force Archives | Stop Street Harassment

*The square I made for the monument quilt in 2014!*

DC-area folks, the Monument Quilt on the National Mall is here this weekend! It’s been 6+ years in the making, and I made my square as an ally in 2014!! I also wrote an article about it for the Women’s Media Center that year.

“The Monument Quilt, a project of Baltimore based FORCE: Upsetting Rape Culture, is a collection of over 3,000 stories by survivors of sexual and intimate partner violence and our allies, written, painted, and stitched onto red fabric. Our stories literally blanket highly public, outdoor places to create and demand space to heal, and resist a singular narrative about sexual violence. The culminating display is coming up May 31 – June 2, 2019, on the National Mall in Washington, DC. This will be the only time that the quilt will be viewed in its entirety.”

Location: National Mall, between 10th and 15th streets; Fri., 1-9 p.m., Sat., 9 a.m.-9 p.m., Sun. 9 a.m.-4 p.m., free.

Read a Washington Post article about it.

stop street harassment at one billion rising — Holly Kearl of SSH and Renee Davidson of Collective Action for Safe Spaces

One billion people have been sexually assaulted or raped, an astonishing and shameful number. Yesterday, a goal of one billion people rose to protest this violence through dance, rallies, and other actions through Eve Ensler’s One Billion Rising effort. Stop Street Harassment was a participating group and I attended a rally at Farragut Square in Washington, DC, and happily met up with activists from several groups, including Feminist Peace Network, Fem2pt0, and Collective Action for Safe Spaces.

(Note: If you want to carry on the momentum from your One Billion Rising event, be sure to take part in a day of action on Feb. 19 to meet with local government officials to discuss ways to make our cities safer.)

Yesterday, I also had the opportunity to participate in an amazing guerrilla art project organized by the Baltimore-based group FORCE. I thought I was just going to be observing and then suddenly I was part of it, hoisting up the word “one.” I love the project and the message and think the words “I can’t forget what happened but no one else remembers” speaks well to many instances of street harassment that may remain with us for the rest of our lives, but no one else knew about or remembers.

Via their website:

“Giant styrofoam letters state “I CAN’T FORGET WHAT HAPPENED BUT NO ONE ELSE REMEMBERS” in the national reflecting pool. The poem, written by a survivor, highlights the isolating and silencing experience of rape in the United States. The action is a call to create a permanent memorial to survivors of rape and abuse.

FORCE, the group behind the action states, “We want to build a national memorial to survivors, because we want to live in a country that holds public and supportive space for survivors to heal. We want to build a national memorial to survivors because we want to live in a country that believes rape can and must end.

The call to build the permanent memorial started on a warm February day with about 20 volunteers unloading enormous letters from a rented U-HAUL van. The red letters were strapped together to create a giant raft. After gathering for a photo on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, the group pushed the poem into the reflecting pool among cheers, cameras, and a crowd of curious tourists.”

Visit the Monument Quilt This Weekend

A Rising & a Poem for Survivors