Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

It’s not the same

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Loud cell phone talkers are annoying and exhibit bad manners. The same is true for men who harass women on the streets. But, oh yeah, the men also are obnoxious, insulting, demeaning, infuriating, scary, and sometimes dangerous!

In an article about rudeness in public, the New York Times highlights ways some people confront those who have loud cell phone conversations in public or play their ipod way too loud. Then near the end of the article, the author mentions how one woman posts people’s cell phone conversations she overhears on her blog and that HollaBackNYC is a blog where women can submit photos of street harassers.* Whaatt?!

I hate that a big newspaper like the New York Times can characterize groping, stalking and sexually explicit comments as “bad etiquette” comparable to loud cell phone talkers in almost the same sentence. It’s a hell of a lot more than that!!

It’s predatory, bullying behavior that also oozes of male entitlement. (Men, it is not your right to talk to or try to get the attention of a woman in public just because you see her.) It contributes to women’ s continued inequality and leads most women to feel less safe and welcome in public than most men.

I hope that one day the NewYork Times will publish substantial articles about the problem of street harassment instead of articles like this one, in which it is mentioned offhand and out of context. And when I say substantial, I mean articles that don’ t just go: man masturbates on subway, woman takes photo and reports him, man is arrested. I mean stories that get at some of the complexities of street harassment and the very serious impact it has on the lives of so many girls and women.

*(I also think the author’s comparison of loud cell phone talkers to people who illegally park in handicap spots is off base. That is a fine-able offense; talking on a cell phone is not. Also, street harassment negatively impacts women and is perpetrated by men, illegal parking negatively impacts persons with disabilites and is perpetrated by able-bodied persons. As far as I know, loud cell phone talkers are not found primarily in any one demographic and they don’t impact only people in one demographic.)

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96% of women in Delhi are afraid to be alone in public

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Via Indian Express:

“As many as 82 per cent of women find buses to be the most unsafe place in Delhi and 96 per cent of women feel unsafe to venture out alone, says a survey done by the NGO CEQUIN, or the Centre for Equity and Inclusion.

With sexual harassment in public places on the rise in the Capital, areas like Chandni Chowk, Connaught Place, Karol Bagh and Rohini are deemed the most unsafe localities for women, the study says.

The organisation, run by Sachin Pilot’s wife Sara and Lora Prabhu, said it had formed a working committee that would contact the key stakeholders and form ways to improve the safety of women in Delhi. Prabhu said the survey covered more than 600 respondents, who were asked questions about sexual harassment and their safety in the city.

“We were shocked to hear that women faced the most harassment in crowded places in the city,” Prabhu said.”

I’m shocked to hear that she is shocked. Around the world crowded city streets and packed public transportation are notorious sites for men harassing women. Just two months ago, a “Ladies Special” train service started in four of India’s largest cities to give women some reprieve from male harassment. There are women-only buses in parts of India for the same reason.

Maybe one of these years, after countless more women and girls are harassed by men, governments will decide to tackle the root of the problem – male socialization to harass women – instead of trying halfheartedly to address the problem by separating women from men.

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“When will it end? It’s wearing me out…”

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I go to college in Maryland. I was born with what some would call a “gift”. I am thin, have thick, naturally bright blond hair, huge green eyes, and very large breasts. This is a recipe for disaster. I love myself and my body, but sometimes I find it hard to see myself as anything but a disposable object after the way I am treated.

I wear t shirts to class and stopped wearing makeup. Still, as I walk to class every single day I am verbally harassed. I’ll give an example from today. It was pretty warm today so I wore a jacket with a tank top underneath. For the most part the tank top covered up a lot. Since my chest is pretty big, however, tank tops are a nuisance and I have to pull them up sometimes. As I discreetly pulled it up a bit someone shouted, “PULL THAT BACK DOWN BABY THATS ALL WE WANT TO SEE” from a balcony above.

A few days ago, I was taking the trash to the dumpster. As I waked, a hispanic maintenance man stopped and asked me if I needed help because the bag was extremely heavy. I said thank you and handed him the bag and he hoisted it into the dumpster. His response: ‘YOUR WELCOME SEXY GIRL. MMMMMMM.” as he licked his lips. So I guess having him help me with my trash was a sexual proposition. GREAT.

I work in the mall. Last week I was handing out samples of cheese. I wish I had counted the countless men who referred to me as a “ho” when they thought I was out of earshot, whistled at me, or said “LOOK AT THEM TITTIES” after they had walked about 30 feet away from me.

I get dozens of sexually explicit messages from my fellow college students through social networking sites every weekend. Its funny, all of these men are so quick to say these DISGUSTING sexually explicit things, yet I havent been asked on a formal date in a year…

I’ll end with this. When I was a freshmen, 2 years ago, I went to the nearby supermarket. Some man and his friend approached me and asked me if I knew where batteries were. Before I knew it, one of them proceeded to attempt to “MOTORBOAT” me. I backed up just as his face touched my chest. The worst part was after the men quickly ran away, thinking it was the funniest thing in the world, people around me gave me disgusted looks. It was horrific.

I hope everyone finds their strength and can overcome street harassment. IT NEEDS TO STOP NOW!

– Lala

Location: Maryland

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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European Harassment

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I studied abroad in Paris for a semester, and I was shocked by the amount of harassment I experienced. I’m from a major U.S city, and i have never been treated like this until I lived in Europe. Riding the metro every day to school meant that men would follow me, try to kiss me, grab my ass, or just verbally harass me. I’ve very very fair and blonde so I don’t look very French, so people always asked me where I came from…I soon learned that pretending to speak neither French nor English really helped. I always said that I was Russian (which they believed) and that I only spoke Russian. That certainly shut them up quickly.

I never had any problems in London or Dublin, but Brussles, Paris, and any Italian city (even the Vatican of all places) were prime sources for lewd comments and whistles. The most shocking form of harassment was in Marrakech where my super white skin and platinum blonde hair stuck out like a sore thumb. Men constantly catcalled and finally one man came up to me and just started fondling my boob. I finally just pushed him off and ran away.

– anonymous

Location: Paris, France

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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Gropers Caught in Boston!

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Earlier this week, a 52-year old man allegedly groped a young woman’s butt on a subway platform in Boston. She asked the man’s friend if he groped her and he said no. The alleged groper then chimed in saying it was him and that he bet she liked it and that he liked it and he was never going to see her again, so what did it matter.

The young woman reported him to police, who thankfully took her report seriously and arrested him. Good for her, good for the police. BOO to the stupid groper. I wonder how many other women he’s groped?! Hopefully she was the last. [Wordpress won’t let me embed it, but follow this link to see a short news clip about the story.]

Also that same night in a separate incident, police arrested another subway groper. A 37-year-old man groped a woman and then verbally harased her until she got off the train and reported him.

Last weekend MBTA launched more anti-sexual harassment ads on subways and buses, including this one:

Given how many men grope women on subways and buses in major cities around the world, other cities would do well to pay attention and perhaps start their own campaign and educate their MTA workers and police officers how to handle reports correctly, the way the officers did in these two incidents. Good job, Boston!

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