Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Call them out, literally.

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On Saturday, EB in New York City posted a story on the blog about how an employee of a truck company harassed her. Both the harasser and the owner of the company, whom she called and spoke to on the phone, didn’t understand how the actions constituted harassment. In her blog post she included the company’s phone number.

Today, when blog reader Beckie saw the phone number, she called. She talked to the owner and he finally agreed that the behavior was inappropriate and said he’d talk to his employees. After I posted all this Facebook, four more people wrote comments saying they called and left messages urging the company to do something about harassment.

Also, a few weeks ago, a couple of emails and phone calls got a Togo’s sandwich television ad pulled because it made light of men flashing women on the street. The exchange also ended with a very nice email from someone at Togo’s.

If you were harassed while at store/movie theater/club/bar, or if you were harassed by a person in a public place who is clearly harassing you during work hours (e.g. s/he has on a work uniform), or if you see an ad that makes light of street harassment/sexual harassment, you can do something! As a customer and consumer, you have a right to contact the business and make a report. Offer suggestions for improvement. Be polite but firm. Then post the story here and include the contact information so some of the blog readers can contact them, too.

Why take the time to do this? Because it can create change. No business wants bad press or a Google trail of blog posts complaining about them. Collectively, we have a lot of power and a strong voice.

If you haven’t faced harassment this way but you want to help, read the recent stories from women in Chicago, London, Brighton, and New York City and use the contact information they provide to reiterate their message: street harassment, sexual harassment is not okay, nor are attitudes or ads that promote or condone such behavior.

We have the right to walk down the street, go into stores, and ride the subway without facing unwanted sexualized attention.

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Taking action to stop harassers!

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I have been walking to work with a friend and she has been shouted at, verbally harassed, had drivers slow down whilst passing her and, when in my car, other drivers make rude gestures and shout at her…and I thought we were some way down the road to equality.

The worst behaviour has been from the contractors working on the roadworks outside our office. After reading some of this website last night, I went over to the workmen, whilst they were staring and letching at my friend and told them to stop as it was threatening and unwelcome. I then went back into the office, called the company involved and reported the complaint to the director and backed it up with an email. I have received an email response stating that they would investigate my complaint and proceed with disciplinary action where appropriate.

My friend was scared and didn’t feel able to say anything to the contractors; I asked her if it was OK for me to speak up for her and she said yes. We wait to see if their behaviour changes…

Thanks to this website I decided to do something and speak up, instead of just thinking about it.

– CJ

Location: Walsall, United Kingdom

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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New method for reporting street harassers

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In Egypt, individuals are developing a HarassMap to allow women to report harassers via SMS messaging. It will map the location of the occurrence and help track where harassment is occurring and its frequency.

My good friends at HollaBackNYC and RightRides (who also are the lead coordinators for New Yorkers for Safe Transit) are taking this idea new places. This is their plan:

“We want to create an online map where women can ‘Hollaback!’ directly from their cell phones. Quick, 140 character stories can be submitted through three easy portals: a) text it, b) tweet it, and c) submit it through a ‘Hollaback’ mobile phone app. Once submitted, harassment and assault data will be mapped and later analyzed in an annual ‘State of Our Streets’ report which will be sent to the police, public officials, and the media. Automatic email alerts noting real-time harassment will also be available. Local citizens and policy makers can sign up for alerts on incidences in their own communities, or review our HARASSmap to see harassment hot-spots. Once we launch in New York City, we want to take it worldwide.”

As you may imagine, implementing this project takes money. They’ve applied for funding and they now need YOUR HELP to vote for their project!

For almost a year now I’ve been advocating (mostly silently though – lol) for a system that allows women to easily report the harassment and its location so I am thrilled to see them working to make it a reality. There are a lot of deterrents to reporting harassers now (including the fact that in most places you can only report people who are threatening or touching you) and it’s making the pervasiveness of the problem of gender-based street harassment largely invisible to mainstream society and to policy and lawmakers. This tool could change everything and make it easier to report harassers and it also could  show us where there are the most harassers so we can target those areas to end it.

Please go vote for the mapping/reporting tool – it’s really cool and has the potential to be a gamechanger in the fight against street harassment!!

Please also spread the word to your networks. Cut and paste this to your facebook, twitter, Myspace, and LinkedIn pages:
Vote for Hollaback 2.0 http://bit.ly/14Egc2 then repost to end street harassment!

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Joggers in Delaware Report Harassers

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In Delaware, two different women joggers reported men who were following them in their vehicles. The latest man was caught:

“A Wilmington man was charged with harassment Tuesday after he followed a woman jogger in his truck in the Rockford Park area.

Teofilo Burrell, 29, of the 2700 block of N. Jefferson St., was released on $1,000 unsecured bail on one misdemeanor count of harassment, Wilmington police Master Sgt. Steven Barnes said.

According to court records, the 23-year-old victim flagged down an officer about 6:30 a.m. in the 2100 block of W. 17th St. She said she was jogging near North Union Street and Kentmere Parkway when an older silver Mitsubishi pickup, driven by a man with a scruffy beard and dark complexion, passed her and stopped in the middle of the street.

The woman said she was alarmed and ran the opposite way. The truck made a U-turn and began to follow her while driving the wrong way on the street. The woman sprinted to her boyfriend’s house. Officers located the truck near Delaware Avenue and North Union Street.”

wilmington2The article says police are urging joggers who have had a similar experience to call Detective Ron Mullin at 576-3634 or Delaware Crime Stoppers at (800) TIP-3333.

I have a special appreciation for this story as a dedicated runner of 13 years who has been harassed while running more times than I could ever try to count. But I’ve never reported a harasser before. The times I was followed it never occurred to me, I had never been told I could report it and I was in flight mode. If I’m ever followed again though, I will report it!!

To conclude: I’m very heartened by the police in Delaware on this issue and proud the jogger had the presence of mind to stay safe and report the guy following her.

(thanks to hollaback dc for the story tip)

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