Stop Street Harassment

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Brazil: Marching for women’s rights and against neoliberal agenda

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Yasmin Curzi, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, SSH Blog Correspondent

Credit: Carol Burgos

For months, feminist Facebook pages announced and spread the word: A women’s strike was going to happen in Rio on Thursday, March 8, 2018.

The page “8M – RJ”, one of the most vital representatives of the strike, says in a manifesto on their Facebook page that they “belong to national and international feminist movements” and are also from “labor’s unions, parties, collectives and other social movements.”

They are also from Black women, lesbian and trans* movements. The heritage of the Russian Revolution is also highlighted. “We are the vanguard in revolutionary processes in Brazil and worldwide. And the March 8th of 1917 remarks it when, in a context of crisis and with country’s brutality, women factory workers organized a strike which was the very first cause of Russian Revolution.”

It was expected nearly 30 thousand women would attend the rallies and march in the city center.

I woke up on March 8 to the news that women from Landless Movement had occupied a Globo[1] graphic park in Rio in defense of democracy[2]. It gave me hope that even the torrential rain that day wasn’t going to stop women from their combative and fiery demonstration. This article is about what I saw there.

As soon as I arrived, because of the rain, I spotted the tent for the women’s sector of Labor’s Party. They were distributing material to inform the people of the risks of the “evil’s pack” from President Michel Temer’s administration. A sound car was parked in the square in front of Candelaria’s Church, and women with legislative mandates were speaking against Temer’s administration. In their speeches they were opposing the federal intervention in public security in Rio de Janeiro[3], against the conservative mayor of Rio de Janeiro Crivella and gender-based violence, and speaking in favor of women’s reproductive rights, legal abortion and political representation.

At 6 p.m., the march began. It was time for “Slam das Mina”[4] to make a splendorous presentation in the sound car. Women’s World March Brazil had a drum music group who were chanting and shouting lyrics like, “Women against war, women against the capital! / Women for the end of racism and neoliberal capitalism! / Women want the land, women want to be equal! / Women want international socialism and feminism.”[5]

We marched until 8 p.m. and we finished with a big circle of women holding hands and chanting in solidarity with Latin America and each other. We spoke against feminicide and male privileged citizenship and in favor of a real democracy – one truly produced by the people.

Former president Dilma Vana Rousseff’s impeachment opened a wound in Brazil’s already fragile democracy – for it has always been with its economy under the control of international market’s actors. Neoliberal measures of Temer’s administration, in relation to labor laws, social security, art, culture and public security, do not seem to come from the popular will. All of the public policies against poverty of the Labor’s Party governments have suffered somehow with the austerity actions. Likewise, institutions created by Labor Party toward the combat of racism and gender inequality were affected, e.g. Special Secretariat of Policies for Women[6] lost its statute of Ministry to become a part of Justice Ministry, in a dismantling process.

For the political scientist Flavia Biroli[7], “parliamentary coup of 2016 put an end to the channels of dialogue between government and feminist movements”. In this way, the advances conquered by social movements struggles since the end of military dictatorship have been under constant menace. Neoliberal capitalism, holding hands with conservatism, push its agenda against gender equality with fake news and spreading fear to canalize people insecurities in relation to social changes — i.e. transformations in sexuality and in family models — in order to turn society against left parties and social movements. To explain better, this economic agenda isn’t in public debate, but hidden inside a moral agenda.

Biroli also points to Patricia Collins’ work about citizenship, saying that the sub inclusion of all women and all Black people signifies the super inclusion of white men – which are a numeric minority in Brazilian society. The struggle against power and wealth concentration should be the fundamental concern of feminist movements in order to redefine the concept of democracy.

The usual concept of democracy, centered in representative institutions, neglect discussions of relevant subjects which have huge impacts on minorities everyday lives. We can say that the “institutions of public life”, in reality, were built by the interests and discussions of the power elite. And if the distance of Brazilian parliament from the actual people is extensive, and we are living in a context where social movements can no longer act with and alongside the State, it’s terribly necessary to engender an other type of democracy that could be able to really articulate the popular will. True channels of civil society to achieve the representative institutions, such as mechanisms to enable the pressure from civil society over parliamentarians, and also for people to decide the destination of public resources.

Fundamentally, from my experience as a militant, feminist movements have been the ultimate source of hope against apathy. They have the potential to combat the hegemony of neoliberal and conservative sectors, for they incarnate the project of an inclusive democracy. And, even with the constant backlashes, young girls and women are more and more conscious that they have to fight for their rights – that they aren’t fully conquered, for liberal democracy is controlled by men and our rights are always seen as a bargaining chip in legislative trading desks. We have a lot to achieve and the organization is just beginning.

[1]         The country’s largest TV and radio broadcasting company that supported the military dictatorship, indirectly supported Dilma’s impeachment and helps in Lula’s persecution, and has an explicit neoliberal agenda against left sectors, despite being a government grantee and despite the fact that the guarantee of the right to communication should be a State duty.

[2]         See: http://www.redebrasilatual.com.br/cidadania/2018/03/mulheres-ocupam-parque-grafico-da-globo-no-rio

[3]         A populist way of Temer’s to conquer some kind of legitimacy was by putting the National Army in the command of public security in Rio de Janeiro. Also, now there are two militaries occupying chairs as ministries. See: http://www.rioonwatch.org/?p=42012

[4]         A slam poetry group of pheripheral women that make poetry with their everyday experiences and about the impacts of State and male violence in their individual trajectories.

[5]         In the original “Mulheres contra a guerra, mulheres contra o capital! Mulheres contra o racismo e o capitalismo neoliberal! Mulheres querem a terra, mulheres querem ser igual/ Mulheres querem feminismo e socialismo internacional.”

[6]         See Lourdes Bandeira, “Que vont devenir les actions du Secrétariat de Politique pour Femmes (SPM) au Brésil?” Available at: <https://www.cairn.info/revue-cahiers-du-genre-2016-3-page-243.htm>

[7]         See Flavia Biroli “Gênero e desigualdades: os limites da democracia no Brasil” 1ª Ed. São Paulo: Boitempo, 2018.

Yasmin is a Research Assistant at the Center for Research on Law and Economics at FGV-Rio. She has a Master’s Degree in Social Sciences from PUC-Rio where she wrote her thesis on street harassment and feminists’ struggles for recognition. 

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What Could Women and Girls Achieve If They Were Safe

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Many, many studies demonstrate the myriad ways that women are discriminated against and unequal in countries world-wide. In the United States, our latest nationally representative study, done in partnership with Raliance and UCSD Center for Gender Equity and Health, adds to the stark picture.

For just a few of the many alarming data points:

  • 81% of women nationwide have experienced sexual harassment and/or assault in their lifetime.
  • 51% of women nationwide have reported being touched or groped without their permission.
  • 27% of women nationwide are survivors of sexual assault.

Among women who experienced sexual harassment and/or assault:

  • 57% said their first experience of sexual abuse occurred by age 17.
  • 88% said they’d experienced sexual harassment or assault in multiple locations.
  • The #1 location for experiences of sexual harassment was a public space and the #1 location for sexual assault was a private residence.

How can women and girls ever hope to achieve equality with men and boys when we are disproportionately harmed, and harmed across many spaces of our life (private homes, public spaces, schools, workplaces, online, etc.)?

And what could women and girls collectively achieve if we were not worrying about staying safe? If we were not regularly practicing avoidance strategies to try to reduce encounters of harassment and assault? If we were not being harassed as a tactic to exclude us from decision-making and leadership positions? If we were not coping with the aftermath of trauma from sexual harassment and assault?

Would world hunger be solved? Would climate change not be an issue? Would gun violence be reduced?

We expend so much time and energy just dealing with the threat of, the actual experiences of, and the aftermath of sexual harassment and assault that it robs us of valuable time and energy that we could use in more productive, fun and useful ways. We lose. Our community loses. The world loses.

This International Women’s Day, the theme is #PushforProgress. What will you do to push for the elimination of sexual harassment and assault?

Whatever you choose to do, you can make a difference and help ensure that the world becomes a more equitable place for women and girls.

And if you have the means, you can be our hero by making a tax-deductible donation today and help fund our initiatives (like national research, International Anti-Street Harassment Week and transit campaigns). Our work is made possible by generous individual donors.

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Northern Ireland: How Do We Best React to Street Harassment?

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Elaine Crory, Belfast, Northern Ireland, SSH Blog Correspondent

2016 street harassment themed mural in Brooklyn, NY

I’ve written at length about the damaging long-term implications of street harassment; about how it hurts the self esteem of women and girls and encourages the idea that public space belongs to men. It teaches us at a young and impressionable age that we should expect to receive comments on our appearance, be they positive or negative, when out in public. It teaches us to feel scared and ashamed when we are yelled at, followed or groped by men rather than to feel defiant and angry.

In the spirit of International Women’s Day’s 2017 theme Be Bold for Change, I want to look at some of the positive steps individual women and activist groups have taken to challenge the assumptions that allow street harassment to continue, and to suggest some ways that we can try to dismantle rape culture altogether and boldly change the rotten structures that hold it up.

Over the past decade, technology has advanced a great deal. Smartphones mean that most people have excellent cameras to hand at all times, and internet access at the touch of a button. When Hollaback! was originally conceived it was intended primarily as a way for women to share their stories and to gain strength from the expression of solidarity from others who “have your back”. Women were encouraged to snap photos, if they felt confident enough, and to challenge their harassers verbally.

Soon the word spread and it became clear that street harassment was an international phenomena with many regional quirks which allowed for responses as diverse and inventive as the women who experienced it. Women began to use social media to spread stories and share ideas, and a number of different groups sprang up, including our own Stop Street Harassment, with the aim of spreading resistance and standing up to the tired narrative that tried to convince us that it is all a harmless joke.

Individual women have spoken of how freeing it is to challenge harassers peacefully but forcefully, to put them in the spot and demand that they account for their behaviour – which, invariably they cannot – and how it becomes clear in doing so that what has happened is not their fault. Victim blaming is one of the decaying planks upon which the whole structure of rape culture rests, and challenging that has proven again and again to be a powerful antidote to the power of street harassment. In India a project by Blank Noise called I Never Ask for It collects stories and images of what women were wearing when they were harassed or sexually assaulted, the mundanity of the clothing giving the lie to the old excuse. Jezebel conducted an informal survey of circumstances in which women had endured harassment, and the variety is both impressive and proof positive that is is not about what we wear or where we go. The point of these exercises, more than anything else, seems to be to prove to ourselves and to society generally, that victim blaming will not wash. And there is power in that, in saying “no, this is all in you”.

What next, though? This list is endless and growing, a testament to the creativity and dedication of activists all over the world.

All of these actions are positive, confronting harassment directly in an active way. They challenge behaviour and help to put power back in our hands.

But the root causes of street harassment remain, and far too many people fail to understand why it is wrong. So the problem persists across generations. But it does not have to. When a number of universities introduced mandatory consent classes a significant number of young men reacted angrily, as though an understanding of consent and appropriate behaviour was simply innate and did not have to be taught. I would argue that this reaction demonstrates just how deeply rape culture has permeated, and shows that we have reached many of these young people too late. Comprehensive and compulsory sex and relationship education (SRE) that covers sexist attitudes and treatment of women in public space as well as in interpersonal relationships would go a long way towards preventing these harmful ideas from taking root to start with.

Let’s start where the problem starts. If the timbers that hold up rape culture are rotten, let’s replace them with some new planks fit to hold up confident, respectful and responsible relationships between all humans. Let’s be bold for change.

Elaine is a part-time politics lecturer and a mother of two. She is director of Hollaback! Belfast, co-organises the city’s annual Reclaim the Night march, and volunteers with Belfast Feminist Network and Alliance for Choice to campaign for a broad range of women’s issues.

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“Not Your Baby” Tattoo

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Editor’s Note: My friend Lucé Tomlin-Brenner (watch her stand-up set about street harassment) posted this on her Facebook page this week and gave me permission to share it here.

LuceTattoo-March2016

I just got a beautiful new piece designed by Olivia Britz-Wheat at Blacklist Tattoo in Portland, Oregon, [based on Lucé’s concept] that means a great deal to me. Not only is it an homage to my dear friends War on Women and their anti-street harassment song “Broken Record,” but it is an act of defiance in the persistent face of rape culture.

I have been verbally, emotionally and sexually harassed by men I don’t know for more than half my life. It’s happened while walking down the street, riding on public transportation, working retail/service industry jobs, on college campuses, and while performing on stage. It’s happened in every city I’ve ever lived, visited, or worked in. It’s happened at punk shows that are supposed to be my safe places. These are not compliments, they are violations. They are threats to my mental and physical safety.

Today, March 8th, is International Women’s Day. This happens regularly to most women and girls across the world (and most members of the GLBTQ community as well). Street harassment crosses all socioeconomic and racial lines. It happens no matter what you’re wearing. This has to end. We cannot be fully free when we are scared to walk, bike, exist in public alone.

Stand up against street harassment everyday, any way you can, with any means necessary.

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The UK’s First National Street Harassment Study

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EVAWstudy3.8.16End Violence Against Women Coalition, our allies in the UK, commissioned YouGov to conduct the first national poll on street harassment. The results were released today, for International Women’s Day.

Prevalence:

64% of women of all ages have experienced unwanted sexual harassment in public places. (This is almost the same as the USA, our 2014 study found that 65% of women had been harassed.) Additionally, 35% of women had experienced unwanted sexual touching.

Age:

When they looked at just young women ages 18-24, however, the percentages increased significantly: 85% had faced sexual harassment in public spaces and 45% had experienced unwanted sexual touching.

Related, across all ages of women, most said it began at a young age. More than 1 in 4 said it happened before age 16, and more than 3 in 4 said it happened by age 21.

Bystanders/Upstanders:

Sadly, only 11% of women said anyone had intervened when they were harassed though 81% said they wished someone had.

Changing Their Life:

When it comes to feeling safe, 63% of women (versus 45% of men) said they generally feel unsafe in public spaces and almost half do conscious “safety planning” when they go out in the evenings.

What Can We Do:

When asked what should be done, many said “they supported more police (53%), better street lighting (38%), more transport staff (38%) and public awareness campaigns encouraging others to intervene (35%). No women we asked believed this problem should be ignored and no measures taken.”

Racialized Sexual Harassment:

Because women of color may also face racialized sexual harassment, EVAW partnered with Imkaan to produce a five minute film featuring young women of color talking about their experiences.

In discussing what it feels like to experience racist sexual harassment one woman in the film says:

“My experiences are different as a Black woman than they are for my white friends. I should be ‘up for it’ or I am ‘fair game’, or I shouldn’t care if my body is touched in a specific way.

And another woman says:

“After me ignoring them, that’s when it turns racial, so that’s when it might be ‘you black this’ or ‘you black that…how dare you ignore me’.”

In a press release for the film and survey, Lia Latchford, Policy and Campaigns Coordinator at Imkaan said:

“Our film tells a powerful story of young black women’s everyday experience of racialised sexual harassment. For us, we cannot ‘leave race out of it’ because the way we are treated is based on how our whole identities are perceived as black women. This harassment and abuse often uses racist stereotypes and insults as an attempt to put black women in our place. Everyone, adults and young people alike, need to talk about it and it needs to stop.”

Sarah Green, Acting Director at the End Violence Against Women Coalition said:

“Sexual harassment is an everyday experience which women and girls learn to deal with, but it’s time to hold a mirror up to it and challenge it. We did this survey to find out about the scale of sexual harassment and the impact it has on the way women live. If women are planning their lives around not being harassed or assaulted, they are not free. Women should be free to live their lives without the threat of harassment and violence, not having to plan and limit their choices to make sure they’re safe.”

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