintimidatie does not have a space—online or off—for community members to share stories and strategies about street harassment. Nevertheless, the campaign’s Twitter feed has a combined reach of over 52,000 people, which is considerable and indicates that engaging more in online activism about street harassment in Amsterdam and throughout the Netherlands could gain significant momentum with the introduction of more diverse online platforms.

As we saw with the hashtag campaigns above, there are evidently immense pools of people using these online platforms, which can be tapped into in the fight against street harassment in the Netherlands.

If a single tweet like Clinton’s can instantly engage tens of thousands, imagine the disruptive potential of billions of virtual voices— in the Netherlands and beyond— demanding an end to street harassment.

Hashtag activism is not only a lot of people talking; it’s a lot of people talking about specific issues that gain momentum over time and have the potential to effect change on unprecedented scales.

So the next time you sign onto your social media account, get excited. Get excited about the incredible amount of power at your fingertips; the millions of people ready to answer your call to action; and, one character at a time (but not more than 140!); it’s time to turn the tide against street harassment together.

You can find the full analysis of the Amsterdam survey results here or by contacting Eve atevearonson@gmail.com. Follow Eve and Hollaback! Amsterdam on Twitter at @evearonson and @iHollaback_AMS and show your support by liking Hollaback! Amsterdam’s Facebook pagehere.

Kenya: “Because I Speak Out, I Feel Safer”

April 16, 2015 By Contributor

Guest Blog Post for International Anti-Street Harassment Week 2015

Setting up Hollaback! Nairobi dates back to late 2013. I was harassed by two drunk men on my way home. I was actually on my street surrounded by people that had known me since I was a child and it hurt that none of them did anything to help me. The two men were walking behind me and saying a lot of nasty things because I had a long slit in the back of my dress that showed my thighs. I tried to ignore them and kept walking. I don’t really remember the details of the altercation now but what I will never forget is that one after the other they put their hands up my dress and though I did manage to hit one of them before they ran off I was violated. I have never been able to forget what that few seconds felt like and I have never been able to wear that dress again. I told many of my friends about it and it was one of them told me about Hollaback and the work they do. It was very easy to make the decision to sign up and setup a site for Nairobi.

A lot of things happened in my life that made it difficult to setup immediately but every new experience I had or heard about from a friend strengthened my resolve to make sure it was actually set up. Hollaback! Nairobi’s official launch was in January 2015.

Three months later I am still a one woman team and it’s a little daunting since I also have a full time job. I am often second guessing myself about whether to speak out about an issue or stay quiet and there is also some procrastinating on whether to advertise, print out stickers and flyers but I believe in time it will all get easier and I will find a couple of team members willing to join the movement for all the right reasons. So far in the recruitment process, I have encountered two types of people. Type 1 wants to take over and turn the movement into something it’s not; a full time job with massive donors and trips abroad. Type 2 are interested in taking part but don’t really want to put in the time.

Unfortunately, getting people to speak out and share their stories has been very slow despite the growing number of rape cases, and other forms of gender based violence. In fact two of my school mates, one from primary school and another from law school were killed by their boyfriends in 2014. Additionally, in November and December 2014 videos were shared all over social media of men publicly stripping women on the streets for what they call dressing indecently that went viral and had many Kenyans take to the streets to protest against these actions. In 2015 public a member of parliament has been accused of raping a journalist in his publicly funded office.

The need for activism on any form of gender based violence in this country grows every single day and it will only be a matter of time before people are able to speak out more on the issue, before people are able to share their stories and maybe even put their names and faces on their experience.

Before that day comes, Hollaback! Nairobi’s main focus is education. People have yet to accept that street harassment is a violation, that it causes harm to the victims, eating into their self-confidence little by little. It certainly isn’t rape but that doesn’t make it any less important. Besides, if we were to teach people to respect us on the streets in broad daylight they will certainly respect us even in the dead of night.

Getting victims to speak out in a society where people say they have larger problems to deal with like terrorism and starvation will be an uphill task but I think it can be done. Building a society where people feel safe and respected is an all rounded affair. We cannot focus on one and ignore the other.

What I have loved most since joining Hollaback! is the support this community provides. It’s like having a personal team of cheerleaders every step of the way. As a person, I feel more confident about myself because I can speak out. And because I can speak out I feel safer. I had completely stopped taking any public means of transport but it’s now the exact opposite. I rarely drive myself anywhere on weekends. Life is so much better when you can walk and enjoy the sunshine.

My community hasn’t yet accepted our existence here but if it has had this effect on me, I am sure it will spread.

Wacu Mureithi Directs Hollaback! Nairobi

How To Deal With Street Harassment On Campus?

April 15, 2015 By BPurdy

I’ve been experiencing street harassment since the age of twelve, but when I started college it suddenly became something that happened to me several times a week – even though my college was nearly 75% female. I was harassed both on-campus and in neighboring residential areas. I was harassed walking to and from class, the library, friends apartments, downtown on a Friday night…while it became a “normal” thing that I learned to more or less deal with, it never stopped making me feel uncomfortable.

One incident stands out in particular. It was a warm night, still early in the fall semester of my senior year. It was 10pm on a Monday night, and I was walking back from an on-campus club meeting to my off-campus apartment.

“Hey! Hey you!”

I ignored the calls, assuming they weren’t for me. Though there were few people around, I was on a well-lit main path on campus where I had always felt safe.

“Girl with the ponytail!”

Ok, that was definitely meant for me. Someone was yelling at me. Someone I didn’t know. I started to walk a little faster.

“Hey! Girls shouldn’t be walking out here alone. Where are you going? Let me walk you to your apartment. Where you live? I could walk you right up to your door, you know.”

He was following me. I was walking straight back to my empty apartment, and this stranger was following me. My thoughts started racing, and I pulled out my cell phone.

“Why you grabbing your phone?” my harasser yelled, now angry. “Who you calling? Girl, this is a private party!”

My heart immediately started pounding, my vision went blurry with fear. I made a split-second decision to run into the nearest academic building, where I hide in furthest stall of the women’s bathroom, feet up on the toilet seat, praying he wouldn’t follow me in.

I called my boyfriend. Luckily he was nearby and able to run over and get me. I went back to his apartment rather than mine, and once my hands and voice stopped shaking I decided to call campus police.

“I’m fine now,” I told the dispatcher when she picked up, giving the best description of the event that I could. “But I wanted to let you know that a strange man just tried to follow me back from my apartment, and I’m worried he might do the same thing to someone else tonight.”

“Well, you should have called while it was happening,” she replied curtly. “There’s nothing we can do now.”

I thanked her, for some reason, and numbly hung up, feeling a dull anger inside of me. Call while it was happening? I tried. It had only made the situation worse.

While the police dispatcher’s reply made sense, logically, it also displayed a basic misunderstanding of how to deal with victims of sexual harassment. I had been followed and threatened. I had been forced to hide in a bathroom out of fear. And when, out of concern for my fellow classmates, I reported it to the police, I was basically scolded for not acting sooner. I felt like I had done something wrong, rather than having been wronged. And for the rest of the year I refused to walk back from nighttime club meetings without my boyfriend accompanying me.

Colleges, we need a little help here. What do we, as students, do when we are threatened on campus? When our activities and movements are restricted due to gender-based harassment? When we begin to fear walking on our own campuses? When we are made to feel ashamed for having been harassed in the first place?

College is a time when we learn to embrace our own mobility and freedom. Harassment and the threat of sexual assault more than puts a damper on that, but there doesn’t seem to be much we can do. So colleges, I’m imploring you: help us learn what to report and how to report. Show us you’ll listen, and show us you’ll care. Remember back to the time when you were first learning to be free, yet constantly being told by society to be scared, and choose compassion rather than curtness. Teach us to be safe; but more importantly, teach us all not to put others in danger.

Britnae Purdy, Anti-Street Harassment Week Online Manager

Don’t Ignore the Harassment Stories of Young Girls

April 15, 2015 By Contributor

Guest Blog Post for International Anti-Street Harassment Week 2015

When I was 12, I faced my first street harasser. This is never easy for anyone to go through, let alone a young girl. Women and even girls 10 and younger can, have, and likely will face street harassment. But harassment has always been dealt with as a “term of endearment,” or just a fact of life when it really isn’t. According to Stop Street Harassment, 99% of women have been or will be harassed, and harassment can be anything from leering to physical touching. Is this really something we want 12 year old girls to face regularly?

This is an epidemic that we blindly pass off. Some of these girls are so young, they haven’t even entered middle school. I know all of this personally through the hashtag I started on Instagram, #WhatMySHSaid, where people from all over the world tell my followers and me the horrible experiences they’ve had with street harassers. The average age is twelve and the average reaction is disbelief, but with the topic comes horrible responses as well. I have heard people defending these pedophiles who creep on these girls, or say that street harassment is because of what the girl was wearing.

We live in a culture of blaming the victims, and by saying a twelve-year-old is asking to be followed as she walks home from school is a testament to this. We as a society can and should change this culture that we promote and live in. It should not be up to the victims to change their lives and patterns to make harassers comfortable. This is not a problem that should be ignored. Women and girls should not have to be confined in their homes just so they avoid getting harassed because that is not fair, and that is what’s being promoted by blaming the victims of street harassment.

If you’re being harassed, please let someone you trust know about it. Report it on websites and apps such as Hollaback!, and please be careful. Know that there is no right or wrong way to deal with harassment. Some women yell at the person who harassed them, some ignore them entirely. It’s truly up to you and whatever makes you feel comfortable.

The epidemic of street harassment is moving quickly towards underage girls and we should not be ignoring their stories and what is happening to them. As someone who is now seventeen, I can tell you personally that I have been harassed ever since I was twelve, even if I was wearing a hoodie and jeans, and even when I was in my own driveway. Harassment is so very real, and more and more girls and women are dealing with it everyday. Now is not the time to ignore it, but now is the time to fight it.

Chloe Parker, from @rebel.grrrl

Today’s Events – April 15

April 15, 2015 By BPurdy

Virtual Events:

1 p.m. EDT: @EvrydayFeminism will host a Tweet chat about what communities can do to address street harassment.

International Events

France: Stop Harcelement de Rue – Lille is holding a meeting with comic book author Thomas Mathieu who created the Projet Crocodiles tumblr. In this tumblr, Mathieu illustrates stories of everyday sexism sent to him by readers. (To be confirmed) 6 pm. Location: Maison de l’Etudiant (Lille 1 University)]

Nepal: Youth Advocacy Nepal (YAN) and Activista Nepal in partnership with like minded social organization are organizing an Anti-street harassment March – a huge rally with the participation of more than 500 young people including others with placards with anti street harassment slogans. The objectives of the program is to increase the awareness on anti street harassment and exert the pressure to concerned authorities for adopting appropriate policy and laws and implement the laws prevailed in Nepal effectively.

Nepal: The Nepal Mahila Ekata Samaj (Nepal Women Unity Society will release the findings of an audit of public space of Tripuresor area of Kathmandu Valley.

USA Events:

California: UCI Campus Assault Resources and Education will be promoting Stop Street Harassment at their Take Back the Night event [7pm at the Flagpoles]

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. [Merced Community College Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday from 10-1PM]

Georgia: Hollaback! Atlanta will be hosting HOLLA Coffee Hour. Hosted by Holla!ATL’s Kiersten Smith [4pm – 6pm at Octane Coffee Bar, 437 Memorial Drive Suite A5, Atlanta, GA 30312]

Illinois: Volunteers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champagne campus are holding an informal dialogue on street harassment [6-7pm, Illini Union (space TBA)]

Nebraska: The sociology, queer alliance and radical notion clubs at Hastings College will be chalking campus!

New Mexico: The Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance at the University of New Mexico invites you to stop by their table to discuss street harassment as part of their larger SAAM actions! [10:30-1:30pm at the Duck Pond, UNM Campus] INFO

New York: dianINQUE will be hosting a community meeting in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

Ohio: In Athens, The People’s Justice League and EMBODY Consent will host a screen printing table. Students and community members are invited to come by with t-shirts, pillow cases and other articles of clothing to have one of several available Cats Against Cat Calls designs printed free of charge [2-6pm outside of Baker Student Center]

Washington, DC-area: WMATA, SSH, Collective Action for Safe Spaces, DC Rape Crisis Center, Rally Against Rape and more will be distributing information about harassment at five Metro stations from 4-6 p.m.