Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Attacked While Jogging

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The New York Times reports that a woman was jogging in a park in NYC on Sunday when a man slashed her forehead with a knife and then walked away. It sounds like she went into shock and then was taken to the hospital. No one saw the attack happen and the assailant is still at large.

What a horrific experience! And all it takes is one attack like that to scare other women from going to that park or going running alone, especially since he hasn’t been caught yet. To naysayers, street harassment can be very insidious and does impact women – directly and indirectly – in the choices they make.

Also worth noting, women are much more likely to be attacked or hurt by someone they know (not true for men), but, random acts of violence against women by strangers in public like this obviously happen. The randomness does a great job of scaring women into trying to avoid places they think they will be more vulnerable (when in actuality, many of them are safer on the street than in their own home).

Will women who read this story be advised by concerned friends & family to not run alone or decide themselves not to go running alone? Probably. Will any men be advised or feel the need not to go running alone because of this story? Probably not, yet statistically, they’re more at risk of stranger attacks than women. Funny, huh?

Anyway, I hope the woman who was attacked will be okay and that the  man will not attack anyone else!

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Need a free, safe ride home in NYC?

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Then call up RightRides!

“In our RightRides program, we offer women, transpeople and gender queer individuals a free, late-night ride home to ensure their safe commute to or through high-risk areas.”

RightRides serve 35 neighborhoods (to expand in October) on Saturday nights from 11:59 p.m – 3 a.m . RightRides is volunteer run, so the more volunteers they have, the more neighborhoods they can serve and the more hours they can be available. (So if you’re in NYC and want to volunteer somewhere…!) In the city that never sleeps, many people work night shifts or are out enjoying the nightlife, but then might feel unsafe coming home so late alone, so RightRides helps them carry on with their life in safety.

RightRides was founded in 2004 by two women upset over the assault of several women in their neighborhood within a short time frame. Instead of letting depression or fear take hold of them, they took action and started making a difference in their communtiy. Using their own car and cell phone, they put up fliers in their neighborhood offering women a safe, free ride home, and drove callers home themselves. Four years later, RightRides is a nonprofit with access to 5 Zip Cars for volunteers to use on  Saturday nights, with about 150 active volunteers. This past weekend, I got to meet with two volunteers and “ride-along” and it was great to see first-hand how the program works and to meet amazing individuals who care enough about people’s safety that they give up their Saturday night once or twice a month and battle crazy New York City traffic until 3 or 4 a.m.!!

Here’s a short video by a volunteer with RightRides:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyTmsvMdxLE]

I’ve had a link to  RideRides in the resource section of this blog and my website, but I wanted to highlight it here too so people in NYC know about it and can use the service and/or volunteer and so maybe people in other cities will be inspired to start a similar program!

The website has a ton of info, so visit it if you want to learn more.

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Harassment starts so young

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I grew up in Manhattan. One day in 6th or 7th grade, my friends and I got out of school kind of late because of an after-school program. When we left the building there was this homeless guy sitting outside and we didn’t pay him any attention, but were standing around trying to figure out what to do now that we were out for the day. He started mumbling something at us and we started feeling uncomfortable so we started to walk up the street and away from him. Finally, I guess he got mad that we ignored him and he says “Hey! Girl with the yellow back pack!” (I had a bright yellow Jansport,) “I wanna stick my d*ck up your a*s!”

I’ve never been so humiliated and horrified in my life! We all took off running up the street and I just remember looking back at some point and seeing him walking after us. We ducked into a convenience store and luckily it was crowded because he actually followed us in there! I saw him looking over people’s heads to see if he could find us but we stayed low and eventually he went away. Usually I took the train the opposite direction of all my friends to go home, but I was so scared I went home with one of them so I didn’t have to be alone. I was so scared he was going to find me.

My mom was really upset that I had went to my friend’s house without telling her. I remember being so angry that she didn’t understand how scared I was to take the train alone that day after what had happened…

-Ashley JC

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NYC will roll out anti-sexual harassment subway campaign

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A few weeks ago, there was talk that the New York City MTA was deciding not to launch their planned anti-sexual harassment subway ad campaign for fear it would encourage more groping. Among the anti-street harassment community, there was an outcry and demand that the campaign continue.

Good news, it’s set to launch next month.

The first 2,000 posters will be distributed throughout the system and should remain up for at least three months to “assess its impact,” said NYC Transit spokesman Paul Fleuranges.

The campaign was sparked by a report last year by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer that found 10 percent of women surveyed claimed to have been sexually abused and 63 percent reported having been sexually harassed.

I have to say that I’m thrilled this issue is being taken seriously and I hope that it will deter subway harassers and encourage those being harassed to report it. I take pride too in the fact that I wrote to MTA asking that they run the campaign so maybe our voices got heard 🙂

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Anti-Groping Subway Campaign on Hold

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The wonderful ladies of HollaBackNYC wrote a great piece in the New York Daily News about the MTA’s anti-groping campaign going on hold apparently for fear of inadvertently encouraging more groping…

Here’s an excerpt from the article:

“Someone at the MTA seems worried about exposing the dirty underbelly of the city’s transportation network. They’d rather ignore it – and hope that it’ll go away. That’s a little like hoping the rats on the tracks will vanish if we avert our eyes every time they rear their beady little eyes.

Subway ads will work. First and most importantly, they will formalize the idea that subway groping is unacceptable. That will lead New York City women, like their Boston counterparts, to feel comfortable in calling out lewd pervs on their behavior. A likely rise in the number of incidents reported will be something to celebrate – because it’ll mean a rise in the number of men caught in the act.”

Definitely read the full article, it’s a good one and if you live in NYC, have ever visited NYC and taken the subway, or are just passionate about ending street harassment, write to the MTA and ask that they run the subway ad campaign.

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