Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Anti-Street Harassment Summer Camp in IL

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CTADATE: Saturday August 1st
TIME: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
LOCATION: University of Illinois at Chicago Forum, 725 W. Roosevelt Road, Chicago, IL
MORE: This event is FREE and open to youth and adults.  Registration is REQUIRED.  RSVP to rpywat@hotmail.com.

Anti-Harassment Summer Camp Program

Understanding Street Harassment
11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. — Street Harassment 101

Dealing with Street Harassment
12:45-2:00 p.m. — How to Launch Your Own Anti-Street Harassment Campaign in your Community.

2:15-3:15 p.m. — Self-Defense Workshop by Impact Chicago

3:30-5:00 p.m. — Design a Citywide Anti-Street Harassment Public Education Campaign (including PSAs, Posters, etc….).

If you are an artist, photographer, videographer, graphic designer, etc… we could use your help on August 1st. Please contact Lillian at 773-759-1634. For more information about YWAT, visit www.youngwomensactionteam.org.
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Coincidence or Stalker? HELP!

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I’ve had run-ins with truckers on the interstate here in Ohio before, with them honking their horns and smiling. I just blow it off, it’s not a big deal.

But on my way to work one morning, I was driving down the interstate minding my own business and a man comes up in his SUV and is in the right lane while I’m in the left lane. I always look at the person who is driving next to me, it’s a habit. Who doesn’t? Anyway, he began waving, smiling and starting to flirt with me. I sped up and got off the interstate, that’s when I read his license plate (which is very easy to remember) and he waved “goodbye” while I exited the highway. I thought it was a weird experience, but forgot about it and went on.

Just today, I was headed the opposite way from my work to my boyfriend’s house, driving the speed limit, passing slow drivers if i had too, then all of a sudden I look over and see a man looking at me. I didn’t think much of it, sped up and continued down the interstate. Then the car gets behind me. I look up and see a man waving at me in my rear view mirror. I had my sunglasses on so he couldn’t have seen me looking. Anyways… he was getting into the left lane and was trying to be side by side me to get my attention, I didn’t look until the backside of his car was in front of me. I looked at the license plate and realized it is the same exact guy from a couple of weeks ago!

He began trying to get in front of me, beside me, behind me and on the other side and I just kept speeding up or slowing down and changing lanes as much as possible to avoid him. Finally he stayed behind me for at least 1 /2 mile and then he began waving at me again, pointing and flashing his lights, telling me to get off at the exit he was getting off at!

I could not believe what I was seeing. I watched the guy until he got off the highway and called my boyfriend. He doesn’t think much about it, but my parents do. If I see the man again I’m afraid he will follow me or worse, so the police will receive a call. Tonight I put a knife under my bed just in case!

If you have any advice, please say so! thanks!!!

-anonymous

Location: Ohio

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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Swimming Pool Gropers

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Two years ago, when I was about to turn twelve, my friends and family took me to Dubai. For my actual birthday, we went to a swim park to hang out.

At the park there was a pool that went really deep. So my friends and I decided to race to the back of the pool. As I swam, I got to the bottom of the pool. I was out of breath, so I went back to the top. When I resurfaced, I realized that a bunch of guys (probably in their early twenties) had banded around me, trapping me in their circle. They started saying things to me, but I couldn’t hear them because I was so scared and frightened. I tried swimming to the bottom and away, but each time they managed to grab me and pull me back up. Then one of them behind me started running his hands up my thighs. That is when I started to kick and scream, until finally one of the lifeguards heard me. I don’t really remember how I got out of the water. All I remember is my friend asking me if I was okay and a couple of local cops talking to the men (there must have been five of them). They asked a couple of questions and that was it. My mom came to pick me up, and we moved on from that incident.

I just wanted to tell the story since I have never spoken of it before. Thnx for listening. KK

-Karyn T.

Location: Dubai

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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Weekly Round Up – July 19

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Stories:

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.

In the News:

  • The Chicago Sun Times had a front page (online) story about how women activists in Chicago prompted changes to the sexual harassment policies of the Chicago Transit Authority!
  • A group of women in Sudan were arrested and several were flogged for the crime of wearing pants in public.
  • An article in the Miami Herald about changing attitudes in policies in Saudi Arabia highlights the attitude that if women were allowed to drive, they would experience more sexual harassment in public, so it’s better not to let them drive.

Announcements:

  • In partnership with local activist, including the facilitators of Holla Back DC!, I am helping to organize a free, one-day summit on street harassment, to be held in October 2009 in Washington, DC. We are holding a photography contest right now for photographers who capture or depict street harassment, particularly in the DC area. Selected winners will have the chance to show/sell their work at a reception the evening before the summit.
  • RightRides in NYC recently has expanded their services of a free ride home from Saturday nights to include Friday nights too! They offer this service from 11:59 p.m. – 3 a.m. in 45 neighborhoods across four boroughs. To call for a ride, the dispatch number is (718) 964-7781 OR (888)215-SAFE (7233).

Street Harassment Resource of the Week:

Gardner, Carol Brooks. Passing By: Gender and Public Harassment (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1995).

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Creepy neighbor

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I am from Converse, Texas Bexar County, and I live on a nice cul-de-sac in a decent subdivision, I thought until recently.

I have a neighbor who intentionally stares at me and my daughters (ages 17 & 13). My youngest can’t walk to the mailbox and back without him looking at her. When she walks from the bus stop he watches her. My husband is stationed elsewhere and it has gotten bad. We have an above ground pool that we had to move because he watches them. He recently put up solar screens on his windows. It is really bad. We went to leave one night and he and his friend watched us leave. It is really getting uncomfortable. I can’t do anything until he “attempts” something, and by then it could be too late. We can’t move right now. It is frustrating and at times scary.

My backyard in most areas sits above my privacy fence, to give you an idea of what I am about to talk about. I have a homeowners association and I am waiting to get into trouble because, out of fear, I rushed and had a pool deck with privacy fencing to go around it so he could no longer see my daughters. He would go to a street over where his friend lives and watch us there also. It has gotten too much. My daughters don’t want to go outside because of this guy and his friends.

-anonymous

Location: Converse, Texas Bexar County

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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