Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Interview: Photographing street harassers

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Image from the "City of Brotherly Love" exhibit

In her photo series “City of Brotherly Love,” photographer Hannah Price responds to experiences with street harassment in Philadelphia. She described the images as “a response to my subjects looking at me, and myself as an artist looking back.”

Her series was displayed in a recent exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Upon visiting the exhibit with street harassment activist Holly Kearl, I was instantly moved and left with questions about who this photographer is and what made her “click.” I had the pleasure of meeting with the talented Hannah Price soon after. Here’s what she had to say:

Nuala Cabral (NC): What inspired you to create a photo exhibit that brings attention to street harassment?

Hannah Price (HP): The only thing that allowed me to create this type of work, are the men who harass me on the street everyday. It was a basic response with my camera to turn the attention away from me.  Like I said before being harassed by men is a part of my everyday life and this project is a documentation of my life as a black woman in Philadelphia with a background from suburbia Colorado.

Hannah Price

NC: What are your hopes and expectations for this project?

HP: My only hope is to help people understand how uncomfortable overtly expressing oneself sexually to another person can be.  There are other ways of communicating an interest with another person.

NC: How did men react when you took their picture?

HP: Most of the men were surprised I responded because the typical response is avoidance.  After confronting and taking their photograph they respected my disinterest.

NC: How have people responded to your photo exhibit?

HP: Most responses to my project have been quite positive.  No one has yet expressed any backlash.  Most people are interested in the process and experience of photographing men in a unpleasant, semi-dangerous situation.

NC: What did you learn in the process of creating and displaying this project?

HP: I have learned that the only way we can stop sexual harassment is by getting rid of the certain sexual media that children have access to at such a young age.

NC: What are your thoughts about the movement to end street harassment?

HP: I think this movement is inevitably necessary, especially if society still respects their own human decency.

Nuala Cabral is an award-winning filmmaker, educator and activist in the Philadelphia-area.

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Our Streets Too: Philly’s Anti Street Harassment Day

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Filmmaker and educator Nuala Cabral took a lead in organizing International Anti-Street Harassment Day activities in Philadelphia, PA, this past March 20. She recently put together a video about it – check it out.

 

 
Also, I’m excited to share that on Sunday I had the first planning call for 2012’s Anti-Street Harassment WEEK, which will kick off on March 20, the first day of spring. We’ll have a preliminary launch of the campaign this fall so people can start thinking about what they want to do and our official push will begin in January 2012. So look out, world, we’re planning more than a month in advance for next year! 🙂

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Refused to take 'no' for an answer

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One of many incidents during my daily commute (by bus) involved being followed by a man who refused to take “no” for an answer.

After getting off the bus at a terminal near my office, I walked past this person, a younger guy, probably in his mid-20s. Even though I didn’t make eye contact, he attempted to get my attention. Without looking at him, I said something to the effect of “sorry, I’m not interested” and kept walking to the pick-up spot for my office’s shuttle.

Within minutes he was there and insisting on starting a conversation despite my having told him twice, at this point, that I wasn’t interested. I was forced to just smile and nod and tolerate him until my office shuttle arrived.

Its arrival gave me an easy out of the one-sided conversation, but I was incredibly embarrassed at the prospect of being seen with this guy and having to explain why he was talking to me in the first place. Even though there was no real threat, as we were in a crowded area, my sense of fear and humiliation is as intense now as it was then.

– anonymous

Location: Philadelphia, PA

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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Refused to take ‘no’ for an answer

By

One of many incidents during my daily commute (by bus) involved being followed by a man who refused to take “no” for an answer.

After getting off the bus at a terminal near my office, I walked past this person, a younger guy, probably in his mid-20s. Even though I didn’t make eye contact, he attempted to get my attention. Without looking at him, I said something to the effect of “sorry, I’m not interested” and kept walking to the pick-up spot for my office’s shuttle.

Within minutes he was there and insisting on starting a conversation despite my having told him twice, at this point, that I wasn’t interested. I was forced to just smile and nod and tolerate him until my office shuttle arrived.

Its arrival gave me an easy out of the one-sided conversation, but I was incredibly embarrassed at the prospect of being seen with this guy and having to explain why he was talking to me in the first place. Even though there was no real threat, as we were in a crowded area, my sense of fear and humiliation is as intense now as it was then.

– anonymous

Location: Philadelphia, PA

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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My turn to dish out some harassment

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Samantha Krotzer wrote a great street harassment opinion piece for The Temple News Online. She discusses how much she dislikes men’s “catcalls.”

“It was at that moment I decided this: I have had it. I am a female, not a feline, and the “catcalls” men make are offensive and a form of sexual harassment.”

She talks about what’s behind their actions.

“What they say is meaningless,” said Laura Levitt, director of the women’s studies program at Temple. “They use the power of the anonymous guy to make comments to you.”

Of course, not all men disrespect women in this manner, but Levitt said some men feel they have a heterosexual masculinity privilege that gives them the right to say offensive things to women.

“It is some sort of entitlement for men,” Levitt said. “It is really not OK.”

Krotzer experiments with catcalling at men to show how stupid it is.

“As men walked by, I held nothing back. I whistled at a middle-aged man, made indecent grunts at teenage boys and even snuck in a “nice butt” to a man in a business suit.

Guess how many positive reactions I received. Zero. Instead, I received looks that screamed, “Are you insane?” And a couple of men even told me I was being rude and immature.”

And she shares some ideas for how women can take back some of the power harassing men try to take from them.

For example, after a man catcalled her, she asked him where he was going to take her for dinner (since he must just be simply enamored with her to harass her on the street). He was surprised, stuttered for a few minutes, then said “Olive Garden.” He clearly wasn’t expecting to take her anywhere.

One of Krotzer’s friends says it’s safer to stand up to harassers by ignoring them. Levitt suggests whistling in the faces of men who harass you. Krotzer closes by saying, “Maybe blowing a whistle in these guys’ faces will help them realize how annoying their comments are.”

Have you tried any unusual tactics to challenge harassing men?

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