Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming
Here’s a street harassment survey being conducted by our friends Hollaback România – ia atitudine împotriva hărțuirii. It will be the first national study in the country.
The survey closes Aug. 31! You must be Romanian to take it.
This post is from our Safe Public Spaces Team in Bucharest, Romania. The SPSM projects are supported by SSH donors. If you would like to donate to support the 2016 mentees, we would greatly appreciate it!
Ta-naaa! We’ve completed the Mentoring Program and we are happy because it was a great experience for us, as activist and working in the NGO sector and for the high school students as well! Thanks to Stop Street Harassment Mentoring Program we had this amazing chance to meet teenagers girls and boys and to speak with them delicate subjects like violence and street harassment.
During the time between August and December 2015 FILIA Centre, a feminist NGO from Bucharest, Romania, implemented the project “High school girls and boys for a city without street harassment!” financed by Stop Street Harassment NGO.
We are Simona-Maria Chirciu, Stefania Vintila and Loredana Valcianu, members of the FILIA Centre and we gladly complete the Program Mentoring with great success and smiles. We’ve organized three workshops for 60 high school teenagers from the Technic College of Aeronautics “Henri Coanda” in Bucharest. We talked with the participants about discrimination, equal opportunities, violence against women, and street harassment and the activism against it all around the world. The principal from the high school and the female teacher who runs the department of Program and Projects of this institution and also some of the teachers were very open regarding the subject we wanted to address and regarding our project. We had their full support in implementing it and we are very grateful for this.
We encouraged the participants to get involved in the discussion by giving examples of discrimination, violence and harassment from their own experience or from the experience of their friends. They were interested by the subject mostly because we were talking about experiences that happened to them or to their loved ones too, experiences about nobody talks about. In Romania street harassment represents a taboo: nobody talks about it, many men deny it and some women barely if they have courage to complain about it to anyone who is not their friends.
At the end of the workshops we organized a contest: the high school boys and girls could use any material to depict street harassment as a form of violence. We encouraged them to show a solution that in their opinion is suitable for the Romanian context in order to prevent or to end street harassment against women. The teenagers were very interested and did their best for this contest. They created videos, drawings, essays, and powerpoint presentations and a poster as well. Their perspectives were so interesting and the way they see equal access to the public space for men and women helps us to incorporate their experiences in everything that we organize on this subject in the future.
In the implementation of this project we had the support of our former volunteer Aila Veli and our colleague Mihaela Sasarman from Transcena Association, an NGO in Romania, who has many years of experience working on the issue of violence against women and specifically working with perpetrators.
The girls and boys who participated offered us a very, very positive feedback about our interaction with them, about the way we presented the subject and about the way we involved them in the process of defining the role each of us has to create a society free of harassment in public spaces. They asked us to return to their high school soon with workshops to talk about rape, teenager relations and other subjects from the same domain.
We are grateful for all the support from Holly and Stop Street Harassment! We, as a team evolved and learned so much. Indeed, working with teens on street harassment issue is challenging but so rewarding! We recommend this kind of experience to other activists on street harassment worldwide!
Simona-Maria Chirciu, Stefania Vintila and Loredana Valcianu are members of the FILIA Centre.
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).
Since the mid-1970s, Take Back the Night and Reclaim the Night marches have occurred annually in many cities worldwide to challenge rape. Starting in 2011, SlutWalk marches spread globally, too, with participants criticizing rape culture and victim blaming. In recent years, there have also been marches in countries like Afghanistan, Colombia, Nepal, Romania, South Africa, and the United States.
On a hot day in 2011, 50 women and men carrying banners and signs with messages like, “We will not tolerate harassment,” “Islam forbids men from insulting women,” and “I have the right to walk freely in my city” marched together from Kabul University to the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission. Organized by Young Women for Change, marchers handed out fliers to raise awareness about the problem of street harassment in their country. Most of the people they passed on the street stood shocked, staring, since openly supporting women’s rights can be dangerous. Despite the presence of a police escort, some men heckled the marchers and called them names. But others were supportive and took fliers or joined the march. Organizer Noorjahan Akbar, then a 20-year-old college student, told me in an interview at the time: “It was so thrilling to see that none of us are alone in this fight and we are willing to stand up for each other.”
In 2012, between 3,000 and 5,000 women and men joined together to march through Johannesburg, South Africa, outraged by the sexual assault of two women wearing short skirts at a taxi rank and by the daily street harassment most women face. They carried signs with messages like “I will wear my mini-skirt anywhere!” and “Humiliating women is a sin before God.” Lulu Xingwana, the minister of women and children and people with disabilities marched too, and told the local news station: “Through this march, we are reclaiming our streets from those who abuse and terrorize women and children.” She also warned she would close down taxi ranks if harassment and assault against women continued there.
In Bogota, Observatorio Contra el Acoso Callejero Colombia held a march against street harassment in the center of the city in 2014. More than 100 people participated, carrying signs with messages like “Nuestros Cuerpos No Hacen Parte Del Espacio Publico!” (Our bodies are not public space!). The group joined forces with a female percussion group called La tremendarevoltosabatucadafeminista and a performance group called Tulpadanza, which both brought extra energy to the march.
Also in 2014, with the help of volunteers from the feminist organization Filia, Simona-Maria Chirciu organized a 100-person march through Bucharest, Romania. Women and men of all ages held signs that read, “Harassment is violence,” “We don’t need your validation,” and “It is NEVER ok to harass people! So stop doing it.” Numerous women’s rights groups participated. Chirciu wrote for the SSH blog: “People on the streets interacted with us, greeted us, and asked questions about our march: ‘Hey, do you think a march will solve the problem? Boys need to be educated or legally punished for doing this.’ Yes! Maybe a march doesn’t solve the street harassment issue, but it can raise awareness and is empowering for the march participants.”
Help fund our work in 2016, donate to our end-of-year giving campaign!
It’s the last day of International Anti-Street Harassment Week! Here are some of the actions taking place.
International:
Bangladesh: AUW Speak Up Club members will go out to streets of Chittagong with flyers and message boards to raise awareness about street harassment, to ask people to share their messages, to raise their voice, and to join the campaign.
Canada (Alberta): Hollaback! Alberta is holding “Street Harassment Happens Here,” where they will be walking through the high traffic areas of Whyte avenue, stopping every 5 minutes, and providing chalk & support to those who wish to participate. Participants are welcome to use sidewalk chalk to describe their experiences and/or feelings regarding street harassment on the sidewalk. It can be specific incidences that have occurred on Whyte Ave, or they can be general statements. Chalking can be a powerful way to share your experiences, reclaim spaces that are made to feel unsafe, and support those who are silenced by street harassment. [April 18, 1-5pm on Whyte Avenue in Edmonton between Gateway Blvd and 109th Street.]
Chile: OCAC Chile will host an event in a local park with performances and art [April 18]
Colombia: OCAC Colombia is hosting a an event in Bogota: SATURDAY 18 APRIL – 7PM: We will closure the week dancing, so you are invited to a pro-fund International Week Against Street Harassment spree. See you at la Redada, Carrera 19 No 33A-26 | SÁBADO 18 DE ABRIL – 9PM. Cerraremos la semana bailando e invitándoles a una farra pro-fondos Semana Internacional Contra el Acoso Callejero. Nos vemos en el Rehuso, en la Carrera 19 No 33A-26
France: Stop Harcelement de Rue Lyon will be holding a chalk walk [April 18 – 3 pm. Location: Montée de la Grande Côte]
France: Stop Harcelement de Rue Lille is holding a wall of shame: post-its are made available for passers-by to write insults and catcalls they were subjected to. The post-its are then glued to a giant board (this is the second wall of shame as the first one took place on International Women’s Day). [April 18 – 2 pm]
Nepal: The Nepal Mahila Ekata Samaj (Nepal Women Unity Society) will be chalk writing on street and bridge – Write the slogan and demand on street and bridge inform the public and masses abou the issue. [April 18]
Romania: FILIA: Centre for Curriculum Development and Gender Studies: is hold a public action in park to raise awareness and to share fliers with information about street harassment and also write chalk messages, discussing with people and ending the activity with a flashmob about the importance of bystander intervention and avoiding victim-blaming attitudes.
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]
Turkey: Hollaback! Izmir will be hosting several events through the week, including a street harassment forum [April 12, 2-3pm at Caffenol Bistro], a banner-making workshop [April 12, 3:30-4:30pm] and panels and street activity [April 18, 2-6pm] Find more info here.
United Kingdom: Hollaback! York will be holding their launch event during #EndSHWeek! Join them to share stories and learn more about their new community survey. [April 18, 1:30-3pm Fishergate Room the in the Priory Street Centre]
USA Events:
Maryland: STREETWISE is hosting a Basics of Self Defense Class. This 4-hour hands-on workshop will give you the confidence, knowledge and strength to feel empowered in a life-threatening situation. You will learn basic defense techniques on how to recognize, react to and survive an attack! [Saturday, April 18, 2015 @ 10:00am – 2:00pm at Fitness Craze – 223-D Brierhill Drive, Bel Air, MD 21015] INFO
Nevada: Hollaback! Las Vegas is hosting a Self-Defense Workshop with Israeli Martial Arts. The workshop is FREE but spaces are limited. To register, email gabrielle@RCCLV.org with the subject line “self defense workshop” [Saturday, April 18th 11am to 1pm]
New York: dianINQUE will be hosting community outreach via chalk walks and flyering on April 18 and 19.
North Carolina: SSH campaign manager Britnae will be hosting a charity yoga class at Durham Yoga Company. Street harassment takes a toll on our mental well-being. Take some time to recenter and focus on self-love during this yoga class! We’ll be giving out SSH-themed gift bags! Class is free, but 100% of proceeds will go back to Stop Street Harassment. [Saturday, April 18, 6-7:30pm]
Massachusetts: Guerilla Feminism Boston will be hosting Reclaim Our Spaces: A Chalk Walk for Black Women, WOC, Queer, and Trans Women. Join them while they use chalk to share our stories, tell our truths and stand in solidarity for those we have lost to street harassment & gender based violence. Allies are welcome as long as they are active in their support of the communities mentioned above. [April 18, 3:30-5:30pm at the Mass Ave T Stop on the Orange Line, Boston]
Washington, DC: SSH, CASS and Batala! will host street action at U Street and 14th Street, 2-4 p.m.[April 18]
Special Global Action!