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Early April 2016 News Round-Up

April 2, 2016 By HKearl

Here are a few news stories on my radar recently:

Economic Times, “Widespread sexual harassment still persists in Delhi: Study“

“Sexual harassment remains a pervasive problem in Delhi despite tougher laws being enacted after the gruesome Nirbhaya rape and murder case in 2012, according to a new study that found 40 per cent of female respondents were sexually harassed in the past year.

About 40 per cent of women surveyed in Delhi said they have been sexually harassed in a public place such as a bus or park in the past year, with most of the crimes occurring in the daytime, researchers said.

Further, 33 per cent of women have stopped going out in public and 17 per cent have quit their jobs rather than face harassment in public places.

‘What this means is that women, despite Nirbhaya, are still afraid,’ said Mahesh Nalla, from the Michigan State University in US.”

Telegraph, “German rail operator launches women-only train carriages following sex attacks“

“Mitteldeutsche Regiobahn will introduce the option for women passengers on the Leipzig to Chemnitz line, positioning the carriages next to the train conductor.

‘The local proximity to the customer service representative is chosen deliberately,’ a Mitteldeutsche Regiobahn spokesman said.

The carriages are designed to make solo female travellers or women with young children feel safer on trains.

Boys up to the age of ten will also be allowed to ride in the special carriages.”

Yahoo News, “New York City proposes crackdown on taxi driver sexual harassment“

“New York City’s taxi authority plans new rules for drivers that will impose tougher penalties for sexually charged comments and contact with passengers amid growing concern about harassment.

The Taxi and Limousine Commission, which licenses about 150,000 drivers of yellow cabs and other for-hire vehicles such as Uber [UBER.UL] and Lyft, wants to curb unwanted communication and touching as the number of drivers has significantly grown.

The TLC said the regulations are meant to clear up any confusion about what defines sexual harassment as more drivers enter the industry.

The behavior is already prohibited under a broad definition against threats, harassment or abuse, but the commission’s goal is clear up any confusion about what defines sexual harassment said TLC spokesman Allan Fromberg.

The agency plans to debate the proposal at an April 21 meeting.

‘This rule amendment would provide clear definitions of sexual harassment and unwanted sexual contact, which would help TLC prosecution enforce its rules and protect our passengers,’ he said in a statement.”

The Hollywood Reporter, “‘Ovarian Psycos’: SXSW Review“

“For the women of the Ovarian Psycos Bicycle Brigade, riding through the streets of Los Angeles is an act of guerrilla theater, bandanas optional. Taking back the night — and, on tough and disapproving turf, the daytime streets as well — they’ve staked their place in the riot grrrl lineage and are direct descendants of the feminist and Chicano movements of the ’60s and ’70s.

A concise and intimate documentary on the collective illuminates why they find solace as well as purpose in their DIY activism. Many of these tough pedalers are self-described “at-risk adults,” still pushing against the undertow of abuse and trauma.

As a portrait of the group, Ovarian Psycos, which takes its bow in the Documentary Feature Competition at South by Southwest, is incisively personal rather than all-encompassing. It showcases compelling characters and, at its most potent, explores complex territory between mothers and daughters, tradition and independence. The film is a natural for doc platforms with a political edge.”

Odyssey, “How It Actually Feels To Be Catcalled“

“Here is a look inside the mind of someone who has been verbally harassed by strangers since the age of fourteen.”

The Ohio State University, “Why sexual harassment is worse than other types of abuse online“

“A survey of 293 women who played video games online showed that, while they didn’t like general abuse such as swearing and insults about their game-playing skills, they could dismiss these types of comments from their mind pretty easily.

But even after the game was over, women continued to think about the sexist comments, rape jokes and threats, and other sexually related comments that they received while playing with men.

‘Most women players understand trash talking and having their playing skill insulted, even if they don’t like it,’ said Jesse Fox, lead author of the study and professor of communication at The Ohio State University.

‘But what disturbs them is being targeted simply for being a woman. They don’t easily forget those comments and continue to think about them when they’re done playing.’

And while the results suggested women didn’t think it was the responsibility of gaming companies to stop general harassment, they did seem to blame the companies for not doing more to end sexual harassment.”‘

DAWN, “‘Cycle chalao, patriarchy dubao’: Taking to Karachi streets without the company of men”

“Three girls are cycling ahead of me, one trailing with a poster that reads #GirlsOnBikes. Another has one hung on her back:

‘Hamari sarkein, hamara sheher.’

Fifteen bikers — an unusual sight of kameezes, long hair and dupattas— follow at their pace behind me. There is assurance in travelling in a pack, but our collective confidence is intentional and prepared.

Our all-women bike rally is based on a troubling reality: we are protesting street harassment against women.

Earlier this month, a girl in Lahore was hit by a car of boys while cycling to join the Critical Mass group. The girl — Aneeqa — responded with indifference to their initial attempts at harassment. But that did not deter them; they drove closer, and rammed their car into her bike. The reaction was somehow justified in their head.

Our bike-rally is an act of solidarity for Aneeqa, who, I realise, is probably cycling right now with the girls in Lahore, hardly two weeks since her bruises healed.”

Open Democracy, “Sexual harassment in Kosovo: no longer invisible“

“The oddest finding, however, is the excellent ability of male survey respondents, the main perpetrators of harassment, to identify specific acts as sexual harassment – in some instances even better than women. For example, 48.8% men think leaning on another person’s body without their permission is sexual harassment, compared to 25.1% of women. Similarly, being pressured to go out with someone is seen as an act of sexual harassment by 41.9% of men, compared to only 23% of women.   My theory would be that there are some pretty enlightened men in Kosovo, and women so normalized to acts of harassment that they don’t even think of them as such. It may also mean that many men know exactly what sexual harassment is, but still harass others or simply stand by when they see it happening around them (the bystander effect applies to women as well).

This can change. This report has provided the first quantitative data on the prevalence of harassment in Kosovo, and should serve as a great resource to shut down arguments that it isn’t a widespread problem – the kind of arguments I frequently read from young men on the internet whenever the issue of sexual harassment is brought up in Kosovo.”

Vice, “In Mexico, Women Are Protesting a Wave of Brutal Murders with Performance“

“Help me, help me,” screams a stout but strong elderly woman standing on the banks of a garbage-filled canal in Chimalhuacan, Mexico. The woman is Irinea Buendía, and she is acting in a street theater performance, holding a sign with the words: “I didn’t commit suicide, you killed me.” The woman in the photo is her daughter, Marina. Buendía is surrounded by dozens of women dressed in fiery costumes. They are all screaming the names of other women who have been killed in the State of Mexico.

This canal has become the final resting place for an undetermined number of women who have been kidnapped, assassinated, mutilated, and dumped in the sewage-filled water. The group gathered here is composed of various feminist collectives which have reappropiated this harsh environment as a public theater space. Femicides have become an alarming crisis in the state, where more than 1,500 women have been murdered in the past ten years. It is believed that the victims’ gender was a primary motive in the majority of the assassinations.

All over Mexico, various womens’ groups are using creative theater to combat the scourge of gender-based violence. In Mexico City, the Hijas de Violencia (Daughters of Violence) shoot street harassers with confetti guns and sing punk anthems to denounce sexual harassment. In Puebla, a state where women have been murdered by their boyfriends and partners, the organization El Taller hosts a feminist school to help women identity violence in their personal relationships.”

Observers, “Video: Tunisian women share insults they’ve received on the street“

“Why are you so nervous? Do you have your period?” “You’re ugly, go home!” “You’re a girl, you can’t drive.” These are just a couple of examples from a video project in which filmmakers asked 60 Tunisian women to give examples of verbal sexual harassment they’ve faced on the street.

On March 20, Tunisia celebrated 60 years of independence. For the occasion, two women’s rights NGOs created this video, which they titled “60 years of independence and our bodies are still colonised.” It is full of insults, sexist comments and unwelcome propositions. Several of the women are famous in Tunisia, including journalist Lina Ben Mhenni, actress Amira Chebli, and MP Bochra Belhaj Hmida.”

The Guardian, “From Peru to Kosovo, female MPs aim to end abuse of women in politics“

“During her time as mayor of Lima, the Peruvian capital, Susana Villarán experienced brutal and harmful attacks and threats. She says they were designed to ‘diminish my image and make it clear it was not a place for a women like me to try and disrupt that male world of politics and power.’

The British MP Jess Phillips began receiving online threats when she started speaking about women’s rights after winning her parliamentary seat last year. She receives daily attacks and has seen online articles in which ‘people wished to see me raped or come home to see my sons hanging from a tree as I couldn’t possibly care about men.’

Villarán and Phillips shared their stories at the launch of a campaign by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) to stop violence against women in politics.

Launched on the fringes of the Commission on the Status of Women in New York last week, the #NotTheCost campaign is seeking to raise awareness of the different methods of violence women face when seeking positions of power at local, national and international level. This can include physical, sexual, psychological, verbal and economic violence.”

Human Rights Watch, “Sudan: Silencing Women Rights Defenders“

“Sudanese security forces have used sexual violence, intimidation, and other forms of abuse to silence female human rights defenders across the country, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The government should investigate all alleged abuses, hold those responsible to account, and undertake legislative reforms to protect women’s rights.

The 61-page report, “‘Good Girls Don’t Protest’: Repression and Abuse of Women Human Rights Defenders, Activists, and Protesters in Sudan,” documents efforts by Sudanese authorities to silence women who are involved in protests, rights campaigns, and other public action, and who provide social services and legal aid, as well as journalists. Women engaged in these efforts are targeted with a range of abuses, from rape and rape threats, to deliberate efforts to tar their reputations. Their male counterparts may be less likely to experience some of these abuses.”

BDnews24, “Ganajagaran Mancha announces signature campaign demanding arrest of Tonu’s killers“

“The Comilla Victoria Government College student was found dead, her head smashed, near her house inside Comilla Cantonment on the night of Mar 20.

Mancha spokesperson Imran H Sarker announced the programme at Dhaka’s Shahbagh on Wednesday, while the killers remain at large and unidentified even nine days after the murder.

Following a Road March to Comilla on Sunday demanding justice for Tonu, the platform had also called for a one-hour strike at all educational institutions across Bangladesh on Wednesday.

The mass signature campaign aims to push the authorities to meet three other demands — implementation of an anti-sexual assault policy as per High Court orders, new law for death penalty for rapists and ensuring security of all women.”

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Filed Under: News stories, street harassment Tagged With: bangladesh, catcalls, germany, India, kosovo, mexico, New York City, Ovarian Psycos, peru, Sudan, sxsw, tunisian

Renewed Efforts to Address Harassment on the NYC Subway

February 23, 2016 By HKearl

More efforts are underway in New York City to address sexual harassment on the subway system. This includes training transit police, with input from Hollaback!

Here’s some info about it overall, via the New York Times:

“Opportunistic sex crimes aboard subways are not new, nor are they news to many women. Some have been grabbed or leered at by a man who is masturbating. Many others have heard a story from a friend who felt an uncomfortable touch but was unsure if she should say something.

But cellphone cameras and social media have given women tools to fight back and provided the police a way to identify some offenders. Last year, in an effort to encourage more victims to come forward, the police began training more female officers to work the cases.
 
The police now send out a steady stream of alerts about such crimes using photos from victims’ phones to try to identify suspects. One recent Twitter post shared a photo of a man suspected of grabbing a 27-year-old woman’s buttocks on a No. 7 train in Queens this month. Two days earlier, the police posted a photo of a man who they say exposed himself to women on two trains at Grand Central Station.
 
Reported sex crimes on the subways rose 19 percent last year, to 738 from 620 in 2014. Many of those crimes were forcible touching and public lewdness, the offenses most commonly charged in connection with the sort of sexual misconduct that Detective Cross and his colleagues were on the lookout for that morning on the Lexington Avenue line.
 
Joseph Fox, the chief of the Transit Bureau, said he believed the increase in reported sex crimes was a result of more women coming forward. He expects the number of reports will keep rising as the police continue to talk about the problem.”
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Filed Under: News stories, public harassment, Resources Tagged With: MTA, New York City, public transit, subway

Today’s Events – April 12

April 12, 2015 By BPurdy

It’s the first day of Meet Us On the Street: International Anti-Street Harassment Week, and we already have so much going on!

Virtual Events:

  • April 12 | 4 p.m. Indian Standard Time: @PintheCreep will focus their Tweet chat on encouraging people to report harassers.
  • Tonight: 7pm EDT  End Street Harassment: A Multicultural Perspective: Google Hangout

Please join Young Feminists and Allies, the National Organization for Women’s First Virtual Chapter, and Stop Street Harassment for a Google Hangout about Street Harassment from a multicultural perspective.

Holly Kearl, founder of International Anti-Street-Harassment Week, will moderate three brave women with diverse backgrounds as they discuss the similarities and differences in the ways they experience street harassment.

* Kasumi Hirokawa: TCK and trilingual feminist from Shanghai who currently lives in Japan

* MorningStar Angeline: Native American and Latina actress who lived in both the Southwest and West Coast of America

* Muneera Hassan: Bangladeshi-American, Muslim, college student from Boston currently living in Northern VA who wears hijab

There will be a Q&A section, so please send us your questions in advance or during the event at youngfeminists at gmail dot com or Tweet at at @nowyoungfems and please use the #EndSH hashtag.

International Events:

Cameroon: Young Women for a Change, Cameroon is holding a dialogue in Beau with youth and adolescents to address the different forms of Street harassment facing women and girls and how to intervene. [April 12]

Canada (Vancouver): Hollaback! Vancouver will be debuting their interactive campaign and art show “What’s Your Number?” It will enable people to record the frequency and emotions involved with street harassment for 24 hours. Clickers (or counters) will be distributed to initial participants along with a blank notebook. For 24 hours, they will click twice for direct street harassment, and once for an indirect impact. At the end of the 24 hours, the clickee is encouraged to creatively express the experience in the notebook provided through mediums like poetry, illustration or essaying before they’re passed on to the next one. At the end of the week, the notebooks will be collected by the Hollaback Vancouver team for compilation. In order to showcase the process behind What’s Your Number?, the art show will be a free event extended to the community at-large. Part education, part creative and part party, this night will get everyone together in a comfortable space to talk about the effects of street harassment and – most importantly – what can be done. [Campaign kicks of all over the city on April 12th, with the Artshow / wrap up party taking place April 30th 436 Columbia St Vancouver BC 7-11 pm]

Colombia: OCAC Colombia  is hosting SUNDAY, APRIL 12 – 9:00 a.m.: STOP THE STREET HARASSMENT: We will be in the Sunday’s Bikeway and we will will cross cycling the 7th Avenue from Plaza Bolivar to the National Park | DOMINGO 12 DE ABRIL – 9 AM. ALTO AL ACOSO. Estaremos en la Ciclovía y haremos un recorrido por la carrera séptima desde la Plaza de Bolívar hasta el Parque Nacional

Nepal: Hollaback! Kathmandu will be hosting a Stand Up Against Street Harassment event, displaying charts and boards that say street harassment is not okay. They will also be interacting with the local people about what the campaign is and what they can do to respond to street harassment and stop it. [April 12, 3-5pm at Basantapur]

USA Events:

Iowa: Hollaback! Des Moines is hosting their 3rd Annual Chalk Walk to End Street Harassment. [April 12, 1 pm at the Pappajohn Education Center]. Can’t be there in person? Sometime during the week of April 12-18, go back to a street where you experienced harassment. Reclaim that space by writing an empowering message; then take a picture and send it to them at dsm@ihollaback.org! They will post all the photos to their blog after the event.

Pennsylvania: FAAN Mail will be kicking off EndSHWeek with their 5th annual rally and community engagement event. [April 12, 2-5pm at Love Park, Philadelphia]

Virginia: Hollaback! RVA is hosting a Bystander Workshop discussing and presenting on how bystander intervention and street harassment intersect. They will provide “swag bags” and snacks to participants! [Richmond, April 12, time and place TBA]

Plus, some of our groups got an early start on things and hosted these fabulous events on Saturday, April 11th:

Bahamas: Hollaback! Bahamas hosted a meditation and stress relief workshop with the World Peace Initiative.

United Kingdom: Rape & Sexual Abuse Support Centre hosted street action focused on victim-blaming and rape culture (#ThisDoesn’tMeanYes) at Braithwait Tunnel, Braithwaite Street, London.

South Korea: Rok Gi Yeon Promotions hosted “Ladies Night Vol. 2,” a benefit concert to support the charity Disruptive Voices, in Seoul. Find the Facebook event here.

Pakistan: No to Harassment hosted a fabulous panel and discussion about how a woman is #notanobject.

New York: Hollaback! hosted the annual NYC Anti-Street Harassment Rally! The event featured local activists and speakers and include da series of workshops for folks to learn more and take action against street harassment. It also featured Hollaback!’s famous 12 foot inflatable #catagainstcatcalling cat.

Pennsylvania: University of Scranton is hosted a SHARE (Street Harassment Awareness Response and Education) Fair.

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Filed Under: anti-street harassment week Tagged With: #Endshnyc, #EndSHWeek, #thisdoesn'tmeanyes, Bahamas, cameroon, Chalk Walk, colombia, Des Moines, Disruptive Voices, FAAN Mail, hollaback, Iowa, Kathmandu, Nepal, New York City, No to Harassment, NOW Young Feminists and Allies, OCAC, Pakistan, pennsylvania, Rok Gi Yeon Promotions, RVA, Sayfty, South Korea, united kingdom, University of Scranton, Vancouver, virginia

“It’s OK, we weren’t talking to you – just about you.”

June 21, 2013 By SSHIntern

A daytime shot of the intersection where this happened in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. Photo credit: Anthony Lanzilote for AM New York.

I live in a safe neighborhood.

Of course, as a woman, that’s not an unqualified statement. What I mean is, I’ve only felt a relatively normal amount of fear when I walk alone or come home late. I don’t mean safe as in, I’m not worried about being harassed, followed, or worse. I mean, I’m not as worried about being harassed and followed as I would be in some other neighborhoods.

But last night I didn’t feel safe – I felt scared.

I went to pick up take-out for my boyfriend and me. I was presumptuous enough to do this alone. As I crossed the street kitty-corner from my block, two older men entered the cross walk as well. I did have that fleeting thought – it’s only a split second, hardly articulated, but spelled out it would read, “Please don’t say anything… not tonight…”

And then I heard, “Mira.” Spanish for, “Look.” Men in New York don’t usually expect me to speak Spanish. But I understood that one of them was telling the other to look at me, and when I turned he was a foot away from me, looking me up and down, and nearly drooling. (I know, I know, so flattering.)

I couldn’t help it. This was not a moment to “just ignore it” – he was too close. I said very clearly and directly to this man, “Please stop looking at me. It makes me uncomfortable.”

He replied, “It’s ok, I was just talking to my friend.”

It’s ok, we weren’t talking to you – just about you. This street doesn’t belong to you.

The other light was green and I needed to get away. I crossed the other street quickly, in front of the last few lighted shops before my dark apartment building. But when I was halfway up the block, I saw the man who had originally pointed me out crossing diagonally through the middle of the street and heading straight toward me. I started to panic. Was he coming after me? Was he going to say something? Would he try to hurt me? Would anyone help? This is New York…

I immediately made a plan. I was carrying my cell phone and wallet in one hand and my dinner and an umbrella in the other. If anyone – a sexual harasser or otherwise – wanted to take my wallet, it would have been easy. I’ve heard so many stories, and had so many men overreact when I told them to stop harassing me, that I knew, if he was following me, how this would play out. If this man wanted to intimidate me, the easiest thing for him to do would be to grab my wallet and phone and push me to the ground. He would walk away with some cash, an iPhone, and a renewed sense of his violent power.

I put the take-out bag handle over my left wrist and with the same hand held my phone and wallet against my stomach. In my right hand, I gripped the handle of my folded umbrella, ready to defend myself.

Perhaps I should note here – I’m a peace activist. I’m a practitioner of nonviolence, and everything I do personally and professionally is aimed at reducing the amount of violence in this world. But here I was, outside my own home in my “safe” neighborhood, mentally preparing myself to hit a man with my umbrella as hard as I could to defend myself.

I was thinking it through – he had fallen in step behind me, so if I heard him get close or saw his shadow too near me, I would have to turn around. I couldn’t let him get between me and my front door or I’d never get home safely. If he put his hands on me I’d get one good whack to bat him off and I’ve have to instantly run. If I didn’t run as fast as I could and get inside that door, there would be no fending off this man twice my height. And if he happened to be walking behind me because he lived in my building of 125 units where no one talks to their neighbors, well, then, there was no hope for me.

I got inside and up four flights of stairs as fast as I could, and he didn’t try to follow me. But my boyfriend and I were both scared and angry for several minutes even after I’d dead bolted our door.

Most of the time these men don’t follow me. Compared to the stories I’ve heard, I’ve been very lucky. But this isn’t the first time this has happened, and I know it won’t be the last. Every time a man harasses me, and especially when I dare to speak back, I have to plan my self defense, my escape route, the bystander I’ll look to, and what I’ll yell. I’ve practiced, “I don’t know you! Stop it!” lest anyone think this a “domestic dispute” that they shouldn’t get involved in.

This is the city, and the world, we live in. I can march against rape, injustice, police violence, and the war, but when I go out at night… I’d better have that umbrella.

Talia Hagerty is peace economics activist and Stop Street Harassment’s 2013 summer intern. Follow her on twitter – @taliahagerty – or read her blog about making the world better at www.theoryofchange.wordpress.com.

 

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Filed Under: Stories, street harassment Tagged With: brooklyn, following, New York City, safe streets, street harassment

I Need Feminism Because My Sister Shouldn’t Have To Experience Street Harassment

December 11, 2012 By Contributor

This article is written by high school student Livia Brock who is taught by @FeministTeacher. It is cross-posted with permission from the class blog F to the Third Power.

I need feminism because my little sister should have the same amount of confidence in + respect for herself as I do for her! (photo credit: Ileana Jiménez)

The other day I was walking down the street with two of my friends.  I had fallen slightly behind them when an older man walking towards us suddenly locked eyes with me.  I looked away quickly, but he angled toward me, eyes full of something very creepy and unnerving, and asked, “Are you free for a date?”

Being polite, I said, “No thanks!” and ran to catch up to my friends.  I looked back once and caught him staring at me, eyes still full of that same disconcerting energy.

I began to notice men paying attention to me when I was twelve, near the beginning of seventh grade.  I still looked pretty young, but I was very tall, so maybe men thought I was older.  Or perhaps my actual age was not an issue.  I didn’t particularly mind being looked at.  It made me feel noticed. These men weren’t being vulgar, and they did not make comments or make me feel uncomfortable.  But it wasn’t until I got a little older, maybe around thirteen, that I started to receive a lot of attention.

Thirteen was really the year I started walking around and going on the subway by myself.  This was when the looks turned into much more. Men began saying passing remarks like, “So beautiful,” “Hey baby girl,” and once simply, “Nice tits.”  I wasn’t sure how to react to a lot of these.  Not all were rude, and sometimes I didn’t take much notice. Sometimes I enjoyed the comments.

Enjoying this kind of attention from men is often the case for girls without a strong support system at home, or for those girls who feel unwanted or undesired. As Rachel Lloyd, founder of the organization GEMS writes in her memoir, Girls Like Us, “She was uncomfortable with her body and her appearance . . . and she carried that knowledge with her like a weight that she desperately wanted to put down.  Attention from boys, or men, always helped ease that weight a little.”

Although Lloyd writes about girls who have been commercially exploited, even girls who have not been commercially exploited succumb to the attention of boys and men. These girls are often sucked into a relationship or a situation that is not healthy due to their desire for attention from men.  For example, sometimes I liked getting attention from these men because it made me feel like I was wanted and special.

Certain ones, though, made me extremely uncomfortable, and stick out in my mind.  There was one time when two obviously drunk men asked me if I wanted to come home with them.  Another time, an older man groped me on the subway, and I ended up being late to school because I was so uncomfortable, I got off the train for a while.  Then there was the time a homeless man at church tried to kiss me.  Another time, two men on the sidewalk called across the street at me, asking “how much” I was for an hour.

During all of these instances, I was dressed very much like a kid with bell-bottom jeans, a bright pink shirt, long thick coat, and sneakers.

Image

An Anti-Street Harassment Advertisement

Until I took this feminism course at my high school taught by my teacher Ileana Jiménez, I never realized how not ok all of this was and how much it was hurting me.  I had the attitude that no matter what we do, the way these men act will never change. At the same time, I had internalized the message that I was merely a sex object for these men and that it was somehow a good thing that they noticed me for my body.

I always assumed that in some way it was my fault for walking a certain way, looking men in the eyes, or wearing certain clothing.  After taking this course, I realize how fundamentally sexist this attention I was getting and my attitude towards it was.

The fact that these men felt they were allowed to make comments about my body is wrong.

The fact that these men felt it was all right to treat me as a sexual object, to touch me or ask me if I wanted to come home with them is wrong.

I never felt frightened to walk down the street, only resigned to what I expected to happen, which is perhaps the worst approach to street harassment. As Rebecca Walker writes in her essay, “Becoming the Third Wave,” “the ultimate rally of support for the male paradigm of harassment, sends a clear message to women: ‘Shut up! Even if you speak, we will not listen.’  I will not be silenced.  I acknowledge the fact that we live under siege. I intend to fight back. I have uncovered and unleashed more repressed anger than I thought possible. For the umpteenth time in my 22 years, I have been radicalized, politicized, shaken awake.”

My sister is fourteen years old.  She looks younger than I did at her age, but as I said before, I’m not sure how much age matters to these men.  I hope that she has never experienced anything along the lines of what I have experienced.  Even before I took this feminism class, I knew I wanted my sister to attend my high school.  I knew that she would be taught things she would not have been taught at any other school.

I know that my teacher, Ileana Jiménez, has been involved with the anti-street harassment movement including work with Hollaback! and with Holly Kearl’s Stop Street Harassment blog and activism. My teacher has also written about street harassment on her blog.  These are the sorts of things that should be taught to young men and women in all schools.

I hope my sister realizes that even the “positive” comments like “So beautiful,” are a way of putting women down.  They are a way of making women into sexual beings, with a complete disregard for personality and accomplishments. I am not telling her to engage in an argument with every man who says something to her on the street.  I just want her to understand, in a way that I didn’t at her age, that these comments are part of a systemic problem of sexism and misogyny.

It is not just some random uneducated man on the street, but a society that feels it is ok to hyper-sexualize women and make them feel less important by only focusing on their physical traits.  My sister is already much more sensible now than I have ever been, so I have faith that it will take her much less time than it did for me to realize how much there needs to be done to protect and empower ourselves and all other girls.

As Audre Lorde writes in her essay, “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle The Master’s House,”: “Interdependency between women is the way to a freedom which allows the I to be, not in order to be used, but in order to be creative. This is a difference between the passive be and the active being.”

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Filed Under: street harassment Tagged With: feminist teacher, GEMS, girls like us, high school, Ileana Jiménez, New York City, rachel lloyd, sister, street harassment

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