Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

70 percent face harassment on public transportation in Sri Lanka

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More than 70 percent of women aged 15 to 45 surveyed in Sri Lanka said they’d experienced sexual harassment on public transportation. The survey was conducted by the Legal Aid Commission.

Via Lankasri News:

“[Chairperson of the commission] Mr. Wijeratne said that the victimized women in public transport were reluctant to complain the matter to the bus conductors, bus driver or the police. “The bus drivers and conductors alone cannot stop this menace, and the male commuters themselves should be shameful of doing such kind of bad habits. He further told the bus drivers and conductors were reluctant to give evidence against the culprits in Courts as it was effecting to their daily income.

LAC chairman further said the LAC with the participation of Road Passenger Transport Authority have allocated a two-week period to make the public aware to deter sexual harassment in public transport from last Friday (25) to December 10.”

This is not new information. More than 95 percent of women feel it’s unsafe to travel alone in public spaces in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and one in four women report sexual harassment on public transportation in the country, according to a new report from the Transport Ministry.

In response, goups like Reach Out and  Beyond Borders are doing important work to address and stop street harassment. One of my favorite initiatives was the “Man Up” event held over the summer.

I’m glad that the Legal Aid Commission is bringing attention to harassment on public transportation during the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence, and I hope they will continue to address it more long-term, or support groups that are, like Reach Out and Beyond Borders.

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Sexual Harassment in Tahrir: “Let’s keep the square safe for the women of the revolution”

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Street harassment and sexual assault are in full force at Tahrir Square in Egypt as tens of thousands of Egyptians rally and call for military rule to end before parliamentary elections are held. Here is a disturbing account of it, via Storyful.

“An increasing number of women have become victims of sexual harassment and assault at protests in Egypt over recent weeks. While some claim the attacks have been organised by the military and police to intimidate female protesters, others blame it on supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood. International female reporters have also been among those targeted, with French correspondent Caroline Sinz assaulted for 45 minutes in Tahrir Square by youths on November 24. One website has started mapping reports of sexual harassment around Cairo and is calling for women to step forward and tell their story.

The events of recent days, in which both activist and journalist Mona El-Tahawy and Sinz were sexually assaulted, have prompted women to speak out about endemic sexual harassment in Egypt….

On Thursday Sinz and her cameraman were reportedly mobbed by youths, as they walked down Mohammed Mahmoud street. They were dragged to Tahrir Square, where they were separated, and she was assaulted. Afterwards Sinz recalled: “Some people tried to help me but failed. I was lynched. It lasted three quarters of an hour before I was taken out. I thought I was going to die.”…

The feminist activist, journalist and blogger El-Tahawy claimed she was beaten and sexually assaulted by police officers on Thursday, after she was arrested on Tahrir Square. After her release she tweeted details of her assault on Twitter: @monaeltahawy 5 or 6 surrounded me, groped and prodded my breasts, grabbed my genital area and I lost count how many hands tried to get into my trousers.”

If you’re in Tahrir, this is for you:

@sallyzohney All females in #tahrir, pls share with me ANY harassment or assault, I am doing a report on this! very important!!

No matter where you are, here is an important article by @Rouelshimi about the current state of street harassment/sexual harassment in Tahrir Square and why this is NOT okay.  An excerpt:

“In Egypt, sexual harassment has been an issue for quite sometime. Women can’t walk down the street without being harassed whether verbally, physically or just by inappropriate looks….

So yes it has been a problem. Today though, was out of the ordinary; even for a huge Friday protest. More than one girl I’ve spoken to personally today has had horrible (and multiple) sexual harassment experiences. Not to mention the amount of complaints on twitter just from today. Personally, I had a very negative experience with harassment today with much groping and verbal abuse.

So this got me thinking; why today? The square is different this time around. There is much more tension in the air. Sadness over the lost and injured. Giving food and supplies became more of a business; even if there is still a big dependence on donations and sharing. Anger from SCAF’s brutality. All of this with hope and faith in a bright future.

So why today? Today, there was also a pro-scaf rally in Abbasiya square reported at about 15,000 people participating. There was also a ceasefire with the police, after the army built a concrete wall (oh the irony!) between the protesters and the police following 5 days of fighting and breaking of ceasefires from both sides. Today was also the day that had the most sexual harassment. It got so far that Media rights group Reporters Without Borders advised media outlets to stop sending female reporters to Tahrir Square, in light of continued reports of sexual violence against female reporters covering unrest in the square.

And why are there so many cases with this intensity today? Is it because of the amount of people there? Or maybe even army or police insiders in the square trying to make women uncomfortable? Is it because it was full of people who were not there for the protests, but are just going to Tahrir because its cool? I’m not sure. But something definitely was up and we need to fight it.

If women are being chased away from the square after terrible experiences, and if fathers and husbands start making their daughters and wives stop going, it weakens us. It weakens our revolution and our cause. Stand up for sexual harassment, whether you are male or female. Don’t let it go unnoticed. Whether you are male or female. Speak up to it, make a scene. Lets deal with this whether through street justice or organised awareness and policing. Let’s keep the square safe for the women of the revolution.”

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83 Percent of Tel Aviv women experience street harassment

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Tel Aviv - from Wiki Travel

A new study of women in Tel Aviv found that 83 percent had faced street harassment, adding to the growing number of studies that show that at least 80 percent of women worldwide experience street harassment sometime in their life.

Here are some of the fascinating findings, via Haaretz.com:

“Before various forms of harassment were described to them, 45% of the women surveyed reported being harassed by a man in the public sphere. However, when they were asked directly about whistling, knowing looks and suggestive remarks, the number almost doubled and reached the 83% finding regarding women attesting to having been sexually harassed. According to researchers who carried out the survey, the numbers suggests that some acts of harassment are not thought of as such by women in the city.

The group reporting the highest incidence of harassment included women aged 22-39. The most common forms of harassment are whistling in the street (64% of all respondents reported experiencing this ), cars beeping horns (61% ), knowing looks (45% ), suggestive remarks (40% ), inappropriate proposals (22% ), touching (21% ) and stalking (18% ). Also, 6% of respondents reported that they were victims of sexual abuse.

The most frequent venue for harassment is the street. 96% of women who report being harassed refer to harassment experienced on the street. 45% say they were sexually harassed on public transport; 30% on the beach; 20% in a park or public garden; and 19% in an open market area.

95% of respondents who report being harassed say the harassment occurred at least one time during daytime hours, and 64% reported incidents occurring after dark.”

The survey was sponsored by the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality’s committee for advancing the status of women, with help from shelters for survivors of sexual assault and the Shatil organization.

This is my favorite paragraph of the news story:

“Tamar Zandberg, chairperson of the Tel Aviv Municipality committee for the status of women and municipality council member, says that these survey findings are disturbing, but also not surprising. “We deliberately checked the topic of harassment on the street; up to now, this form of harassment has not been considered serious. As in any campaign, the first step is to learn all the facts, and see what picture they create,” she explains. “The big picture here is clear – the street is neither safe, pleasant nor comfortable for women. The days when this could be ignored are over,” Zandberg declared.”

This is wonderful. This is what every country, every city, every community needs to do. Start talking about street harassment, survey women on the topic, and stop ignoring the fact that this happens to most women and that we don’t like it, even if we haven’t yet thought of it as sexual harassment/street harassment.

Way to go, Tel Aviv Municipality committee for the status of women, for bringing this issue to light in your community.

 

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Togo’s Restaurant Trivializes Street Harassment

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Togo’s fast food chain has launched a new television ad, a cartoon animation featuring a sandwich that flashes two women. The women look horrified initially, and then start laughing, purportedly at the small size of the sandwich’s contents. The voice over says, “Don’t settle for puny…” and then goes on to tout their new sandwich.

“The commercial takes an edgy approach to comparing the short comings of a Breadwich to Togo’s big and meaty sandwiches,” said Renae Scott, Togo’s VP of marketing.

However, this so-called “edgy” approach is not innocuous – it trivializes the fear women feel from street harassment, including flashers (exhibitionists). Thirty percent of exhibitionists also commit acts of direct sexual violence against women. While the clay women in the commercial laughed it off, making this a humorous subject wears down many real women’s ability to object, resist, and to stand up to this form of sexual harassment.

Let Togo’s know that you object to this ad!

Visit  Togo’s website to write and send an email through their online form. You can also call: (866) 708-6467. If more contact information becomes available, this will be updated.

This guest blog post is by Wendy Stock, Ph.D., a feminist psychologist in independent practice in Berkeley, CA.  She specializes in treating sexual problems, Internet and pornography addiction, relationship issues, and PTSD resulting from physical and sexual trauma.

[Editor’s Note: This ad also hurts men because of the way it suggests that some men, or sandwiches in this case, are too puny to be desirable. That’s not ok.]

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How to act when you see a woman dressed “sexy”

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How to treat and respond to someone dressed “slutty,” “provocatively,” or “sexy” comes up a lot during discussions I facilitate on street harassment and sexual harassment in schools (‘Well why do girls/women dress that way if they don’t want the attention?”). I address this issue in my book and briefly on my website in the section “How to Talk to a Woman.” The bottom line is, no matter how someone dresses, treat them with respect.

Caperton at Feministe broke the issue down further in her excellent post “So There’s a Woman Dressed All Sexy-Like: Your Role as Observer“:

“There’s a lot of ongoing debate about what, exactly, a woman is looking for when she goes out dressed all sexy-like (which is itself a subjective concept). Men (and women) get ideas about exactly what that woman wants, what she welcomes, how they should behave toward her, what her all-sexy-likeness indicates. And guys, in particular, can come up with a thousand excuses for publicly ogling a woman’s goodies–They’re right there; I can’t help but look. She’s doing it for attention–she wants men to look. If she didn’t want guys to look, she shouldn’t put them out there. They’re so ubiquitous, I hardly notice them anymore, and when I do I generally dismiss them with rolled eyes and an unladylike snort.

There is one excuse that, while common, is sufficiently uncommon to draw my attention: Some girls get their feelings hurt if you don’t look/whistle/comment/shout/grope. Seriously. Seriously? Your personal approval is paramount to them, and you’re doing them a service by sexually harassing them. They pass you by at a bar, ladypillows pushed up to their chin, and when you don’t hazard a pinch they look back at you with a single, crystalline tear rolling down their cheek. Your unsolicited grunt is really your generous way of seeing to their emotional health, you saint, you. (Whether the gentleman offering this service is the same one who wanted custody of our metaphorical dog, I shall not say.)

And so I provided him a list, albeit not a universal or comprehensive one, of things to do when you see a woman dressed all sexy-like.

1. Admire, if it’s your thing. I mean, why not?

2. Don’t stare. It’s rude. And it’s not like the view is going to change from minute to minute–generally, women don’t spontaneously disrobe or hyperinflate their breasts or turn into lizard-people such that you’d miss it if you turned away. The view ten seconds now will be pretty much the same as the view you’re getting now, so it’s safe to look away.

3. Keep your commentary–and your hands–to yourself. Some women truly are into it; many aren’t. Many really aren’t. It’s best to err on the side of not offending anyone.

4. Don’t assume she’s dressing for you. Maybe she’s dressed all sexy-like for the benefit of her boyfriend/girlfriend, and they just happen to be out in public where you can observe it.

5. Don’t assume she’s dressing for you. Maybe she’s dressed all sexy-like for the guy two barstools down from you, who’s taller than you and flashed a Rolex when he reached for his drink. Or maybe it’s for the guy next to you on the other side who’s shorter than you and wearing tight jeans and hipster glasses that you think look stupid. Or maybe it’s for the woman behind the bar. She’s allowed to be picky, and she’s allowed to not pick you. The fact that you’re sitting within sight of her all-sexy-likeness doesn’t mean she’s aiming it at you–just that she’s a shotgun and you’re within the spread.

6. Don’t assume she’s dressing for you–or anyone else, for that matter. Maybe she’s dressed all sexy-like purely for herself, because she likes the way she looks. Maybe looking all sexy-like makes her feel sexy, and that gives her more confidence or a little bit of a personal thrill. And yes, maybe her look is one that is also appealing to the more prurient gaze, but there’s a difference between wanting to look sexy and wanting to actively pursue interaction of a sexual nature. She gets to do either one.

7. Don’t think she owes you anything. Dressing all sexy-like isn’t some contract with the world that a woman will respond positively to all come-ons or welcome all (or any) physical advances. Even if she is dressed all sexy-like expressly so that people will look at her, that doesn’t mean she wants anyone to touch her or even speak to her, and she gets to do that. If you insist on seeing it as a transaction, think of it this way: She gets to dress in a way that makes her feel sexy, and you get to enjoy seeing a woman who’s dressed all sexy-like.

8. Be a nice guy (or girl), not a Nice Guy™. Review #5. Maybe she’s not into short guys, or tall girls, or guys at all, or girls at all, or facial hair, or muscles, or people who open with “Hey, nice tits.” People have their reasons–and you’re eyeing the woman who’s dressed all sexy-like and not the woman in the mom jeans next to her, so it’s not like you’re one to talk. Here’s a clue: If you find yourself saying, “I’m a nice guy, but no one will sleep with me! Women are only into rich/bad/hot guys. Shallow bitches, all of them,” you’re not a nice guy. You’re a Nice Guy™, and that’s why you’re single.

Am I leaving anything out? Moreover, at what point do you know that a male friend is just plain not educable?”

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