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Chalking in Ohio to Raise Awareness

April 7, 2016 By Contributor

Sarah Fick, a founding organizer of the People’s Justice League posted this last week on her Facebook page and gave me permission to share it on the SSH blog:

True story I wrote on the sidewalk earlier today. As I was taking this photo, two prim and proper looking college aged girls walked by.

Chalking in Athens, Ohio, by Sarah Fick.
Chalking in Athens, Ohio, by Sarah Fick.
Image by Sarah Fick
Image by Sarah Fick

One of them tossed their hair dismissively and said in a snotty tone to the other one, who was still looking at it, “That’s fake.” I’m not upset, because I have come to expect this sort of thing. I’m posting it so that folks can see how deep misogyny runs in this culture. Young women have internalized it so hard. They are taught not to believe each other, not to believe themselves even.

[On the positive side,] we also got a lot of positive comments, shared chalk with total strangers, and had a few engaged conversations about street harassment and Black Lives Matter.

People’s Justice League will be hosting sidewalk chalking in Athens, Ohio over International Anti-Street Harassment Week – April 8 at 10 a.m. and April 9 at 8 a.m. and April 16.

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Filed Under: anti-street harassment week Tagged With: ohio, sidewalk chalking

#16Days of Activism: Painting Murals (Day 5)

November 29, 2015 By HKearl

Nov. 25 – Dec. 10 are the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence. To commemorate the week, we are featuring 1 activism idea per day. This information is excerpted from my new book Stop Global Street Harassment: Growing Activism Around the World (Praeger 2015).

Painting murals and spray-painting graffiti against street harassment is a type of political art and communication that has been used in many cultures since ancient times.

Circle of Hell mural in Egypt. Via the Art Newspaper

During the Egyptian Revolution of 2011, graffiti art and murals were used to voice political opinions. Some women used these to speak out against the sexual harassment and violence many women protesters faced. Artist El Zeft nad Mira Shihadeh, for example, painted a mural called Circle of Hell depicting dozens of leering men surrounding one woman like a pack of wolves surrounding its prey.

One graffiti stencil from that time period was a blue bra accompanied by the caption “No to the stripping of people” and below it was the outline of a foot that said, “Long live the revolution.” It references a 2011 videotaped beating of a female protester by police during which all of her clothes were stripped off, which revealed her blue bra. Some messages were defiant. One graffiti stencil created by Hend Kheera featured a woman with the caption, “Warning! Don’t touch or castration awaits you!” A stencil created by Mira Shihadeh (featured on the book’s cover) showed a woman standing tall and holding a spray can to spray away tiny men. The caption read “No to sexual harassment.”

Egyptian anti-street harassment activists with the group HarassMap have also used graffiti to bring attention to sexual harassment in public spaces. In 2013, for example, a team of mostly male volunteers in Giza wrote messages on walls like “Be a man; protect her from harassment instead of harassing her” and “No to harassment” while a team in Alexandria covered up sexist graffiti that promoted violent harassment by painting a mural that said, “LOVE.”

Anti-street harassment activists in Nepal and the United States painted murals in 2014. In Kathmandu, ten young women and men from the group Astitwa painted a huge mural with a street, a “stop” hand and their logo. The main message in green block lettering was “We Are against Street Harassment,” and each person placed her or his hands in red paint and added their hand-print below it.

Nepal

On their U.S. mural, People’s Justice League (formerly Hollaback! Appalachian Ohio) wrote the messages “Bobcats against cat-calls” and “YOU have the power to end street harassment” (with their logo) and drew a map of uptown Athens with red and green dots showing where people had reported being harassed (red) and where they reported intervening in harassment situations (green).

Help fund our work in 2016, donate to our end-of-year giving campaign!

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Filed Under: 16 days, street harassment Tagged With: Egypt, graffiti, murals, Nepal, ohio

Today’s Events – April 17

April 17, 2015 By BPurdy

Posted by CoHabita DF in Mexico City

Special Global Action!

ANYONE CAN JOIN — As part of International Anti-Street Harassment Week, Stop Telling Women to Smile is organizing an international wheat pasting night on April 17, 2015. The following groups have already organized action around this:
Canada (Ottawa): Hollaback! Ottawa will be pasting the STWTS posters [3pm, Bridgehead on Bank/Gilmour] INFO
Germany (Berlin): Hollaback! Berlin will post the STWTS posters [7pm, k-fetisch] INFO
Mexico City: CoHabita/Habitajes will paste 65 #STWTS posters along 45 stations on Line 1 of the Metrobus in Mexico City throughout the week and will join the STWTS Wheat pasting night.
Illinois: Volunteers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champagne campus are hosting a Stop Telling Women to Smile Day.
Iowa: The Ending Street Harassment in Iowa City group will post “Stop Telling Women to Smile” posters throughout the community.
Join them!! Here are the details! [AFTERNOON/EVENING APRIL 17] 
Virtual Events:
April 17 | 12 – 1 p.m. EDT: @NOWYoungFems will host a Tweet chat to discuss street harassment across the broad spectrum of gender-based violence and discuss a holistic strategy to violence on every level.
International Events:
Colombia: OCAC Colombia is hosting HARASSMENT IS VIOLENCE. We will march with the Tremenda Revoltosa Batucada Feminista, and beat the drums against all forms of violence on our bodies. We’ll wait you since 5pm at Colpatria Tower. | VIERNES 17 DE ABRIL – 5PM. EL ACOSO ES VIOLENCIA. Marcharemos junto con la Tremenda Revoltosa batucada feminista, haremos sonar los tambores contra todo tipo de violencias sobre nuestros cuerpos. Les esperamos a partir de las 5pm frente a la Torre Colpatria, en la carrera séptima con calle 26.
France: Stop Harcelement de Rue Lille is launching the “No harassment bar”. This is an agreement reached between the collective and a bar (of which the name will be announced that night) in order to make it a “no harassment zone”. We are hoping to reach agreements with more bars later on. [nighttime]
Romania: FILIA: Centre for Curriculum Development and Gender Studies: ”Anti-street harassment evening” – Evening documentaries/ clips and a debate about street harassment with people interested in the subject.
Serbia: Equity Youth Association will be hosting a week long campaign to educate locals about what street harassment is. This will include flyering and handing out graphics and info across the city with information from their recently conducted survey, and hosting a chalk walk with local university students in a city park that is notorious for being  a high-harassment area [Flyering April 12-18, Chalk Walk April 17th]
USA Events:
Illinois: Volunteers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champagne campus are hosting Walk a Mile [5-6p on Main Quad] and Green Street Hug-in [6-8p on 6th & Green Streets]
Minnesota: Hollaback! Twin Cities is hosting two chalking events at the University of Minnesota [12:30 to 2:30 p.m. Location TBD.] INFO.
Missouri: The UMKC Women’s Center will be chalking around campus all week, and invites students to stop by the center to learn more! [April 13-17]
Nebraska: The sociology, queer alliance and radical notion clubs at Hastings College will be holding a talk-in to discuss street harassment experiences and solutions.
Nevada: Hollaback! Las Vegas is hosting a Chalk walk Downtown Container Park [4pm to 6pm at the Corner of Fremont and 7th]
Ohio: The People’s Justice League will be leading a chalk walk to mark problematic areas on the Ohio University campus [6pm. Meet at the bottom of Jeff Hill on campus]
Ohio: The People’s Justice League will be hosting a screening of the film Cairo 678 [8pm at Donkey Coffee, 17 West Washington St., Athens OH 45701]
Washington, DC: Nigerian LGBT activist Bisi Alimi will be speaking at the DC Center [8:30 p.m.]
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Filed Under: anti-street harassment week Tagged With: Bisi Alimi, Cairo 678, canada, Cohabita/Habitajes, colombia, Ending Street Harassment in Iowa City, Equity Youth Association, FILIA: Center for Curriculum Development and Gender Studies, france, germany, Hastings College, Hollaback Berlin, HOllaback Las Vegas, Hollaback Ottawa, Hollaback Twin Cities, Hug-In, illinois, Iowa, lille, mexico city, Minnesota, missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, NOW Young Feminists and Allies, OCAC, ohio, Ohio University, People's Justice League, Romania, Serbia, Stop Harcelement de Rue, stop telling women to smile, stwts, UMKC Women's Center, University of Illinois Urbana-Champagne, Walk a Mile, Washington DC, wheat-pasting

Today’s Events – April 15

April 15, 2015 By BPurdy

Virtual Events:

1 p.m. EDT: @EvrydayFeminism will host a Tweet chat about what communities can do to address street harassment.

 

International Events

France: Stop Harcelement de Rue – Lille is holding a meeting with comic book author Thomas Mathieu who created the Projet Crocodiles tumblr. In this tumblr, Mathieu illustrates stories of everyday sexism sent to him by readers. (To be confirmed)  6 pm. Location: Maison de l’Etudiant (Lille 1 University)]

Nepal: Youth Advocacy Nepal (YAN) and Activista Nepal in partnership with like minded social organization are organizing  an Anti-street harassment March –  a huge rally with the participation of more than 500 young people including others with placards with anti street harassment slogans. The objectives of the program is to increase the awareness on anti street harassment and exert the pressure to concerned authorities for adopting appropriate policy and laws and implement the laws prevailed in Nepal effectively.

Nepal: The Nepal Mahila Ekata Samaj (Nepal Women Unity Society will release the findings of an audit of public space of Tripuresor area of Kathmandu Valley.

 

USA Events:

California: UCI Campus Assault Resources and Education will be promoting Stop Street Harassment at their Take Back the Night event [7pm at the Flagpoles]

California: Valley Crisis Center will have a button making machine where individuals can make/design their own button describing what they can do to fight street harassment/catcalling/degrading comments and also empower others to do the same. [Merced Community College Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday from 10-1PM]

Georgia: Hollaback! Atlanta will be hosting HOLLA Coffee Hour. Hosted by Holla!ATL’s Kiersten Smith [4pm – 6pm at Octane Coffee Bar, 437 Memorial Drive Suite A5, Atlanta, GA 30312]

Illinois: Volunteers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champagne campus are holding an informal dialogue on street harassment [6-7pm, Illini Union (space TBA)]

Nebraska: The sociology, queer alliance and radical notion clubs at Hastings College will be chalking campus!

New Mexico: The Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance at the University of New Mexico invites you to stop by their table to discuss street harassment as part of their larger SAAM actions! [10:30-1:30pm at the Duck Pond, UNM Campus] INFO

New York: dianINQUE will be hosting a community meeting in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

Ohio: In Athens, The People’s Justice League and EMBODY Consent will host a screen printing table. Students and community members are invited to come by with t-shirts, pillow cases and other articles of clothing to have one of several available Cats Against Cat Calls designs printed free of charge [2-6pm outside of Baker Student Center]

Washington, DC-area: WMATA, SSH, Collective Action for Safe Spaces, DC Rape Crisis Center, Rally Against Rape and more will be distributing information about harassment at five Metro stations from 4-6 p.m.

 

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Filed Under: anti-street harassment week Tagged With: #EndSHWeek, Activista Nepal, california, Cats Against Cat, collective action for safe spaces, DC Rape Crisis Center, dianINQUE, EMBODY Consent, EndSH, everyday feminism, Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance, france, Hastings College, Hollaback! Atlanta, illinois, lille, Nebraska, Nepal, Nepal Mahila Ekata Samaj, Nepal Women Unity Society, ohio, People's Justice League, Rally Against Rape, Stop Harcelement de Rue, take back the night, UCI, University of New Mexico, Valley Crisis Center, WMATA, Youth Advocacy Nepal

"Fine ass ho"

September 8, 2009 By Contributor

In Athens, Ohio, USA, I was having an evening workout around 7 PM. I was running in shorts and a tank top, minding my own business when a group of teenage boys in a sedan slowed down next to me. One of them said in a sing-songy voice:

“There she go, the fine ass ho.”

I WAS 15. I froze. I didn’t know what to say, so I said nothing while they drove off laughing. I was scared to death, I wanted to cry, and most of all, I couldn’t understand why anyone in their right mind would terrorize a girl like that. Now that I’m 22, I realize that my offense was being in public while female. And, even more egregious was the offense of wearing shorts and a tank top while young and attractive.

I wish I could say that I reacted strongly every time I’ve been harassed since then, but it’s not that simple. You can never be prepared to react to a harasser, because it is impossible to tell which man will be the next perpetrator. So these days, I just stare straight ahead and stomp my ass off. Nothing scares harassers more than confidence. But, when men harass me anyway, I still find myself at a loss, frozen, scared, with no sense of how to react until after the fact.

– A.G.

Location: Athens, OH

Share your street harassment story today and help raise awareness about the problem. Include your location and it will be added to the Street Harassment Map.

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Filed Under: Stories Tagged With: athens, car harassment, ohio, runner, sexual harassment, street harassment

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