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Welcome, First Blog Cohort of 2016!

January 11, 2016 By HKearl

Since 2013, cohorts of people from around the world write monthly articles about street harassment and activism efforts in their communities in four month cohorts.

We’re excited to welcome our newest cohort (and welcome back LB Klein and the ProChange team who have been excellent correspondents before!!) and look forward to reading their articles!

Meet the Correspondents of the First Cohort of 2016

LB Klein, MSW, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

LB has dedicated her academic and professional career to ending gender-based violence, supporting survivors, and advancing social justice. She is currently an independent consultant based in Atlanta, GA. LB serves as a lead trainer for Prevention Innovations Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, through which she trains colleges, universities, and community organizations to implement Bringing in the Bystander®. She is also a graduate student in the Program on Gender-Based Violence within the University of Colorado Denver School of Public Affairs. Her research currently focuses on campus sexual assault and intimate partner violence prevention programs, trauma-informed organizational cultures, and compassion satisfaction. She holds a bachelor’s degree in history and a master’s degree in social work from Washington University in St. Louis and a graduate certificate in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender health from Drexel University. LB previously lead Emory University’s Respect Program and the St. Louis County Domestic Violence Court volunteer program. She is a board member for Jane Doe Advocacy Center and the Association of Title IX Administrators. She serves on the founding leadership council of the Campus Advocates & Prevention Professionals Association (CAPPA). You can follow her on twitter @LB_Klein or on her website at http://www.lbklein.net.

Rupande Mehta, New Jersey, USA

Rupande is a writer passionate about women’s rights in India and the world. Having experienced physical and sexual violence from a very young age has made Rupande a fervent advocate of violence against women. Rupande grew up in Mumbai, India where she was consistently subject to street harassment and various cultural norms that force women to live as second class citizens. All these experiences made Rupande’s resolve stronger to campaign for equal rights for women and girls. Rupande has an MBA and is currently working towards her MPA, looking to specialize in Non Profit Management. Rupande writes for the Huffington Post and various other websites. You can find her writing on her blog at Rupande-mehta.tumblr.com or follow her on Twitter @rupandemehta. In her spare time, Rupande loves to spend time with her family, cook healthy foods and read.

Kathleen Moyer, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Kathleen is a full-time graduate student studying professional and business communication. After earning her master’s degree, she hopes to pursue a career in which she’ll be able to dedicate her life to her greatest passion: social justice. As a proud feminist, Kathleen feels strongly about striving for equality in all areas of society. She is currently involved in planning initiatives to increase awareness of sexual assault, domestic violence, and other related issues through her university’s anti-sexual violence group, Explorers Against Sexual Violence. In addition to this work, she has also assisted with volunteer recruitment for Philadelphia’s 2015 March to End Rape Culture, and plans to be involved in organizing the United Nations Association of Greater Philadelphia’s 2016 International Women’s Day event. Some of her feminist role models include Alice Paul, Gloria Steinem, and Malala Yousafzai. Outside of her activism, Kathleen enjoys reading mystery novels, watching the Philadelphia Eagles, listening to U2, and anything involving dogs.

Kayla Parker, Washington, D.C., USA

Kayla is a sophomore acting major at Howard University and is a native of Birmingham, Alabama. She is passionate about theatre arts and film and strives to use her craft to create positive societal change. In addition to focusing on school, she spends her time working on her web-series, “Black Girls R Us” that aims to uplift black women of all different shapes, sizes, and shades. For updates on episode releases, you can follow her on twitter at @TheTimidLioness.

Julia Tofan, Connecticut, USA

Julia is a student in a rural town in Connecticut. She’s passionate about gender equality and feminism and she aspires to be an activist for marginalized populations. She first became interested in human rights when recognizing the great inequality in the world. She realized that education was a powerful way to combat inequality, so she joined Givology, a nonprofit dedicated to improving access to education, as a blogger. She now also writes for Dreams That Could Be, an organization telling the stories of students facing great challenges but persevering in their education, and is excited about being a Street Harassment Correspondent. She believes raising awareness about issues and educating others is the most powerful way to make a difference, and that’s what she seeks to do. Read her blog posts on Givology and Dreams That Could Be and follow her on Twitter @Julia_Tofan!

ProChange, Germany

ProChange is a group of people between 20 and 64 years of age who are active. ProChange consists of a small group of core members in a network of other activists. Their main focus is on street harassment, sexism and sexualized violence. They are opposed to all forms of exploitation which are all inter-connected.

“It is a woman’s fundamental right…to walk the streets and not be groped”

January 8, 2016 By HKearl

In the wake of the mass attacks on German women last week, Musa Okwonga (“a poet, author, sportswriter, broadcaster, musician, public relations consultant and commentator on current affairs”) wrote a powerful piece on his blog titled, “How to deal with the sexual assaults in Cologne and Hamburg.”

The whole piece is worth a read, and I especially appreciate his final paragraph:

“Why don’t we just start with the premise that it is a woman’s fundamental right, wherever she is in the world, to walk the streets and not be groped. And why don’t we see this as a perfect moment for men, regardless of our ethnic backgrounds, to get genuinely angry about the treatment of women in public spaces: to reject with fury the suggestion that we are somehow conditioned by society forever to treat women as objects, condemned by our uncontrollable sexual desires to lunge at them as they walk past. Let’s do our best to challenge the rampant misogyny which has gone on worldwide for far too long, and reject whatever lessons of sexist repression we may have been taught. Because women are tired of telling us about this, and exhausted of fighting a battle that for too long has gone overlooked.”

YES!. Thank you, Musa.

It is sad that a statement like his is so rare. We MUST have more men step up and speak out against gender-based violence.

Woman Killed in U.S., Women Migrants Targeted Abroad

January 7, 2016 By HKearl

Trigger Warning

Here are two upsetting stories for the new year so far (in addition to the attacks on women in Germany). We have so much more work to do.

First, I am sorry to share the news of another senseless death that started as a benign conversation, escalated to street harassment and then to gunshots!! Our thoughts are with Sara’s friends & family.

Via CNN:

“Sara Mutschlechner was driving through the Dallas suburb with three passengers around 2 a.m. (3 a.m. ET) Friday when a gray Honda Pilot with five to six males inside pulled up next to them, Kizer said at a Tuesday afternoon press conference.

“It was an amicable conversation to begin with, but quickly went downhill and some derogatory statements were made toward the female occupants of that vehicle,” the Denton Police spokesman told reporters.

Kizer described those “very derogatory” remarks as being of a “sexual nature,” adding that a male inside Mutschlechner’s vehicle responded by calling them out as offensive.

“Some comments were made back towards him, even a couple of threats were thrown,” the police spokesman said. “About that time, they were driving through the intersection … when several shots were fired.”

One of those shots struck Mutschlechner in the head, according to Denton Police.

She quickly lost control of her car, which first hit another vehicle leaving a nearby parking lot before veering into an electrical pole.

The Honda Pilot, meanwhile, fled.

Mutschlechner, a University of North Texas student and member of the Zeta Tau Alpha sorority, died after being transported to an area hospital. She was a designated driver that night and had not been drinking, witnesses said.”

The second story comes from the New York Times and is about men targeting migrant women from countries like Syria for sexual abuse.

“Interviews with dozens of migrants, social workers and psychologists caring for traumatized new arrivals across Germany suggest that the current mass migration has been accompanied by a surge of violence against women. From forced marriages and sex trafficking to domestic abuse, women report violence from fellow refugees, smugglers, male family members and even European police officers. There are no reliable statistics for sexual and other abuse of female refugees….

As some women painted their hands with henna and others traded frustrations about the time it was taking to get refugee status, Samar, a 35-year-old former employee of the Syrian Finance Ministry, opened up about the particular stress of being a woman on the move. Bombed out of her home in Darayya, a suburb of Damascus that early in the civil war became known for antigovernment protests, Samar spent 14 months on the road alone with her three daughters, ages 2, 8 and 13.

“I did not leave them out of my sight for one minute,” she said in Arabic, speaking through an interpreter. She and other single mothers slept in shifts along the way, watching over their daughters and one another.

But in Izmir, Turkey, about to board a boat to Greece, Samar was robbed and left with no money to pay the smuggler. A stocky man who called himself Omar, he offered to take her for free, but only if she had sex with him. Samar had heard him before, at night, in the hostel where she and other refugee women were staying, “going to this room and that.”

“Everybody knows there are two ways of paying the smugglers,” she said. “With money or with your body.”

But she refused, and Omar became angry. That night he burst into Samar’s room, threatening her and her daughters before her screaming chased him away. Samar stayed in Turkey for almost a year to work and save up the 4,000 euros needed for the remainder of the journey.

Sitting with her youngest daughter curled on her lap, Samar concluded: “Almost all men in the world are bad.”

Across town, in west Berlin, Ms. Höhne sympathized, but had a more nuanced view. There are no easy solutions, she said. Female-only shelters are not an option because most families want to stay together. Some women rely on men for protection. And, she added, “We mustn’t forget many of the men are traumatized, too.”

“There is no black and white, good and evil,” she said. “If we want to help the women, we need to help the men, too.”

Men Target More Than 100 German Women on New Year’s Eve

January 6, 2016 By HKearl

UPDATE 1/7: Here are a few more recent articles:

“German Muslims condemn Cologne attacks, fear consequences“

“Cologne sex attacks ‘require police rethink‘”

“Cologne New Year gang assaults: Victim, 18, says up to 30 men groped and robbed her and her 11 friends“

“German women use social media to mock the Cologne Mayor’s advice on preventing sexual assault“

Horrible news out of Germany, via BBC:

“The mayor of Cologne has summoned police for crisis talks after about 80 women reported sexual assaults and muggings by men on New Year’s Eve.

The scale of the attacks on women at the city’s central railway station has shocked Germany. About 1,000 drunk and aggressive young men were involved….Women were also targeted in Hamburg, but the Cologne assaults – near the city’s iconic cathedral – were the most serious, German media report. At least one woman was raped, and many were groped….

What is particularly disturbing is that the attacks appear to have been organised. Around 1,000 young men arrived in large groups, seemingly with the specific intention of carrying out attacks on women.”

The New York Times has more on the story, including this:

“Several hundred people gathered in front of Cologne’s cathedral late Tuesday to protest violence against women. Several groups promoting women’s rights have complained that the authorities have not taken allegations of sexual abuse of women in refugee shelters seriously enough.”

Our thoughts are with the women and hope they may find the support and help they need to heal.

#16Days of Activism: Hosting Youth Workshops (Day 13)

December 7, 2015 By HKearl

Nov. 25 – Dec. 10 are the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence. To commemorate the week, we are featuring 1 activism idea per day. This information is excerpted from my new book Stop Global Street Harassment: Growing Activism Around the World (Praeger 2015).

Street harassment begins at a young age for many people. More adults are recognizing this and the importance of creating spaces, like workshops, for youth to talk about their experiences and brainstorm strategies of resistance. Youth workshops have taken place in countries like the United States, Cameroon, and Germany.

In March 2012 in the United States, female youth organizers at the Brooklyn, New York-based nonprofit Girls for Gender Equity (GGE) hosted “Bring Your Brother Day” to talk about street harassment. The young women of GGE “felt strongly about the importance of bringing the young men in their lives into their work to counteract sexual harassment and gender-based violence,” wrote community organizer Neferiti Martin and intern Katie Bowers for the SSH blog. “The workshop grew out of youth organizers’ concerns that the conversation around street harassment and gender-based violence is taking place primarily among women. By reaching out to the young men in their lives, youth organizers are working to build allies.”

The three-hour workshop explored gender stereotypes and how they impacted the lives of young people and included street harassment story sharing and a discussion about how young men can be allies to young women. “The young men were thoughtful, open, and engaged throughout the workshop,” wrote Martin and Bowers. “Their comments and opinions added new depth to the conversation and reflected the positive influence of the awesome young women in their lives.”

Wearing orange shirts that said “Stop Street Harassment,” 25 youth aged 15–19 attended a street harassment seminar in Buea, Cameroon, in December 2013 that was organized by Zoneziwoh M. Wondieh, the leader of Young Women for a Change, Cameroon (WFAC). In small groups, the youth shared their stories of harassment, ranging from whistling to grabbing and touching. “African baby,” “Fine ass,” “My size,” and “Pretty butts” were examples of verbal harassment the girls said they had faced. One boy shared how he had been sexually harassed by a man and how it made him understand better what his female peers experienced on a regular basis.

For six hours the youth listened to guest speakers, learned steps for dealing with harassers, and engaged in role-play and debates with the goal of being ready to mentor others and speak out against harassment in their community. As an outcome of the youth seminar, WFAC launched an SMS text campaign to send educational text messages about street harassment to anyone who wants to receive them on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. Wondieh posts tips and information over social media, too. She estimates that she has reached 1,000 youth through her various efforts, and she’s having an impact. For example, a young man recently told her that thanks to the information she shares, he has “reconsidered what he thinks is proper behavior toward women.”

In Germany, the women in the group ProChange recognize that the best place to start educating people about street harassment, sexual violence, and sexism is in schools, so in 2014, they created violence prevention and assertiveness workshop trainings for students ages 9–12 years old. So far, they have held one workshop and are working to secure more funding to be able to lead more. “We want to achieve a shift in their mindset so that the youth can be self-confident and free from role models and stereotypes,” they told me. “In our view it is important to start at an early age because they are already surrounded by stereotypes and influenced by sexist advertisements and media … [We want them] to be empowered to choose their own ways.”

Help fund our work in 2016, donate to our end-of-year giving campaign!

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