Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Need a gift idea?

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Do you need a gift idea or a way to honor someone you care about through a donation to a worthy cause? Consider donating to RightRides!

RightRides is an amazing organization in NYC helping women and LGBQT folks get home safely late at night on the weekends, and through New Yorkers for Safet Transit, they are working to make public transportation free from harassment and assault.

The following is from a RightRides email and details how YOU can make a difference in NYC and in your own city in 2010 to make all public places safer through making a donation to their organization. Consider making one today to honor the people you care about. I did.

JOIN OUR MOVEMENT FOR SOCIAL CHANGE IN THE NEW YEAR!

RightRides is a simple yet effective way of increasing community safety, and the program is now ready for national expansion! Our exciting plans for 2010 include:

* expanding our RightRides program to Washington D.C.

* expanding our RightRides program to San Francisco

* forming partnerships to help make expansion happen in other high-priority cities, including Boston and Philadelphia

* increasing service for RightRides New York, particularly on Friday nights

* working to make New York City’s mass transit safer as a founding member of the coalition New Yorkers for Safe Transit

* leveraging mobile technology to end sexual harassment with an innovative collaboration with HollabackNYC

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PLEASE SUPPORT OUR WORK!
You can give the gift of safety this season—make a donation in the name of a loved one!

Your generous contributions will be used for program costs such as the dispatch system, insurance policies, outreach materials, and driving team supplies. In addition to making a general donation, you can also direct your funds to one of our exciting new projects for 2010!

Help RightRides Expand to D.C.!
Click Here to learn more about the team working to foster RightRides DC and how you can support our work.

Help RightRides Expand to San Francisco!
Click Here to learn more about the team working to foster RightRides SF and how you can support our work.

Help New Yorkers for Safe Transit Protect Our Subways!
Click Here to learn more about New Yorkers for Safe Transit and how you can support our work.

If you would like to make a donation by check:

Checks should be made payable to RightRides. You may indicate that your donation should be earmarked for RightRides NYC, RightRides SF, RightRides DC, Hollaback! or New Yorkers for Safe Transit. Please mail the check to:

RightRides for Women’s Safety
26 Court Street Ste. 505
Brooklyn, NY 11242

All contributions made to RightRides are fully deductible to the extent allowed by the IRS, as RightRides for Women’s Safety is a registered 501(c)3 charitable organization. EIN #84-1668109.

If you would like to make a contribution via wire transfer, appreciated securities, or gifts of stock, please email us so we can forward you the appropriate transmittal instructions.

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“I’m a person. Not a blow-up doll”

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I live in Los Angeles, California, so I often get harassed when I walk on the street, but I’ll share one that really stuck out to me.

I was crossing a street (at a crosswalk) and a guy was sitting there in his car and asked if I needed a ride someplace, and proceeded to tell me what a “fine ass” I had. I ignored him and kept walking. He started making kissing noises at me and yelled “hey baby!” as I walked away.

It made me feel very angry and disgusted. I know I have a nice body, and I don’t need or want him to tell me that, especially in such a degrading way. It was as if he thought I existed solely to be something for him and other men to look at.

Whether he liked my body or not, he should have kept his opinion to himself. Why do men feel they are allowed to comment on our appearances this way? Why don’t they care that it makes us feel used and dirty? I resented that guy because he had no respect for me as a HUMAN BEING and instead saw me as “pussy.”

I’m a daughter, a sister, a friend. I’m intelligent, loyal, caring, and short-tempered. I am passionate and emotional…I could go on. Basically, I’m a person. Not a blow-up doll.

-Erin Selzano

Location: Los Angeles, CA

Share your street harassment story today and help raise awareness about the problem. Include your location and it will be added to the Street Harassment Map.

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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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Activists in 17 countries meet for street harassment conference

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This past weekend, activists from 17 countries like Egypt, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia met in Cairo for a two-day conference to discuss the serious problem of men’s public harassment of women.

At the conference, attendees concluded that harassment was unchecked because “laws don’t punish it, women don’t report it, and the authorities ignore it. The harassment, including groping and verbal abuse, appears to be designed to drive women out of public spaces and seems to happen regardless of what they are wearing.”

Here is more information from the conference (via the AP):

  • “We are facing a phenomena that is limiting women’s right to move … and is threatening women’s participation in all walks of life,” said Nehad Abul Komsan, an Egyptian activist who organized the event.
  • Sexual harassment, including verbal and physical assault, has been specifically criminalized in only half a dozen Arab countries. Most of the 22 Arab states only outlaw overtly violent acts like rape, according to a study by Abul Komsan.
  • In Syria, men from traditional homes go shopping in the market place instead of female family members to spare them harassment, said Sherifa Zuhur, a Lebanese-American academic at the conference.
  • Amal Madbouli, who wears the conservative face veil or niqab, told The Associated Press that despite her dress, she is harassed.

I’m so happy to hear they were able to come together and discuss these issues. We need a global street harassment conference too, to discuss how we can work across all borders to make public places safe and welcoming for women!!

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“‘Flattering’ Comments While Commuting”

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This morning as I was getting on the Metro bus (in DC) to ride to work, the bus driver was standing outside taking a quick break. As I approached the bus and showed him my pass, he said to me, “I’m going to disrespect you today.” I stopped short, and said, “excuse me?” because I honestly had no idea what he was talking about. I was expecting him to say something about my pass — try to be a smart ass or something about it, or joke around that I didn’t have enough fare, etc. I thought he was going to disrespect me as a customer. No, he disrespected me as a woman.

He repeated, “I’m going to disrespect you today. I’m going to tell you that you’re a beautiful young lady.” Well, gee, if you know it’s disrespectful, then keep your mouth shut. Why do some people think women (and sometimes men) are flattered by these kinds of comments? Why can’t people realize how embarrassing and creepy it is when you don’t know someone? I don’t need random guys giving me these “flattering” comments when I’m just trying to commute to work in peace.

It really bothers me that he thinks it’s appropriate to a) use the word “disrespect” in his approach, and b) do this to women — even while on the job. I didn’t say anything to him about it, though, because I didn’t want to make things awkward or worse — I needed to get on the bus to get to work. I felt incredibly powerless because that was my form of transportation this morning. And I’m mad at myself for staying silent. But what do you do when there isn’t another bus around to ride? Why should I re-route my morning routine or make myself late to work because someone has to be harassing me? Is there a way to report street harassment to Metro?** I ask because this is not the first time this has happened — I’m approached by Metro employees all the time and it’s irritating because I just want to be left alone.

– anonymous

Location: Washington, DC

Share your street harassment story today and help raise awareness about the problem. Include your location and it will be added to the Street Harassment Map.

**Editor’s Note:

In response to anonymous’s question, yes you can report metro employees for harassment. WMATA has a customer service contact form you can use to report WMATA employees, or you can call 800-637-7000. I have a friend in the DC area who has done this many times. If you can, include the time/date/location/description of Metro employees in the report. See this HollaBack DC post for more.

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