Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

16 Days – Day 8: Don’t Touch Me!

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Each day across the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, we will highlight a 2018 activism effort undertaken to stop street harassment or a personal story about stopping harassers!

Day #8: Don’t Touch Me!!

After a man groped Emelia Holden in a restaurant in Georgia, she turned around, grabbed him by his collar and slammed him onto the counter shouting, “You don’t touch me motherf—!” It was all caught on video.

She said later, “I didn’t even think, I just reacted.”

She told a coworker to call the police and the man was arrested and charged with sexual battery.

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SSH Believes and Supports Survivors of Sexual Assault

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We believe survivors of sexual assault.

As a national nonprofit organization working to end gender-based street harassment worldwide, we know that the public sexual harassment that we’ve documented for years doesn’t happen in a vacuum: It is part of a broader rape culture that minimizes and perpetuates sexual violence. At its core, street harassment is about exerting power over someone else, disrespecting them, and in most cases sexually objectifying a person without consent. It is on the same spectrum of behavior as sexual assault and rape.

It is this understanding that compels us to speak out about the sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Since coming forward publicly with her allegations, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford has faced questions – including from members of the U.S. Senate – about her honesty and credibility. She has faced unreasonable requests to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee prior to the FBI conducting a thorough and independent investigation. She has faced death threats and has reportedly had to move out of her home and hire private security. All for sharing her story.

And this is not unusual, this is the system survivors have come to expect, and is one of the many barriers that prevent so many from coming forward to reclaim their narrative.

Dr. Blasey Ford does not deserve this treatment. No survivor does. And we demand better.

We stand with survivors of sexual violence and call on senators to do right by them and this nation. When someone comes forward and courageously shares their story, we must listen to them – not attack their character. As this process moves forward, we’ll be watching.

–Stop Street Harassment Board of Directors

For help and resources, contact RAINN’s national sexual assault hotline at 800-656-HOPE or online here. Along with RAINN and Defend Yourself, SSH operates the national street harassment hotline. Call toll-free at 855-897-5910.

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“A hand grabbed my breast”

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I was walking down the street around 6 am to catch a bus, with earphones in my ears and jacket covering me. I only thought i needed protection from cold…How naive was I?

A bike pulled off near me and a hand grabbed my breast. I was in shock, utter humiliation and mad at myself for not being able to move an inch. He casually rode on his way, as if it was a day in the park.

– Anonymous

Location: Bangalore, India

Need support? Call the toll-free National Street Harassment hotline: 855-897-5910

Share your street harassment story for the blog.
See the book 50 Stories about Stopping Street Harassers for ideas.

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Kenya: Death Penalty Ruling in Stripping Case

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By: Naomi Mwaura

In November 2014, hundreds of people joined the #MyDressMyChoice protest in Kenya after three men (including the bus driver and bus conductor) robbed, stripped and sexually assaulted a woman in September in an empty public bus at the Millennium petrol station in Githurai 44, Nairobi county. They video recorded the attack and the video subsequently went viral, sparking outrage.

Since 2013, Flone Initiative has been working to create safe commuter spaces and professionalism in the public transport industry in Kenya. To advance this mission, I was among the lead organizers of the 2014 protest. Our goal was to stop the increased number of cases of stripping of women and girls in public transport vehicles and terminals.

Now, nearly three years later, on July 19th 2017, the three men involved in the Sept. 2014 incident have been sentenced to death as well as to 25 years each in prison. This is one of the two landmark cases in court involving the sexual assault and robbery of women in the public transport industry. The other case being held in Makadara law court involves a woman hawker who was robbed, stripped and sexually assaulted in Kayole.

No executions have been carried out in Kenya since 1987, when Hezekiah Ochuka and Pancras Oteyo Okumu were hanged for treason. In 2009, Kenya commuted all death sentences to life imprisonment, impacting over 4,000 death row inmates. Despite the lack of executions, death sentences are still passed in Kenya.

I believe that life is precious. Hence, I feel uncomfortable with the possibility of loss of life. However, I can not ignore the heinous acts that the accused committed, the scars and trauma that the victim has to live with and the dangers that the accused pose to public transport users (especially women who make up the majority of public transport users).

Public silence and judicial inertia have ensured that rates of violence against women are often vastly under-reported and that offenders often go unpunished. This ruling changes the norm and, as such, plays an important symbolic role, by indicating that such behavior is socially unacceptable and will not go unpunished. This sentence serves a deterrence function to perpetrators and encourages victims to report. I commend the judicial system for being responsive to the victim by providing protection and handling the case with appropriate sensitivity. The ruling may be appealed but it is our hope that the judicial system will not falter. We look forward to a similar ruling in the Kayole case.

As the magistrate in this current case noted, “What you (the accused) thought was a joke should not be taken lightly, as a woman’s privacy and decency should be respected at all times.” This ruling is the strong message needed to criminalize violence against women and reaffirm the rights of women to live free of violence in public spaces, especially the transport industry, which has been plagued with various forms of violence against women.

I feel honoured to have supported the cause and, most importantly, to see justice in my lifetime.

As the rule of law takes it’s course, Flone Initiative will continue addressing the underlying norms and behaviours associated with violence against women in the transport system by training PSV operators on customer service, prevention of sexual violence and professional development, as well as working to increase the number of women employed in the industry.

Let’s make a toast: To Justice! It’s been over three years of waiting but it’s been worth the wait. Cheers!

Sending a life free of violence and love your way,

Naomi Mwaura
Founding Director, Flone Initiative

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USA: Sexual Violence Should NEVER be Normal

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Libby Allnatt, Phoenix, AZ, USA, SSH Blog Correspondent

Photo taken by the author

Trigger Warning – Attempted Rape

As the United States grapples with the misogyny, racism and bigotry that was seemingly validated with the election of Donald Trump, it is more important than ever to not normalize sexual violence.

The presidential election of 2016 rattled much of the nation.

It was supposed to be her.

On January 20, 2017, we were supposed to be inaugurating our first woman president.

But that’s not what happened. If you are outside the United States, I would venture to guess you’re aware of the trash fire that has transpired here since the country not only condoned the candidacy of an admitted sexual predator, but handed him the White House on a silver platter.

The election threatened the livelihood of many groups: Muslims, Mexicans, Jews, the LGBTQ+ community, just to name a few. These threats should not be underestimated. Trump’s refugee ban last week served as proof that he will try and make good on his threats.

Another group who felt threatened as we watched the polling results roll in on November 8: women. (Not all women, I should add. More than half of white women voted for Trump.)

The attitudes that normalize Trump’s “locker room talk” are the same attitudes that women must face the repercussions of every day as we walk down the street.

I started a new job this semester and work nights three days a week. At first I felt uneasy about knowing I’ll be walking home late at night, in the dark, in the city. But I refuse to feel scared.

I and the women around me have had lots of experiences with street harassment, and I feel disgusted to even say that I haven’t had it as bad as many others. I have struggled to understand the roots of the phenomenon and arm myself with knowledge.

While I believe we should avoid demonizing Trump alone (change is broader than one man, and government and the nation as a whole also needs to be held accountable for what they condone and initiate), we can’t ignore what his victory represented to a lot of people: that America condoned the actions of an admitted sexual abuser.

Groups have thoroughly documented hate crimes by perpetrators who used Trump’s exact words. A man harassed me a few days after the election using Trump’s words.

After the election of Donald Trump, women’s everyday fear of sexual assault was intensified, as if that’s even possible.

The other night when I walked home from work, a man in a car catcalled me. (The anonymity and distance of being in a vehicle does wonders for the empowerment of harassers.) I breathed a sigh of relief when he drove away.

The next night I walked home again. My stomach clenched when a group of four men were walking in my direction. I clutched my keys between my fingers.

A thought passed through my head: What if I got raped right now?

They passed me without saying anything, and I felt ridiculous for being scared of a group of innocent men. But this is our reality.

Some say street harassment is a fact of life, that we should deal with it.

But do they know what it’s like to breathe a sigh of relief when you make it through the door because you arrived untouched and unbothered?

I text my mom the second I get back to my apartment, the text already written out before I depart for home. The response she sent last night once I notified her of my safe arrival? “Yay!” A casual and all-too-normal declaration of joy at your daughter making it home unscathed.

The fears are for good reason. Last year at my own apartment complex a man followed a girl into the building, forced his way into her room, and tried to rape her before her male roommate stepped in. I would link to the news story, but I am obviously wary of publicizing the apartment complex I live in.

Paranoia. Fear. Guarding our bodies at all costs. Could we take on a man twice our size? Do we have our pepper spray? How do we fight back?

We fight back by not being scared. By continuing to talk about the obscene, ridiculous and terrorizing details of our experiences. By intervening when we have to. By holding accountable those who don’t take it seriously.

The hand signing executive orders to deny women reproductive rights and health care has been accused of groping their bodies. The words that spew hatred for any skin color that isn’t white come from the same mouth that makes jokes (threats) of dating 14-year-old-girls.

I don’t care who’s in the Oval Office. Sexual violence isn’t normal. And I refuse to ever let anyone make me feel like it is.

Libby is a student at Arizona State University. Originally from Salt Lake City, Utah, she is majoring in journalism with a focus on print and she is minoring in psychology and women’s studies. You can follow her on Twitter @libbyallnattasu and Instagram @LibbyPaigeA.

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