Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

“Why should any outfit be considered as an invitation?”

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Women Protesters, Via Tea Leaf Nation

A subway company in Shanghai, China, thinks it is okay to blame women for “causing” sexual harassment.

Last week the Shanghai No. 2 Subway Company posted an image of a woman standing on a subway platform in a semi-transparent dress to the company’s official Sina Weibo account with this caption:

“If that’s what you wear on a subway, then no wonder you will be sexually harassed! There are too many perverts riding the subway every day, and we can’t catch them all. Girl, you’ve got to respect yourself!”

Wow.

No matter how people dress, they should not be touched or spoken to disrespectfully. Sure, some outfits will catch the eye more than others, but looking (and not leering) is where the interaction should stop. The fault for harassment lies with the harasser, not the target of the harassment.

CNN.com reports that “sexual harassment claims on the Shanghai subway rose in the month of June. Reports included instances of indecent exposure, lewd acts and attempts at taking pictures up women’s skirts.”

While I haven’t seen a study about sexual harassment on their transportation system, a 2002 survey of 200 citizens in Beijing, China, showed that 70 percent had been subjected to a form of sexual harassment. Most people said it occurred on public transportation.

So, Shanghai No. 2 Subway Company, don’t shrug your shoulders in the face of known sexual harassment on your train and tell “girls” to respect themselves. Instead, tell harassers to respect women.

Given the prevalence of sexual harassment on the subway, many people who saw the post were outraged. Via Tea Leaf Nation:

“@贺瑜-小鱼儿 exclaimed, “Even if she’s wearing a bikini, she should still be free from harassment! What is wrong with this subway line?” @指间_谁de旋律 blames the subway line for its inappropriate comment as well: “It is disgusting to hear this from an official Weibo! How does her outfit make her deserving of sexual harassment? Why should any outfit be considered as an invitation?”

The official account of Women’s Voice, an NGO for gender equality in China (@女权之声), was also outraged: “Sexual harassment is a crime! The subway line should try harder to be responsible for passenger safety instead of finding excuses for these criminals and blaming the crime on the victims!”

On Sunday, two young women launched their own protest at a Shanghai subway station. They each wore a “black veil over their face, stepped into a crowded subway station with signs that read, ‘I want my coolness under the sun, but not the pervert in the subway,’ and ‘I can reveal myself, and you cannot bother me.'”

Unfortunately, their protest was met with opposition. Their actions, however, have helped bring international attention to the issue, so in that sense, it was a success!

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Happy 40th Birthday, Title IX!

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Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 turns 40 years old today. It is a 37-word law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in educational institutions (k-12 and college) in the USA. Because of the negative impact sexual harassment has on students and the way it limits their ability to fully access an education, sexual harassment is prohibited by Title IX and that law is enforced by the Office for Civil Rights. (Here’s a “Know Your Rights” document from the ACLU on this topic.)

Last fall in my day job, I co-authored a research report on sexual harassment in grades 7-12 in the USA. Nearly one in two students had been harassed during the previous school year, more girls than boys and more girls experienced physical forms of it.

Unfortunately, the way the case law has gone, unless schools know that sexual harassment is occurring, they are not liable for taking care of it and so we see A LOT of schools blatantly ignore it so that they don’t have to do anything. Schools are supposed to have Title IX Coordinators to talk to students about their rights and handle complaints, but most schools neglect to do this too, or only have the Coordinators handle sports-related discrimination.

So most schools need to do a LOT better at doing prevention and enforcement work to keep their schools harassment-free.

That said, the fact that there is a federal law that should help students is much better than if there were no law…and it sets an example for what we want to see happen in the streets. We want sexual harassment to be prohibited everywhere because, just as it has negative impacts on students, it has negative impacts on the people who experience it in public places.

Girls for Gender Equity in NYC just celebrated their 10-year anniversary as an organization and I highly recommend checking out their work because they have programs and efforts in place to address BOTH the sexual harassment that happens in schools and in the streets. Their book Hey Shorty! A Guide to Combating Sexual Harassment and Violence in Schools and on the Streets is a very useful read.

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Sign petition to take down pro-street harassment construction sign

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Please sign this petition asking for the removal of a sign at a New Jersey Mall that reads, “We apologize for the whistling construction workers, but man you look good!”

Sexual harassment is illegal, not a joke or a compliment, and public sexual harassment impacts more than 80 percent of women worldwide, especially when they’re young.

Construction companies should view sexual harassment as something to penalize their workers for doing, not as something to encourage their workers to do, especially at a mall where there are so many teenage girls who could be the target of the harassment.

Help me reach 250 signatures!

This petition was made possible because of these individuals: Katie Broendel who alerted me to the sign yesterday morning, Feminist Philosophers for posting the sign on their blog (which Katie saw and sent to me), Elizabeth Harman for taking the photo of the sign and then telling me where it was located, Alan Kearl for researching the name of the construction company, and Shelby Knox for suggesting the Change.org petition strategy.
Update 6/18 — My apologies to the E. A. Reeves construction company who is not responsible for the sign as I first thought.

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June 13 #EndSH Day

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Join the day of online action against street harassment and sexual harassment, organized by activists in Egypt. If you’re on twitter, follow and/or use the hashtag #EndSH to see the conversation and help bring attention to this issue. Blog, write Facebook updates.

Egypt Independent is tracking the online conversation live on their blog.

USA Today published a great article today about anti-street harassment activism in Egypt, Lebanon, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia. I even get a quote in there.

“In Yemen, where most women are fully covered from head to toe, harassment can be just as likely as in Lebanon, where it is not unusual to see women wearing skin-revealing clothing. This has prompted initiatives in both countries, such as the Safe Streets Campaign in Yemen, which maps reports of harassment.

“As a woman in Yemen, harassment is almost a given on the streets and on public transportation. It doesn’t matter how you dress or behave — simply being a woman is reason enough to be targeted,” said Sara Ishaq, a Yemeni filmmaker.

Nawal Saadawi, an Egyptian feminist author once jailed for writings that include criticisms of Islamic customs regarding women, said the Arab Spring has handed women an opportunity.

“Women are taking part in all the revolutions because they want to change patriarchy, to change history and to change the whole system,” she said.

In May, a woman in Saudi Arabia challenged police who tried to throw her out of a shopping mall for wearing nail polish. “It’s none of your business,” she yelled in a confrontation filmed by camera phone and posted on YouTube. The video was viewed 1 million times in a few days.

By fighting back, women in the region hope that they not only can walk free from harassment but that such a change will usher in more rights and opportunities.

“I get sexually harassed because it’s an issue of power,” said Hobeissi of Nasawiya in Lebanon, “but women in leadership positions will transform how society perceives women in general.”

And there’s a new bystander video about what men can say to men who harass women on the streets, via HarassMap in Egypt:

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28 DC Metro Stations Have Anti-Sexual Harassment Ads

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Metro ad. Image via @aliciasanchez

Sexual harassment and assault are common problems on public transportation systems worldwide, including in Washington, DC.

To address this problem, over the past two weeks in DC, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority (WMATA) has rolled out a public service announcement (PSA) campaign in 28 subway stations. Many stations have both English and Spanish versions. The PSA states that the harassment is not okay and lists information about how to report it.

Background: Since February, I’ve been part of a team at Collective Action for Safe Spaces pressuring WMATA to do more about sexual harassment and assault. We testified in February before the DC City Council, specifically before Ward 4 City Council Member Muriel Bowser. Bowser was very disturbed by the information we shared with her and asked WMATA to address it. Thankfully, WMATA is addressing it, including through the newly launched PSAs.

Stations: Here is a list of the Metro stations where you can find the ads:

1.    Addison Road    Metro
2.    Ballston        Metro
3.    Benning Road    Metro
4.    Benning Road    Metro – Spanish
5.    Capitol Heights    Metro
6.    Cheverly        Metro
7.    Cheverly        Metro – Spanish
8.    Clarendon        Metro
9.    Cleveland Park    Metro
10.    DuPont Circle    Metro
11.    Eisenhower         Metro – Spanish
12.    Eisenhower        Metro
13.    Foggy Bottom    Metro – Spanish
14.    Forest Glenn    Metro
15.    Forest Glenn    Metro
16.    Fort Totten        Metro – Spanish
17.    Fort Totten        Metro
18.    Franconia-Springfield    Metro
19.    Franconia-Springfield    Metro – Spanish
20.    Georgia Avenue Petworth    Metro
21.    Glenmont        Metro
22.    Glenmont        Metro – Spanish
23.    Grosvenor        Metro
24.    Huntington        Metro
25.    Judiciary Square    Metro – Spanish
26.    Landover        Metro
27.    Landover        Metro
28.    L’Enfant Plaza    Metro – Spanish
29.    New Carrollton    Metro
30.    Potomac Avenue    Metro
31.    Potomac Avenue    Metro – Spanish
32.    Prince Georges Plaza    Metro
33.    Prince Georges Plaza    Metro – Spanish
34.    Takoma        Metro
35.    Van Dorn        Metro – Spanish
36.    Van Ness    006    Metro
37.    Van Ness    008    Metro
38.    Waterfront    006    Metro – Spanish
39.    Waterfront    007    Metro
40.    Wheaton    014    Metro

You can report harassment very easily online.

Do you want to see a similar campaign in your city? Reach out to your transit authority and let them know!

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