Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Street harassment in Egypt and Lara Logan

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Image from CBS, taken moments before the Feb. 11 attack

Like many major cities around the world, there are high rates of gender-based street harassment against women in Cairo. A 2008 report by the Egyptian Centre for Women’s Rights found that 83 percent of Egyptian women experienced it and 98 percent of foreign women.

During the weeks of protests against Hosni Mubarak’s regime, I observed conversations on twitter and among my Egyptian Facebook friends that public sexual harassment was pretty much gone. Everyone was banding together. A miracle? Was Egypt cured of this global problem? But then once Mubarak stepped down, I started seeing comments about sexual harassment again.

Most notably, tonight, I read about how a mob of men harassed and then sexually assaulted CBS journalist Lara Logan last Friday, as she went through the crowds with her team to do her job, report on what was happening. A group of women and soldiers rescued her and she flew back to the United States on Saturday. She was then hospitalized due to her injuries.

The amazing journalist Mona Eltaahawy is tracking what people are saying about the attack on Logan, including in the context of harassment in Egypt: http://twitter.com/monaeltahawy

At this point, many of us are waiting for more news about who the attackers may have been and I know there is great hope that they were outlier “thugs” and not members of the peaceful revolution. But, given that the number of Egyptian men who openly admit to harassing women (more than 60 percent) and the repeat occurrence of mass harassment and sexual attacks on women during Eid, it’s hard to say.

What we can say, is no matter who did it, sexual harassment and assault is terrible and should never occur. It not only negatively impacts the survivor but can also make all women who hear about it feel less safe as women in public places. Logan is brave for sharing what happened, especially given the victim-blaming directed at her (“what did she expect to happen” and comments about her looks), and I hope her attackers are brought to justice.

Update (2/16): Here are three articles about how ending gender-based violence needs to be the next revolution in Egypt! The first is by me, for Ms magazine and the other two are on CNN.com and The Daily Beast.

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Street harassment snapshot: January 30, 2011

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Street Harassment Stories:

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

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

From the F Word Blog UK

Street Harassment in the News, on the Blogs:

Events:`

Announcements:

New:

On-going:

10 Tweets from the Week:

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“The asshole kicked a bunch of slush all up my legs and skirt.”

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I was in Herald Square and then I hear this guy behind me saying, “Mmmm what a nice ass i would love to f the s(*#t out of you..mmm you like dressing like a slut dont you.”

I was walking to work and I had my cocktail dress on because, duh, I’m a cocktail waitress.

He kept saying this stuff then I feel cold and wet all on the back of my legs and in my boots. The asshole kicked a bunch of slush all up my legs and skirt. I was freezing..I didn’t even see who exactly it was because there were like 5 people there. Didn’t anyone else see this ass do this? What the hell would make someone want to do that?

– Shelly

Location: Herald Square, New York City, New York

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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DC man murdered for intervening during a harassment incident

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A few months ago, I posted a story about a man who intervened when another man street harassed his wife and then the harasser murdered him. Sadly, I have a new, similar story to share. A man who witnessed another man harassing a woman in Washington, DC, this week intervened, and the harasser murdered him. So devastating.

Bill Mitchell, Image from the Washington Post

From the Washington Post:

Bill Mitchell was the kind of man who stepped up instead of shying away, the kind of person who would help someone even if he didn’t know them, his friends and family say.

So on Wednesday night, after he had seen the play “Cymbeline” at the Shakespeare Theatre with his mother, he hopped on the Metro to the New York Avenue Station, walked home along North Capitol Street and Florida Avenue NW and saw a woman who needed help. Mitchell, 33, got involved.

He exchanged words and possibly tussled with an unknown assailant who was hassling the woman and who then shot and killed Mitchell.

“There was some sort of altercation, and we have to figure out what that interaction was,” said D.C. Council member Harry Thomas Jr. (D-Ward 5), who said he had spoken with police and witnesses. “He may have intervened in something, being a Good Samaritan.”

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“We hope that his senseless death can help in some way to make the area he lived in a safer place,” the Mitchell family said in a statement.

Mitchell’s younger brother made a plea for information.

“There may come a time when police ask for the public’s help,” Brian Mitchell said. “Please contact the police if you know anything. It was my brother today. It could be your brother, son, sister, mother or daughter tomorrow.”

I applaud Mitchell for being a good bystander and I’m sad that the incident ended this way 🙁 Guns = terrible.

[Thanks to loyal reader MRH for the story tip]

Update: Martha Langelan, author of Back Off!: How to Confront and Stop Sexual Harassment and Harassers, and a brilliant community activist who continues to give workshops in the Washington, DC, area about how to respond to and end sexual harassment just emailed me with her thoughts on this story:

The Bill Mitchell case is heart-breaking.

It’s so important to teach people the nonviolent confrontation techniques that work — to know what to do and how to do it, to stop harassment without having the harasser escalate into physical violence.

Male-to-male confrontations can escalate very quickly. We need men — all the good guys on the planet — to be our allies, but if we want men to intervene, we really need to teach them how to do it. What they say, and how they say it, can make the difference between life and death.

Please tell the men you speak with to intervene, but to PLEASE do so using nonviolent confrontation. The “Voice of God” technique could have saved Bill’s life here:  stand at least 30-40 feet away and yell, “Stop hitting her,” or “stop hassling her,” and “leave her alone, we see you, we’re calling the cops,” then call 911 and stay on the scene, from a safe distance, until the police arrive.

When a man is confronting a man he does not know, it is dangerous for him to get right up in the harasser’s space.  Please intervene from a distance.

If you have any reason to believe the harasser might have a knife or gun, both men and women should do the same thing — use the “Voice of God” to interrupt the harasser from a safe distance, and call 911 immediately.

You can also gather bystanders beside you, at a safe distance, and ask them to call 911, too — (a) you don’t want to let others to walk into the middle of a dangerous situation, (b) a group of witnesses can be a deterrent in itself, to de-escalate the situation, and (c) the more calls, the faster the police will get there.

It really breaks my heart to see people like Bill Mitchell get hurt or killed. We need to teach every man on the planet how to intervene more safely.

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Repeat harasser near Starbucks in Georgetown

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I’ve had it with this loser!

Once again, I got off the bus and was heading toward my office, when I see this guy dancing on the street, with his not-so-fly moves. I walk close to the curb to avoid having to walk directly past him, when I see it’s my “friend” who I’ve had repeated run-ins with in the past. It makes me grateful that I followed my gut feeling and avoided walking directly past him. However, he is pretty much in the faces of other women who walk past him, with his “Howya doin’?”s and this and that.

He says the same to me but I choose not to respond to him, and he then immediately says “Aw, HELL NO!” at me. He then starts with his corny dancing again.

Save for around the holiday time when he called me “baby” and wished me happy holidays, this guy has been randomly outside this Starbucks with his rude and obnoxious commentary towards me. This guy’s obviously got problems.

I pulled out my phone camera to catch him in the middle of one of his lame dance routines, but he sees me and ducks into the Starbucks. Coward.

As soon as I got to my office I called MPD. I told them I’ve reported him to them before and that I’m tired of dealing with him. If they do check up on him I want them to do something with him this time. Refer him to a shelter or something and get him off the street so he’ll stop harassing women like me who are simply trying to get to work. I don’t ever want to see him on the street again!

– Tired of Being Harassed

Location: In front of the Starbucks at M Street & Wisconsin Avenue, DC

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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