Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Joggers in Delaware Report Harassers

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In Delaware, two different women joggers reported men who were following them in their vehicles. The latest man was caught:

“A Wilmington man was charged with harassment Tuesday after he followed a woman jogger in his truck in the Rockford Park area.

Teofilo Burrell, 29, of the 2700 block of N. Jefferson St., was released on $1,000 unsecured bail on one misdemeanor count of harassment, Wilmington police Master Sgt. Steven Barnes said.

According to court records, the 23-year-old victim flagged down an officer about 6:30 a.m. in the 2100 block of W. 17th St. She said she was jogging near North Union Street and Kentmere Parkway when an older silver Mitsubishi pickup, driven by a man with a scruffy beard and dark complexion, passed her and stopped in the middle of the street.

The woman said she was alarmed and ran the opposite way. The truck made a U-turn and began to follow her while driving the wrong way on the street. The woman sprinted to her boyfriend’s house. Officers located the truck near Delaware Avenue and North Union Street.”

wilmington2The article says police are urging joggers who have had a similar experience to call Detective Ron Mullin at 576-3634 or Delaware Crime Stoppers at (800) TIP-3333.

I have a special appreciation for this story as a dedicated runner of 13 years who has been harassed while running more times than I could ever try to count. But I’ve never reported a harasser before. The times I was followed it never occurred to me, I had never been told I could report it and I was in flight mode. If I’m ever followed again though, I will report it!!

To conclude: I’m very heartened by the police in Delaware on this issue and proud the jogger had the presence of mind to stay safe and report the guy following her.

(thanks to hollaback dc for the story tip)

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Contact CrimeStoppers if you see him…

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From the Gothamist:

2009_04_wperv“The police are asking for people’s help is identifying a man who apparently assaulted a woman during yesterday morning’s subway rush hour. According to the NYPD, yesterday at 7:35 a.m., a 33-year-old woman “entered the Subway system at the Broadway Station [in Queens] in the confines of the 114 Pct and entered the ‘W’ train (Manhattan Bound). As the train approached 39th Street, the victim was sexually abused by the suspect who was sitting next to her. The suspect is described as a M/B/30’s, 6’0″ tall. The victim took a cellphone photo of the suspect as she exited the train at Queensboro Plaza.”

If you know anything or spot the man, you can contact CrimeStoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS, by texting TIP577 to CRIMES, or by going to NYPDCrimeStoppers.com.

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Catcalling Employees are Called Out

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This morning on my walk to the train station in NE DC to get to work, a large black utility van turns a corner, and its passengers yell “Howya doin’, Darlin’?” at me. I don’t respond, and the men cackle like the hyenas from “The Lion King.” Ugh!

I got the company’s name — Hill’s Chimney Service. The van drives so fast that I’m worried I’m not going to be able to snag its license plate number.

The van gets stuck at a light, and I’m praying in my head that I catch up to it before the light changes. The light changed and I was worried I’d lose them. Someone must’ve been looking out for me, because they don’t make it this cycle and get stuck again. I pull out my Post-It pad, fumble for a pen, and write down the license plate number: MD plates 51N 005.

I continue on, and these fools have the audacity to still try to catcall at me. The one in the passenger seat (always the one on the passenger side, damn scrub) has this shit-eating grin and is giggling, but when I said “You sexually harassed me, so I took down your license plate number and will report you,” that grin turned into a frown and he immediately rolled up his window. I could still hear some giggling, but I repeated, “You will be reported.”

When I arrived at work, one of the first things I did was call Hill’s Chimney Service to report their catcalling employees. A kindly receptionist answered the phone, and when I told her what the call was about, she replied with “Oh my goodness!” She left a message for Mike, the supervisor.

About 40-something minutes later, Mike calls back. I relay the story to him and he was upset.

“My company does not condone this!” he said. “I am a family man, I love my wife, I would never do that to a woman, and I truly apologize for this behavior. That behavior does not represent Hill’s Chimney Service as a whole.”

When I gave the license plate number, he gave me the names of the culprits: “Richard and Tyrone.”

He told me that he will reprimand them as soon as he sees them, and hopes that I never see them again.

“If you do see them again and they do that again, please call me,” Mike said.
“Will do,” I said.

So a small victory against street harassment is mine, but it doesn’t tackle the bigger war against it.

-anonymous

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Street Harassment Event in Asheville, NC

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heybabyartexhibitashevillencAre you in North Carolina? If so, on April 10, you can check out this free street harassment event in Asheville called “Hey Baby!: Resisting Sexual Harassment in Public Spaces, One Bloque at a Time.”

“A bunch of people I know were talking about sexual harassment in our neighborhood, especially downtown and in West Asheville,” Erin Johnson, one of the organizers  said. “We were frustrated by how we felt unsafe, even in groups of people. So we thought, ‘What are some ways that we can take the frustration and anger and make something productive?’”

But the art included in the event that will take place at Asheville BookWorks on April 10 isn’t meant to be hung on a gallery wall; it’s designed to be taken to the streets and be used as tools to prevent, resist or educate.

She views this exhibit as “the first step, raising awareness, and doing it through art,” she said.

For the event, Johnson is making magnetic bumper stickers that respond to particular instances of sexual harassment that she’s experienced riding her bike around downtown Asheville, she said. The magnets display such phrases as “You sexually harassed me,” which can be placed on a vehicle but can be removed by the offending occupant.

That way, “they have to interact with (the magnet) and have to think about it,” she said.

The organizers will be accepting submissions until Wednesday.

Other pieces already accepted include posters with radical cheerleading chants, bike flags and business cards with instructions for appropriate interaction, Johnson said.

The event will also include a viewing of a documentary as well as workshops about what to do if you are sexually harassed and ways to start a conversation about the issue, she said.”

I wish I could attend, it sounds like it will be a great event.

Where: Asheville BookWorks, 428 1/2 Haywood Road. When: 7-10 p.m. April 10. For more: To submit works, contact Erin Johnson at ejohnson00@gmail.com or drop work off at BookWorks 1-4 p.m. by April 8. For more information, call 255-8444 or visit www.AshevilleBookWorks.com.

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Unpleasant Morning Surprise

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I was just out of law school and happy to be the first woman attorney in a downtown law firm. I enjoyed being downtown and usually commuted by bus. Occasionally, I needed a car at work and to get affordable parking I walked from an area of town that was less desirable.

stairwellOne early morning as I walked from my car something caught my attention and I saw a man a few feet away masturbating (and exposing himself) in a stairwell next to the sidewalk, staring at me. I was very shaken, but also scared. I’ve actually never discussed this experience with anyone.

I had other harassing experiences within the work environment of this job, which I left after a few years. The hostility I felt at work contributed to my insecurity and the sense that there was no one to talk with about issues like this.

Submitted by C.H.

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