Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

A Jewish woman’s stories (part 1 of 3)

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I am a religious Jew, and I have had several unfortunate experiences with street harassment. This is the first one.

After high school, I spent a year in Israel, on a program that combined Israeli National Service with Jewish seminary learning. In Israel, it is perfectly normal for young people to hitchhike, especially from a main road to an out-of-the-way town. The town where I lived was one such place, and I got fairly used to hitchhiking. One day I was coming home from a shopping trip, loaded with bags. An older man stopped for me, and since the back of his car was full of junk, I sat in the front. Big mistake. The ride to my part of town was only a few minutes, but he spent it trying to casually rest his arm around my back, while I tried to shrug it away. He kept telling me how there were great deals on clothes, including bras and underwear – especially fixating on the bras – in the market in Lod. I forget if it had come up in conversation or if it was because of my accented Hebrew, but he knew that I was American, and gave me his number, telling me to call him if I ever wanted to see the country and we could go to Tzfat or something – don’t worry, he wouldn’t hurt me! (Yeah, right.)

I went inside feeling creeped out and dirty. I never told anyone on my program what happened because I felt like it was my fault for sitting in the front seat – you’re not supposed to do that if you can avoid it, and any Israeli who hitchhikes regularly knows it; I thought my friends would laugh at me. It’s only in the past year that I’ve told anyone besides my psychologist and my boyfriend about this incident, and to this day I can’t stand being hugged from behind.

– HD

Location: Tzafaria, Israel

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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Not even safe at a kids’ softball game

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I am a 42 year old mother. I didn’t realize “it” was on-going for the past 3 softball games. First day it started from one man, a divorced father of a female player. It was ten thousand questions, why isn’t your husband here, doesn’t he come to your daughter’s games? Invasive questions, why haven’t I see you here before? Are you happy in your marriage? Where did you go to university, how long have you been in this borough? I tried to deflect these increasingly uncomfortable questions.

Then it was you look pretty today. How is “Suz” today? I felt that he was leering at me during each game, while I attempted to watch my daughter play ball.

The third game was tonight. The girls were along the grassy area waiting for their turn at bat. I heard a few of them giggling and then one said the term “Justin Bieber lesbian web site”? (who knows what that meant) So I immediately got up to quietly remind them for speaking of inappropriate things during a public ball game.

When I returned to my “camp” chair, the accident/malpractice attorney father of one of the teenage players (that I barely know, only in that our daughter’s are on the same team) leaned over and said, “I guess she found your web site?” (Wink, wink) He thought it was hysterical.

I did get up tell him how offended I was, even challenged him in calling it sexual harassment and I spoke loudly in front of the other “posturing” men in suits along the grassy parent area. I called my husband, who came right down to the field and challenged the attorney that his behavior was unbecoming of an officer of the courts. I urged the attorney to look into some diversity/sexual harassment training program for his law firm.

But the bottom line, his behavior made me feel bad, dirty and sad even after I realized that it wasn’t me, it was harassment. I got this turned around feeling in my stomach and here it is almost midnight & I am left to “google” sexual harassment in public places, which lead me to find your website.

🙁

– Suz

Location: Pittsburgh, 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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Bookstore stalker

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I was at a large bookstore, and a man placed himself directly in my path to hit on me. I politely expressed my lack of interest, but he wouldn’t take no for an answer and followed me around the store. Eventually I thought I had lost him, but when I was ready to leave he was waiting for me the front door. He eventually gave up, but it was very scary.

– anonymous

Location: Norristown, 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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Harassment Hotline

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Should employers be responsible if their employees harass women in public, while the employee is on the job?

Recently I read Deborah Thompson’s article “‘The Woman in the Street:’ Reclaiming the Public Space from Sexual Harassment” (a 1994 article in the Yale Journal of Law and Feminism) and I like her ideas on this topic.

“While Title VII [of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits workplace discrimination] was never intended to apply outside the workplace, its hostile environment principles provide a useful framework from which to develop a liability regime to protect all women who are street harassed by ‘men at work.’

This regime would hold employers vicariously liable for public sexual harassment by their employees if the employer failed to warn workers that street harassment is intolerable, failed to implement as system by which members of the public could formally file a complaint, or failed to take remedial action when members of the public complained about harassment by their employees.

It would be relatively easy to develop a complaint procedure for street harassment. For example, instead of signs on the back of company trucks that read, ‘How’s my driving, call 1-800-555-1212,’ trucks and taxis could display signs that read, ‘If the driver of this vehicle harasses you, call 1-800-555-1212.’

Similarly at construction sites, there should be a number for women to call to complain about harassment by workers. Such a ‘Harassment Hotline’ would be a first step in ending the hostile environment of outdoor workplaces.

It would send a valuable message that a particular company cares about its image and does not tolerate workers who invade and bombard communities with sexual harassment…

In sum, the societal interest of promoting the privacy, safety, mobility, and equality of women should outweigh the desire of employees to engage in recreational sexual harassment while on the job.”

What do you think?

Here are two stories submitted by contributors who were able to report a harassing man or men to the employer and meet with success. And it would be even easier to make these kinds of reports if the number to call regarding harassment was prominently posted.

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Hollaback UK!

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Yay! Joining the newly launched Hollaback Savannah is another anti-street harassment website, fresh off the press today – Hollaback UK! Check out their site and if you live in the UK, send them your harassment stories.

Personally, having lived in the UK for a year when I studied abroad in college, I can attest to the problem of street harassment there. For example, one day when I was going running through an average neighborhood in Lancaster (north of Manchester, near the Lake District) I experienced my worse verbal harassment ever by a large group of guys near my age.  It felt like verbal rape and I was shaken and upset for hours after it happened. I can’t even bring myself to repeat what was said 🙁

Also, when I was analyzing anti-street harassment websites for my master’s thesis in 2007, there was one called the Anti-Street Harassment UK site that I really liked. They had a place to share stories but they also offered resources and strategies for dealing with it. They’re gone now and I’m not sure why. To my knowledge, no other anti-street harassment website is running in the UK, so, there’s a great need for Hollaback UK!

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