Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Street Harassment from NY to France to Japan

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Exploring the blogosphere, I came across the following street harassment post on the blog Pomp and Circumstance:

“Heat and mating season make New Yorkers let it all hang out. I am pro sex yet have always had mixed feelings about street harassment. A woman whose weight fluctuates from average to a little extra, a globe trekker approaching 30, I’ve developed an international view on the issue.

Growing up in Philly after I lost my baby fat and had a growth spurt I got a lot of attention on the block. I chuckled, flinched sometimes. After a few years, I took “White is right!” “Can I get a ride? and “Pssst, snowflake” for granted. Yet I was always self-conscious, wearing overalls over my miniskirt to waitress one summer.

In France, I starved myself more to almost French size, sticking out only to my matronly host who said I was a little plump. Still, I was the victim of both friendly Bonjours and a teenage ass grabber.

I moved to Japan and gained 20 pounds. My teenaged students shouted ‘I love you,’ and girls grabbed my breasts in clubs. I was the victim of chikan-subway molestation. A crime so common authorities told me to carry hatpins.

I moved to New York five years ago. In the big city, women and men, cultivate the blank, sidewalk face, which I wear more often than I’d like. Sometimes, a ‘God bless you, beautiful’ is a relief.

-A”

An interesting and global take on street harassment, huh? Do you feel glad to hear from people on the street sometimes?

I’m also interested in how she perceives the role her weight plays in the kinds and volume of street harassment she experiences. Have you ever felt your weight impacts the type or volume of harassment you experience?

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Dogs Deflect Street Harassers?

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If I go out alone at night in my neighborhood I get an average of 3-5 “hey baby” type comments per outing. If I go out with my dogs, I get roughly the same number of people, from roughly the same age/gender range asking me friendly questions about them, which is a kind of interaction that I enjoy. Somehow the presence of the dogs, even though they are not at all scary looking, completely changes the way men interact with me on the street from upsetting and sexualized to pleasant and neighborly. I am completely baffled.

-anonymous

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Street Harassment Round Up – May 31

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Stories:

Share your street harassment story today and help raise awareness about the problem!

In the News:

Upcoming Events:

Street Harassment Resource of the Week:

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Toronto Event Tommorrow for Young Women!

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If you’re in Toronto and care about addressing street harassment & other violence against young women, check this out, via Shameless Magazine’s Blog:

Making Noise Media Camp for Young Women
For young women ages 14-25
Saturday May 30
rsvp: michelle cho, 416-703-6607 x 3
michelle@urbanalliance.ca

“Summer is almost here, and rates of violence always go up in the summer…we’re tired of being hollered at the in the streets and feeling unsafe, but want more creative ways of challenging gender violence.”

“We’ve organized a media camp FOR THIS SATURDAY, MAY 30, 2009, to start to bring young women together to plan a summer campaign to challenge street harassment in Toronto using media they’ve created themselves. We want to talk about how violence is experienced differently by women of colour and how it is made invisible by the media or sensationalized to be solely about being because they do not fit into the “mainstream”.”

Sounds great!

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Unpleasant Reminder

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A few evenings ago, I was walking down the street with my girlfriend in downtown Louisville. We were walking home from a poetry reading. As we were walking, I noticed a man walking along side of us. He passed us, and then spat twice directly in our pathway. It didn’t hit us, fortunately.

I was baffled. I said aloud, “Gross! Did that guy just spit at us?”

Another man, who had been walking just behind us, also passed us up. He overheard my question and said, “He was cursing you.”

I was even more puzzled. “What?”

“He was cursing you. It was a curse,” he said, and continued down the street.

My girlfriend and I were disgusted and confused. Why in the world would some random strange man want to curse us? And then it hit me.

It was because my girlfriend and I were holding hands. In public. For all the world to see. Including homophobic jerkwads.

As an openly gay woman, I’ve had to train myself to not notice people on the street. I’ve taught myself to not pay attention to other people’s reactions when they see my girlfriend and me holding hands or acting affectionate in public. You know, the same way straight couples act in public, only they don’t get spit at or cursed. This kind of deliberate tuning out of the world is the only way I’m able to enjoy being out and visible with my girlfriend. So sometimes I forget that people hate me without knowing me. Sometimes I forget that people think I’m evil, a sinner, going to hell, disgusting, perverted, or somehow less than human.

It’s not very pleasant to be reminded.

-Maria

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