Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Free webinar about writing street harassment opinion pieces

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Did you know that around 85 percent of the opinion pieces (op-eds) in American newspapers are written by men, most often by white men? The Op-Ed Project trains women to learn how to write op-eds and to feel comfortable having and sharing opinions. I went through their training last February and since then I have had a few op-eds published. It was an amazingly empowering experience to recognize and own what I know, write about it, and then see that writing published (though I also received many rejections!).

If you’re interested in learning about writing op-eds, particularly ones about street harassment, I invite you to participate in a free webinar this Saturday at noon EST that HollaBack is holding. I will be one of the panelists along with journalist Elizabeth Mendez Berry, whose op-ed in the largest Spanish language American newspaper El Diario led to the first-ever city council hearing on street harassment in NYC in October.

If you have the time on Saturday, I really encourage you to join us to find out what you can do to get your opinion published, raise awareness on a larger scale about the problems of street harassment, and – for women readers – help to make the national dialogue more balanced!

Details for the webinar.

(Thanks, KAZ for organizing what I’m sure will be an amazing webinar!)

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Street Harassment Snapshot: December 5, 2010

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Read women’s stories, news articles, blog posts, and tweets about street harassment from the past week and find relevant announcements and upcoming street harassment events.

Story Submissions Recap:

I accept street harassment submissions from anywhere in the world. Share your story!

Image via TIME

In the News, On the Blogs:

Upcoming Events:

  • Dec. 11, 2010: Webinar about writing street harassment op-eds with journalist Elizabeth Mendez Berry, HollaBack ED Emily May, and me, noon – 1:30 p.m. EST. Contact Kira for info (kira DOT zmuda AT gmail.com)
  • Dec. 14, 2010: Stop Street Harassment book giveaway and chat about street harassment during AAUW’s Cocktails and Convos at Nage, Washington, DC, 5 – 7 p.m. EST

Announcements:

Ten Tweets from the Week:

  • rightingteacher Vigorous defense of street harassment from one boy, much concerned about his right to leer and whistle, less so girls’ right to feel safe.
  • CatCall Tried to forget the grossest #catcall ever last night: no words just 2 men grunting & moaning in the most explicit way as I walked by. Eww!
  • SurvJustice @StopStHarassmnt I love your cause, street harassment needs to stop and not be excused or ignored
  • driftmako @bridraffen it isn’t intended to “work,” like most street harassment it is about the man performing/exerting power over you
  • meredithmo A bit of good, old-fashioned street harassment, English-style, circa 1959: http://ow.ly/3jIzA
  • iHollaback Hollaback (verb): To respond in a badass way to street harassment, to tell your story (via @nytimes http://nyti.ms/eB6QlR )
  • snakkula Does it ever really work for dudes when they whistle and catcall at girls when driving by? This should be evolutionarily removed by now
  • Bleeohmy Oh my walking down the street and a police officer tells me ‘is my duty to please that booty’ I’m pretty sure that’s harassment.
  • SpookSquad Not just in Tulsa either! RT @hkearl @MRambrose I forgot that street harassment turns into cruising car harassment in Tulsa, OK
  • BillyWerner ladies: please wear a miniature camera & take photos of dudes that catcall u. i am assembling a group of people to beat them to death
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Weekly Round Up: November 7, 2010

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Story Submissions Recap:

I accept street harassment submissions from anywhere in the world. Share your story!

In the News, On the Blogs:

Announcements:

Upcoming Events:

10 Tweets from the Week:

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Now Available: HarassMap and iPhone App

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For more than two years, activists in Egypt have been working on HarassMap, a tool that allows people to report their harassers via SMS messaging and email. Those reports are included on a map that will be used for prevention and policy making to end street harassment. It’s mentioned in my book and when I met with NYC activists Emily May (HollaBack) and Oraia Reid (RightRides) in June 2009 as part of my book research and mentioned it, they were inspired to start working on an iPhone app.

I’m happy to report that both HarassMap and the iPhone App are working and available!

Rebecca Chiao, one of the team leads of HarassMap, just sent this message via the HarassMap Facebook group:

“Thanks to everyone who tried out HarassMap! We need your feedback on how to make it better and more effective. We’re still working on messages, design, and adding more interactive sections on the site (a forum for women to share experiences and tips, self defense videos, etc.) [If you’re in Egypt], please make a report for every time you’re harassed. You don’t have to give your name, just tell us a little about what happened and where. Then send us your feedback on how easy it was to use, or what you would change.

Thanks to you, our tech partners, probono partners, volunteers and supporters for helping us to test the site. Make a report here.”

And from Emily May on the HollaBack website:

“Finally! We are so proud to announce that the iPhone app is in stores.  This app was funded by 356 donors, and we are so, so grateful for their support.  Download it today, here! The Droid app will be coming out within the next few days, stay tuned!”

Read the great NYTimes article that just came out about it.

So if you can and if they are applicable to you, please start using these methods to report your harassers!

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NYC Street Harassment Hearing is a Success!

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Today I had the honor of testifying with 17 other women and men at a city council hearing about the problem of street harassment in New York City. Those who testified included representatives of groups like HollaBack, Girls for Gender Equity, RightRides, NYC-NOW, and Center for Anti-Violence Education, journalist Elizabeth Mendez Berry, the amazing 14-year-old performer/singer The Astronomical Kid, and many community members (including my mother). Every single testimony was powerful, heartfelt, and important.

Each person had about 5 minutes to speak, and I was asked to talk about the global problem and offer policy suggestions. I’m working to collect the testimonies of everyone who spoke to post here so people who couldn’t attend can read them. The official testimonies won’t be available for weeks. To start, here is my testimony and here is the testimony of high school student Grace.

[Update: View or read 10 testimonies from the hearing on my Stop Street Harassment website page for the hearing]

I was able to record all or part of several testimonies and I uploaded them to the Stop Street Harassment YouTube Channel:

Watch testimonies from the hearing

This is historic because it is the first time a major U.S. city has held a hearing on this topic and NYC is one of the largest and most influential cities in the world!!

Julissa Ferreras chaired the meeting and she truly understood and heard us on this issue, as did the other council members. I am grateful to her for organizing the hearing. By the end, she said they would like to pursue the first city-wide study of street harassment and launch an awareness campaign. This is huge. This is social change.

Here’s the HollaBack recap.

Many members of the press were in attendance, including someone from the AP. AP journalist Sara Kugler Frazier wrote an article and already the following media outlets have picked up the story: Washington Post, MSNBC, Boston Globe, NY Post, Salon, Yahoo, Huffington Post, Canadian Press, AJC, USA News, and Kansas City Star. The NY Metro, AM New York, the NYC CBS News, TampaBay.com,  Fox News, and Gothamist also wrote stories. I spoke with a blogger for Ms. so I know it will be covered there, too.

This is amazing coverage for this important issue. I hope every city takes notice and considers holding their own street harassment hearing and working on community solutions for making their city safer and more welcoming for women!

Fox News NYC City Council Street Harassment Hearing Clip
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