Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

This Friday: Subway Harassment Discussion on the Radio

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“Sick of being on the alert or being harassed on the subway where crimes that are often discrimination-based that disproportionately affect women, minorities and LGBT folk happen? Find out how the MTA hides these crime stats and what to do about it from Emily May co-founder of HollabackNYC.com and New Yorkers for Safe Transit, and co-chair of Girls for Gender Equity”

On Friday, June 19, 2009, HollabackNYC co-founder Emily May will be on the NYC radio station WBAI from 1 – 1:40 p.m. EST talking about harassment on the NY public transportation system. The show will be accepting calls – so call in to give her your questions and feedback!

You also can listen to the show live over the Internet.

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NYers for Safe Transit: June Community Forum

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TakeBackPublicTransitJune8EventNYCAs recent news stories attest, gender-based harassment on public transportation in NYC is a problem. Want to be part of the discussion around finding a solution?

“In response to an ongoing rash of sexual assaults and harassment occurring in the subways, New Yorkers for Safe Transit (NYFST) is hosting a forum for concerned community members and anti-violence activists to analyze the rampancy of gender-based violence in the New York City public transit system and discuss strategies to address this problem…

New Yorkers for Safe Transit are urging the MTA to take greater responsibility to increase riders’ safety by implementing better protocols to address violence, by training employees to be appropriate first responders, and by installing upgraded or repairing broken emergency equipment.

Emily May from HollabackNYC, Doyin Ola from RightRides, Veronica Tirado from Girls for Gender Equity, and Cate Contino from the Straphangers Campaign, are expected to speak at the forum on issues including budget cuts, organizing straphangers, addressing violence, and making change within our public transit system.”

PROGRAM: Taking Back Public Transit: Confronting Violence on Board (community forum)
DATE: Monday, June 8, 2009
TIME: 7 – 9 p.m.
LOCATION: Brecht Forum, 451 West St. (btwn. Bank & Bethune)

Please join them for this important forum and help spread the word! (Contact info for them)

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Street Harassment Round Up – April 26

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Stories:

A contributor on Holla Back DC wrote about getting harassed by a UPS employee. She reported him and received support from the person she spoke to at UPS.

HollaBack Toronto reported that two men abducted and sexually assaulted a young woman in the Younge St-Davisville Road area earlier in the week. Visit their site to learn more — anyone with information can call Crime Stoppers at 416-222-8477.

Reports:

MBTA released information about their sexual harassment campaign on their subway system (the T) in Boston. They feel it’s been successful in raising awareness about how to deal with the problem as groping complaints went up 74 perecent from the previous year and police arrested 24 people for indecent assault and battery (up 85 percent from the year before).

Upcoming Events:

April 29: Holla Back DC‘s Official Blog Launch Party, 6 – 8 p.m. at Cafe Citron

May 2: Girls for Gender Equity’s “Hey…Shorty!” documentary will be featured at the 8th Annual Women of African Descent Film Festival at 11 a.m., in the Spike Lee Screening Room of Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus in New York. Cost: free

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Gender Equity Festival 2008

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For those in New York this weekend, check this out —

Girls for Gender Equity presents:
The 3rd Annual NYC Gender Equality Festival
a celebration of arts and activism in central Brooklyn
July 19, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Von King Park between Tompkins & Marcy at Lafayette

A FREE public event for education, networking, resource sharing, community interaction, arts, recreation and entertainment.

The Festival will feature arts organizations, service groups, youth organizations, educators, grassroots organizers, and nonprofits as well as:

  • Food & Refreshments!
  • Guest Speakers!
  • Live Performances!
  • Giveaways of wonderful prizes!

Artists, community organizations, and local politicians will participate, offering inspirational performances and important information to attendees about a wide variety of topics – responding to street harassment, HIV/AIDS, self defense, youth leadership, every day activism, ending police violence, reproductive justice, and more.

Girls for Gender Equity’s Sisters in Strength teen interns will also be presenting the findings from their groundbreaking research on sexual harassment in NYC schools. As the first high school lead Participatory Action Research project on the topic, their goals are to raise awareness about students’ experiences of harassment and make recommendations for change. Girls for Gender Equity is forming a coalition to address this crucial issue, and extends an invitation to organizations interested in participating in this effort.

To find out more, visit www.ggenyc.org.

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Tragedy and a Play

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I’d be remiss not to mention the recent death of a young woman who was shot by young men at a red light after she and her friends refused to give them their phone numbers. It chills my blood that her life is over because she refused to give out her phone number. It is just horrendous. It’s a reminder that street harassment isn’t harmless and there’s no guarantee of safety, even from inside one’s own car. This incident is similar to one that Hawley Fogg-Davis wrote about in her article “A Black Feminist Critique of Same-Sex Street Harassment.”

As a person very interested in ways we can work to combat street harassment, I feel somewhat baffled about how to prevent murders from happening in street harassment encounters. I always suggest a multi-layered approach to ending street harassment, through tactics like talking about one’s experiences with street harassment, educating others about it, confronting harassers, and intervening when others are harassed. Would any of these tactics have really stopped these young men? It seems like no matter how these women reacted to the men – ignoring, talking back, etc – they were going to get shot at because the men must have been plain crazy. Who shoots someone if they don’t give you their phone number?! It’s hard not to get discouraged by this sort of incident. It shows the darkest side of humanity. But I guess we can’t let ourselves be defeated and we’ve got to keep on educating people about street harassment and hope that one day people won’t have to lose their lives in cases of street harassment …

On a more upbeat note, for anyone in NYC tonight, HollabackNYC is partnering with Girls for Gender Equity (GGE) and the Coffee Cup theatre in their new production, “Standing Clear” – a comedy about the distance we put between us on the subway. The play will be followed by a talk back featuring Joanne Smith, founder and executive director of GGE, and Emily May, GGE board member and founder of HollabackNYC.com. The play will be followed by a wine and cheese reception and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to GGE. Purchase tickets.

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