Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Online Chat Option of Street Harassment Hotline Launches Today!

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I’m excited to share that the online option of the National Street Harassment Hotline launches NOW!

Anyone in the USA can visit the online hotline to receive help over secure, anonymous IM chat. It is compatible with smartphones, tablets, computers and other internet-enabled devices. And there are options in English & Spanish.

Please help spread the word on social media. Here is a direct link to the Street Harassment Hotline page: http://tinyurl.com/TheSHhotline

And here are direct links to the online hotlines (and both of these links are accessible via the above link):

Facebook - IM Chat - Bilingual

We need YOUR HELP to spread the word to make sure more people know about this free service. Here are two things you can do:

  1. Download shareable social media images and post them on your accounts or website.
  2. Post physical copies of the hotline information (postcards, stickers) in your community (e.g. on community message boards, in public bathrooms, on lamp posts) and/or distribute them at events or conferences. Print your own using images found via this link, or list your mailing address to receive a dozen copies.

The Hotline is fully funded by individual donors. Help cover more call time with a tax-deductible donation today! A mere $11 covers 15 minutes of call time. 

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Street Harassment Phone Hotline Launches Today

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3.5 years after the idea for a street harassment hotline was hatched and six months after a plan was formed, I am thrilled to share that as of TODAY, anyone in the USA can call toll-free for support, help and advice about street harassment. The service is available 24/7, in English or Spanish.

855-897-5910

Help Spread the Word:

  1. Download shareable social media images and post them on your accounts. There are also images that can be posted on websites and designs that can be printed as postcards or stickers.
  2. Join our Thunderclap. We need at least 100 people signed up for the message to be sent out.
  3. If you are willing to post physical copies of the hotline information (postcards, stickers) in your community (e.g. on community message boards, in public bathrooms, on lamp posts) and/or distribute them at events or conferences, please list your mailing address and I will send you some.

More about the Hotline:

Stop Street Harassment has partnered with the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) and Defend Yourself to launch the first-ever national street harassment hotline.

The phone service starts TODAY, July 19 (call: 855-897-5910), and an online (through secure IM) option will be available starting on August 10 via www.StopStreetHarassment.org.

The services both will be offered 24/7, in Spanish and English. People will be able to find emotional support, get advice for how to deal with harassers, learn what their legal rights are, and more.

Everything is in place – now we just need to spread the word so people know about it!

Many thanks to the 50+ people who donated to make it possible, to our Spanish language translation volunteers, to our graphics design volunteer, and to Defend Yourself and RAINN for partnering on this. It would not exist otherwise!!

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Spanish Translation Volunteer Opportunity

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Can you speak/write in English and Spanish? Do you want to help address street harassment? Here’s a perfect volunteer opportunity for you, if so!

This summer, we’ll be partnering with the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) and Defend Yourself (DY) to launch the first-ever national street harassment hotline. The hotline will be offered 24/7. As part of the set-up, DY and I am preparing materials that will be used by RAINN’s staff when they take calls. Because the hotline will be offered in both Spanish and English, we need to translate some of our materials into Spanish for the RAINN staff to use with Spanish-speaking callers.

There are about a dozen web pages or articles that would need to be translated into Spanish by June 15. Here are three examples:

https://stopstreetharassment.org/about/what-is-street-harassment/ | https://stopstreetharassment.org/strategies/moment/ | https://medium.com/@hkearl/five-reasons-why-street-harassment-is-serious-15221720f1b7

Let me know if you would have any time in the next 2.5 weeks and be willing to translate one or two (or more) of these items. It would be a huge, huge help. And not only will the translated information be used to help the hotline callers, but it will be posted on the SSH website period, so Spanish speakers coming to the website would be able to gain more information than they can currently because of your help.

In return, I’ll list you in an acknowledgements section on the forthcoming hotline page and also send you some SSH swag in the mail as a thank you!

You can contact me at hkearl @ stopstreetharassment . org. Thanks! – Holly

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Your Donation Will Help Us Expand the National Hotline

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We have some final set-up costs for the national street harassment hotline we’ll be launching in July with the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network and Defend Yourself — can you help?

We need to raise about $2,000 this week (and thank you to the many donors who’ve helped us nearly hit $4,000 since Friday!!). These extra funds will allow us to offer the service in Spanish (as well as English) and through secure online instant messenger, as well as by phone.

For context, $11 = 15 minutes of call time. And every bit helps, whether you can give $11, $25, $50 or more.

THANK YOU!! If you donate, I will send you a personal thank you card, SSH stickers and buttons. And more importantly, you will be ensuring that a much-needed service is launched to help the millions of people who face street harassment.

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Announcement: Street Harassment Hotline Coming in July!

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Stop Street Harassment (SSH) and Defend Yourself are partnering with the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) to launch a gender-based street harassment national hotline in July 2016.

National Street Harassment HotlineRAINN operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline, which provides confidential support those impacted by sexual violence in both Spanish and English. The hotline is available via online chat and by phone 24/7. SSH and Defend Yourself will train RAINN staff who will be answering the National Street Harassment Hotline, to be equipped to help those calling about street harassment.

“We are thrilled about this new partnership and the ability to provide a safe space for those impacted by street harassment to receive help and appropriate resources,” said RAINN’s vice president for victim services, Jennifer Marsh.

Gender-based street harassment affects at least 65% of women and 25% of men in the USA, and it starts at a young age. It can range from catcalls and unwanted sexualized and homophobic comments to illegal acts like following, flashing, groping and sexual assault.

A growing body of research shows that street harassment negatively impacts women emotionally. It can be traumatic for them, especially for survivors of sexual abuse. “Mild” street harassment can escalate into physical harassment without warning and many women and some men have an underlying fear that verbal harassment will become physical. In January 2016, there were two cases – in Texas and Pennsylvania – of street harassment escalating into murder. In late March 2016, a mother in California was shot in the stomach by street harassers whom she confronted for harassing her teenage daughter.

“Street harassment is probably the No. 1 problem that brings women and teen girls to our classes,” says Lauren R. Taylor, director of Defend Yourself. “They desperately need alternatives to ignoring it. With this hotline, we can empower people by sharing skills – and increasing options – for dealing with harassment in public spaces.”

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We have the funds to set up the hotline, but the more money we raise, the more callers we can fund per month to sustain the hotline ($11 = 15 minutes of call time, $22 = 30 minutes).

– $275/month funds 5 hours of call time

– $1,100/month funds 25 hours of call time

Help us reach our $6,600 goal so we can fund at the $1,100 rate for the first six months.

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Meet some of the people who will be answering the hotline!

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