Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Hollaback! Beta Testing: Be the First!

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Cross-posted from Hollaback NYC

Be one of the first to hollaback using our new Iphone app! With the push of a button, you can hollaback at your street harassers and Hollaback! will map it using your phone’s GPS. An automatic email will be sent to your account so you can tell us your story when you are safely back in the comfort of your home.

We are currently in the process of beta testing this new technology and we need your help! To be part of the testing, go to the Iphone store and purchase “UDID” (it’s free). Then use the app to email your UDID number to hollabacknyc@gmail.com. (Rumor has it you can also get the UDID off of iTunes). We’ll make sure you get the new app as soon as our developers complete it.

Your feedback can pave the way for the newest revolution against street harassment. Hollaback!

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Vote for phone app & make it easier to report street harassers

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Cross-posted from HollaBack NYC:

Thanks to the 3,800 of you who voted for Hollaback 2.0, we made it to the second round of the Knight News Foundation. Now we are asking you to vote again.

If you want to stop worrying if you could run in those heels if you needed to, vote again.

If you want to slap the next man who tells you to “smile,” vote again.

If your head scarf, puffy coat, and winter boats still aren’t making you harassment-free, vote again.

Each story you submit is read by 1,000 people: now that’s leadership. Your stories, your vision, and your commitment got us here. Now it’s time to step up our game and build a platform that uses today’s technology to make even easier to Hollaback. We’ve never been able to do it without you, so we’re not going to try now. Vote again.

It’s your future. Make it harassment-free.

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Butt-Slapper in Brooklyn

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Since June 19, there have been nearly a dozen reports of a man slapping women on their backsides on the subway around Crown Heights in Brooklyn, NY. The cops say the women range in age from 19 to 44 years. Via wpix.com:

“The suspect is described as being in his mid-20s, between 5-feet-10-inches and 6-feet tall. He is said to weigh between 175 and 200 pounds. He has short black hair and brown eyes.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers by calling 1-800-577-TIPS, by texting TIP577 to CRIMES, or by going to NYPDCrimeStoppers.com.”

Disgusting! How many women will he have to assault before he gets caught? Not any more, I hope…

The article also mentioned HollaBack NYC for documenting this kind of harassment every week. Go HBNYC!

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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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Where's the Safety Transparency?

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Emily May, one of the co-founders of HollaBack NYC and one of the recent co-founders of New Yorkers for Safe Transit has a great op-ed piece in the NY’s Metro paper about the lack of safety transparency in the crime statistics for NY’s public transportation system.

MTA says there’s been a drop in crime on the subways, however, Emily doesn’t believe they’re accurately tracking persistant harassment crimes that disproportionately impact people of color, LGBTQ folk, and women who fall both within and without the first two groups of people.

“While the experience of harassment and assault is widespread, our access to information on these crimes is severely limited. In 2007, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer’s office released the only report to date on the issue. According to the report, 63 percent of riders are harassed on the subway, and 10 percent are assaulted. With 5 million people riding the subway every weekday, it is fair to say that these crimes are at epidemic proportions.

The MTA’s recent anti-harassment PSAs suggest victims contact an ‘MTA worker or police officer.’ This is an empty gesture; personnel cuts have made station attendants scarce. Riders lucky enough to find help are ‘ignored’ or told ‘there isn’t much they can do,’ according to posts on HollabackNYC.com.

The subways have come a long way since the ’70s, but cleaner trains are not necessarily safer. If we are going to herald our improvements in transit safety, ‘strikes, shoves and kicks,’  ‘following a person in a public place,’ harassment and other misdemeanors must be included in the MTA’s crime count. Until we have safety transparency in our subway, these crimes will continue to stand clear of the closing doors.”

I whole-heartedly agree. I’m very glad she and the other individuals working on New Yorkers for Safe Transit are engaged in activism around this problem.

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