Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Stop Street Harassment Book Giveaway!

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It’s been one year since I received a book contract and a long seven months since I turned in my manuscript, but now it’s only one month until you can read my book Stop Street Harassment: Making Public Places Safe & Welcoming for Women!!

To celebrate, I’ll give away a signed copy of the book through a random drawing on Thursday night,  July 29.  I’ll announce the winner on the blog. This is open to individuals living anywhere in the world – street harassment is a global problem.

Want to enter the book giveaway?

  • Email your name* to stopstreetharassment AT yahoo Dot com by 7 p.m. EST on 7/29
  • Tweet about the drawing before 7 p.m. EST on 7/29 (e.g.: “RT by 7/29 to win a signed copy of @hkearl‘s groundbreaking book Stop Street Harassment http://tinyurl.com/3xum8sn”). As long as @hkearl is in your tweet, I will find it and include you in the drawing.

How can you read the book if you don’t win?

  • You can pre-order the book on Barnes & Noble or Amazon.com. It will be available Aug. 30.
  • My publisher mainly distributes to libraries, so look for it at a library near you.

Where has the book been mentioned?

Book Events:

I’d love to add to my book events schedule. Want me to come to your school, bookstore, library, or community event? Let me know!

* Note: I will not share your email address with anyone. However, unless you specify you do not want me to, I may include you in future emails about book-related news or street harassment events.

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Online radio show TONIGHT about street harassment

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Need ideas for dealing with street harassers? Listen to a Crime Prevention 101 online radio show tonight at 8 p.m. EDT focused on the topic.

Hosted by Susan Bartelstone, Crime Prevention Specialist

To Listen: http://www.voiceamerica.com/voiceamerica/vshow.aspx?sid=1306

Missed the live show? Available as a podcast and on iTunes: http://tinyurl.com/CP101itunes

It doesn’t just occur when women pass by a construction site or a group of men hanging out in front of a store.  Simply by being in ANY public place, women can be subjected to behavior that ranges from the merely annoying (catcalls, whistles, references to body parts) to the downright terrifying (public exposure, public masturbation, threats of rape).  It’s called street harassment and it happens pretty much all over the world.

This week, I’m interviewing national street harassment expert Holly Kearl, author of the upcoming book Stop Street Harassment:  Making Public Places Safe and Welcoming for Women for a definitive look at this problem.  She runs the website Stop Street Harassment and the companion blog where people from around the world submit their street harassment stories and where she discusses street harassment incidents that make the news.

Then I speak with Chai Shenoy and Shannon Lynberg, co-founders of Holla Back DC which is part of a worldwide grassroots organization that aims to empower people to build a community free from public sexual harassment and assault.  Trust me; they offer a very unique way to effectively “holla back” at your harassers.

You’ll also learn some awareness and prevention skills and simple verbal responses to street harassment that’ll increase your chances of staying safe in these situations, when I speak with self defense instructor Lauren Taylor, from Defend Yourself, who’s also based in Washington, DC.

IT’D BE A CRIME NOT TO LISTEN!

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Two year blogiversary & book giveaway

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I am giving away a free, signed copy of my forthcoming book about street harassment to commemorate the two-year anniversary of my blog (it’s tomorrow) & to honor all of the brave individuals who have shared their stories.

Who: YOU! Your friends, your family, your colleagues, your neighbors, etc.

What: Random drawing of names to determine the winner of the Stop Street Harassment book giveaway.

When: You have until 7:30 p.m. EDT on 5/26/10 to email me to be included. I’ll post the winner on this blog and email them around 8 p.m. EDT on 5/26. The book is available Aug. 30, and the winner will receive a mailed copy soon after that date.

Where: Email stopstreetharassmentATyahooDOTcom with your name.*

Why: To celebrate two years of blogging and collecting street harassment stories. A book giveaway is especially fitting as several blog posts from my first year are excerpted in it and many of my blog readers participated in the survey that helps inform the narrative.

How can you get the book if you don’t win?

You can pre-order the book today on Barnes & Noble (best price) or on Amazon.com. You can purchase it there starting on Aug. 30. My publisher mainly distributes to libraries, so in the fall, hopefully you can find it at a library near you.

And I’ll be doing another book give away on the book release date, August 30, so you can enter again then!

Two years…

Thank you for speaking out against street harassment and for showing the prevalence of this problem in women’s lives across these past two years. Let’s keep raising our voices and fighting this issue so that one day public places can be safe and welcoming for women!

* Note: I will not share your email address with anyone. However, unless you specify you do not want me to, I may include you in future emails about book-related news or street harassment events.

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Thank you, male allies & survey results

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Two weeks ago I asked male allies to anonymously let me know their thoughts on how best to educate men about street harassment, engage them in activism, and empower them to do something if they see harassment occurring. This was for a book I am writing on street harassment. The last four chapters of my book focus on multi-layered efforts to end it. Educating men and empowering bystanders are just two of many tactics, but they are very important ones.

Thank you to the 85 allies who took it (and to everyone who passed along the survey to male allies). I already have incorporated several people’s quotes in the sections on bystanders and educating men and the multiple choice responses were useful in helping me decide what to include as realistic initiatives.

I think the survey responses will be useful to others working on this issue, so here they are.

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