Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Street harassment snapshot: March 13, 2011

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Read stories, news articles, blog posts, and tweets about street harassment from the past week and find relevant announcements and upcoming street harassment events.

Street Harassment Stories:

I accept street harassment submissions from anywhere in the world. Share your story!

You can read new street harassment stories on the Web from the past week at:

Street Harassment in the News, on the Blogs:

Events:

  • March 15: International Approaches to Stopping Street Harassment Talk, Georgia College, Museum Education Room, Milledgeville, GA, 5 p.m.
  • March 16: Street Harassment Workshop, Georgia College, Women’s Resource Center, Milledgeville, GA, 12:30 p.m.
  • March 19: Stop Street Harassment Talk, Old Parish House/Women’s Club
    4711 Knox Road, College Park, MD, 11 a.m.
  • March 19: HarassMap is organizing anti-street harassment activism in Cairo, Egypt!
  • March 20: International Anti-Street Harassment Day – happening all over the world!
  • March 22: HollaBack London meeting, 420 Kingsland Road, unknown time

International Anti-Street Harassment Day:

It’s only two weeks away! Participate in the first annual International Anti-Street Harassment Day on March 20!!!

Announcements:

New:

On-going:

10 Tweets from the Week:

  • HollabackEP Went for a lovely walk with my mom. Yeah, I still got harassed. Doesn’t matter what you’re wearing, or who you’re with. #StreetHarassment
  • bibliofeminista Street harassed on the streets of DC today by a man who yells: “Whoa, legs!” Me: “Yup, I have them.” #gross #streetharassment
  • TingyN #saynoto abuse and harassment in the street making people feel vulnerable in their every day lives
  • FeministInti Feminism isn’t a zero sum game, we can fight against street harassment, for abortion AND to end domestic violence and rape. It all counts.
  • Tweetsbian Creepy mullet dude gave me the turn-catcall-stare on a dark sidewalk. Think my ovaries have shriveled up a bit.
  • KimberlynnAce Nope…was wrong. street harassment is rampant as ever on international women’s day. All this tells me is that we gotta go to work. #iwd2011
  • Dina_T Is there some sort of sexual street harassment quota that Egyptian men are trying to achieve today? Kefaya!
  • equalitynow From FB: Passing some kind of legislation against street harassment. There is no equality while women feel unsafe. #100steps
  • SophiaAlMaria Make street-harassment a relic of pre-revolutionary #Egypt. Support http://www.harassmap.org/ on International Women’s Day.
  • disasterous007 If you ever walk alone to your car without thinking someone might attack you, this isn’t your day. #internationalwomensday
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Victory: “Sexual harassment is a crime leave me alone or I will report you.”

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After school yesterday I was walking to get on the Q train and some guy comes up to me and goes, “You got great legs baby!”

Ok im 15 he was like 43. Gross. So I said, “Excuse me, you probably have a daughter older than me.”

He goes, “Sorry you just look so sexy in that schoolgirl outfit I couldn’t help it and you do have great legs.”

So then I said, “Sexual harassment is a crime leave me alone or I will report you…”

He turned and walked the opposite direction in a very rapid fashion!

I count that as a win for me because I hear things like that all the time and I finally stood up for my self and said something. I shouldn’t have to feel dirty because of some asshole!

– Brittney

Location: Church Street, New York City

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Woman turns down job because of constant harassment in Jordan

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The Middle East seems to be breeding grounds central for street harassment and Jordan was no exception. I speak not only for myself but for all expat women who have lived, or still live in the Middle East, when I say that street harassment there is a problem we face multiple times every day and it slowly wears you away, grinding away your confidence and sense of security.

The harassment ranged from leering stares, cat calls, sexually explicit comments and sometimes grabbing and groping.
Given the chance to go back to a higher paying, wonderful job, I turned it down, as no doubt countless others have as well, in large part because I was tired of being harassed day in and day out. It does not matter what women wear, they all still get harassed. Responding in any way only seemed to egg the guys on, rendering us (rather) powerless in terms of finding a solution to the problem.

The slow erosion of self that many experience show the truly damaging effect street harassment of all levels can have.

– Anonymous

Location: Jordan

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Woman stops the harassment of her 13-year-old daughter

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I was crossing the road with my 13-year-old daughter, we were at the crossing waiting for the lights to turn red so we could cross.

A male hung out of the passenger side of a car shouting, “You in the white turn round” (my daughter was the one in white). I yelled back her age, and his driver friend looked mortified. I memorized the license plate number in a manner so that they could see and yelled NONCE (not of normal criminal evidence apparently). I was so angry.

He shouted that he “didn’t know!”

Oh so it’s ok to yell at females in the street and ask them to turn round so males like him can get a better look?

– Anonymous

Location: near my house

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“I don’t want to be protected, I want to be free”

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Some of my “favorites”.

Out walking with a male friend, got yelled out (whatever generic crap men say). I lost my temper and flicked the guy off, to which I got the reply “You can stick that up my a**” I was furious. And there was nothing I could do.
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A guy followed me home (I thought I had lost him), I was walking to class the following morning, and was greeted by the same car, pulling out of MY apartment complex and driving really slowly with the window down, not saying anything. I live less than half a mile from school, but had to get the school police to come pick me up.

I gave the cops a partial license plate and description of the car and man inside. Their response? Don’t walk alone, better yet get a lift from a friend. Every time I need or want to go home to go on campus someone should come pick me up? How can walking ten minutes to class be so dangerous?
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The cops, sorry two cop cars, stopped me while I was walking to school (not that the dress/appearance argument is relevant, but I am out in pretty mundane clothes and clearly look like a student). I knew there had been some prostitute stings in the area, and obviously had been dealing with men trying to buy sex (and not just being creepers). I was late, I cut to the chase “I’m not a prostitute.” They asked, “Have you ever been arrested?” I attempted to be cooperative, but wanted to get to my meeting. Eventually I told them about getting harassed all the time and offered to show my student ID and asked if I could leave. He just waved me off. Sorry, but at least in Sarasota (besides being the meanest city for the homeless) cops definitely don’t give a shit about woman getting harnessed. I have no idea what the justification is, but I would never expect a cop to be remotely helpful in this area if they even saw some guy bothering me.
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I was biking in a different area, and this truck started following me. He’d go around the block and drive by real slow, again, and again, and again. At first I thought I was confused. Then I thought, maybe he just wants directions. Nope. It was one of the first times I realized how unsafe I was, because I was (no looked) female. I eventually was able to duck behind a building and hide out for a bit, but asked a friend to come pick me up just in case. I was practically in tears.
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The only other time (I recall) having to hide was under similar circumstances. I was visiting a friend and went for a run through their neighborhood, when a man in a blue truck started following me (yelling the usual crap). Luckily there was a fire station near by, I noticeably walked in the next time he came around. The firefighters there were furious and offered to give me a ride home and wanted to know what he looked like.

I was really grateful those guys were there, but I think they didn’t understand that I don’t want to be protected, I want to be free. Easily the majority of the men who harass me are middle-aged white males, and yet one of the fire fighters was surprised. Unfortunately racism still persists in how the problem is even perceived, and exactly the group that is the problem is the group that feels the need to “protect” woman and offers completely ignorant advice about safety.

– R

Location: Sarasota, Florida

Share your street harassment story today and help raise awareness about the problem. Find suggestions for what YOU can do about this human rights issue.

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