Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Egyptian Street Harasser Murders Woman

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Trigger Warning —

In rare instances, street harassment ends in murder (here are a few examples) and sadly, that is what recently happened in Egypt. The Egyptian Centre for Women’s Rights just released this press release about it:

“The Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights (ECWR) strongly condemns the horrible accident murder of a young lady who is 20 years old in Assuit via an Automatic rifle. The incident began when “Iman Mostafa Mohamed” was walking in the village’s main street with her friend, then she felt that someone touched part of her body that is considered a sexual assault, so she spit on his face and insulted him and said: “I will get my rights back..I will get my rights back against your will.”

Therefore, he pushed her to the ground and kicked her; then he shot her before she rises and she died in a matter of few minutes. This is terrible crime happened within the increase of sexual harassment which is considered a cancer that should be treated as soon as possible.

Based upon ECWR’s close monitoring of the phenomenon and noting the increase in the percentage of sexual harassment crimes, ECWR sent a law draft to President Mohamed Morsy on Monday 27 August 2012 in order for him to adopt the law draft of criminalizing sexual harassment for the year 2012 by amending the No.58 of 1937 and no response was received. Additionally, the law draft was sent several times to the elected councils with no response as well.

It should be noted that the law draft was developed through continuous efforts for three years on behalf of the legal personnel, security personnel, civil society representatives and activists. This law draft was developed based on two studies; the first, “sexual harassment is a social cancer” where the sample of 3000 women mentioned that they were harassed at least once before.

As per the second, “Clouds in Egypt’s Sky” of 50% women and 50% men sample where 83% of the Egyptian women said that they were harassed and 63% of the Egyptian men mentioned that they sexually harassed at least one time before.

This is a serious indicator concerning women’s safety in the streets, as this phenomenon of sexual harassment is leading to murder crimes.

Consequently, the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights ECWR demands voluntarily defending the victim and asking the state to take the necessary and strict procedures by:

Fair and quick trial of the murderer, so that the Egypt’s streets shall not turn into a violent environment like street wars.

Passing the suggested law of sexual harassment that was sent before to President Mohamed Morsy in order to adopt it as part of his legislative authorities that were passed to him due to the absence of the legislative council.”

It’s horrible that she was murdered simply for standing up for herself. What a terrible, senseless end to her young life.

Her story shows the seriousness of street harassment and it illustrates how a woman can never be sure what kind of reaction will escalate the situation. Maybe in another situation, her response would have scared or embarrassed the harasser and caused him to leave or apologize. The onus really should not be on women to have to figure out in a split second what will be the “best” response, the one that will keep them from getting spit on, chased, called a “bitch,” assaulted or murdered. (And for those who may say, well her angry response provoked him, first that is victim-blaming and second, other murders by street harassers have occurred when the woman ignored them!) The onus should be on men to not harass and on bystanders and society at large to work on prevention efforts and hold harassers accountable.

Until there is a cultural shift so that street harassment is no longer dismissed, trivialized, or blamed on the harassed person, street harassment will continue. Will a law criminalizing it help spur a cultural shift? Maybe. But Egypt’s political landscape is unstable so it seems unlikely it will be enforced. I would bet that the citizens who are taking it upon themselves to patrol for harassers will have more of an impact right now than an unenforced law.

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Gangnam Style Warning

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Almost 200,000,000 people have watched the Gangnam Style video. It’s weird and funny and has a catchy song, but it includes the sexual objectification of women, as do WAY too many music videos. I just watched the season premiere of Saturday Night Live and one skit included a spoof of the video. Even though it was abbreviated, they were sure to include the “staring at women’s butts” scene.  Disappointing.

This kind of harmful mass messaging helps normalize street harassment and disrespect for women. It’s not okay.

Update: Someone on Facebook shared a link to this article about how the video – including the sexual objectification of women – is satire. But how many of the nearly 200,000,000 people will know that? I’d bet that for most, it’s just one more image that goes into their brain and helps normalize sexual objectification.

Thoughts?

 

 

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“Not Your Baby” App

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If you’re like me and tend to freeze up or draw a blank when you experience harassment, here’s a great resource to help you out, from our partner in Canada, METRAC. (They’re also the organization that also founded community safety audits).

Via their press release:

“On September 10, 2012, METRAC released a free iPhone app, “Not Your Baby”, to help users deal with sexual harassment. Once installed, the app will allow users to input where they are – such as work, school or on the street – and who’s harassing them – such as a boss, coworker or fellow student. A response will be generated “in the moment”, based on the input of 238 people who shared what they’ve done to deal with similar instances of harassment. “Not Your Baby” also includes their stories and tips and allows users to submit their own….

“Not Your Baby” stands as an example of the power of technology to help people take action, including women, young women, LGBTTIQQ2S and other groups most at risk of sexual and gender-based harassment. It is available on iTunes and by visiting METRAC’s website, www.metrac.org.”

What a great idea!

The Torontoist has more:

“METRAC communications director Andrea Gunraj described the app as “another tool that people can use to feel empowered,” rather than a cure-all for sexual harassment. She pointed to work by groups including the White Ribbon Campaign, for encouraging men, who are overwhelmingly the perpetrators of sexual harassment, to talk about the behaviour and its impact. She sees a need for more resources for men, including those “who want to diffuse harassment, who want to say something and don’t know how.”

According to Gunraj, it’s up to communities to initiate the uncomfortable social conversations that can lead to reflection and change. She noted that “the biggest barrier is speaking about it and seeing it as a problem. Too often we accept harassment as a fact of life.””

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Native Americans Speak Out About Street Harassment

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Kristina and Sunny Clifford

““Hey baby girl,” a group of ten and twelve-year-old Native American boys yelled over and over as they jumped on a trampoline. Then they lifted up their shirts and said, “You want some of this?” as they pounded on their chests. Their targets: Sunny and Kristina Clifford, two Native American sisters in their 20s, sitting outside their mother’s home on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. The boys wouldn’t stop and the young women felt so uncomfortable they went inside the house.

The Clifford sisters shared this story during a focus group I recently held at Oglala Lakota College on Pine Ridge Reservation about Native Americans’ experiences with street harassment. They said this incident had happened to them just the day before.

I quickly learned from the focus group participants that, like the rest of the country and the rest of the world, sexual harassment in public spaces is not unusual on the Pine Ridge Reservation, an area the size of the state of Connecticut with a population of 18,834 and an unemployment rate of 89 percent.

Most people on the reservation do not have regular access to a car, and the only public transportation available is a relatively new shuttle bus. As a result, walking is a primary way for people to travel from place to place. The women said that’s when they experience the most street harassment, at the hands of Native and non-Native men driving by in their cars. Kristina Clifford remarked, “There’s always somebody honking, or saying things, yelling, or whatever. It just makes me uncomfortable.”

Sometimes, another woman said, the men drive by once, turn around, and drive by again and again, just to harass them. Consequently, there are places the young women will not walk, and Sunny Clifford, a runner, said she won’t run along the roads anymore.” (Read More)

This is an excerpt from an article I wrote for the Women’s Media Center.

Five years after I turned in my master’s thesis on street harassment, I never thought I’d spend my weekends, most of my vacation days, and lunch hours researching, writing, and bringing attention to the issue. But street harassment has become so important to me that I do, and I feel lucky that I can. In particular, my passion is making sure as many stories and voices as possible are heard so that we can better understand the scope of the problem and its impact.

One population whose street harassment stories I had never seen shared anywhere before were Native Americans’ stories. Because they face higher rates of gender violence than any other racial group in the U.S., I felt it was especially important to learn about their experiences.

Two weeks ago today, I took four vacation days from my day job, caught a cheap flight to Denver and paid for a rental car to drive 6 hours to South Dakota. Through the help of Holly Sortland, the founder of an amazing initiative called ProjectRespect.org, I had the opportunity to hear from Native Americans living on Pine Ridge Reservation and in Rapid City. Their stories touched me, angered me, and made more determined than ever to do this work. I am grateful they were brave enough to share their deeply personal stories and I’m glad that the Associated Press and South Dakota PBS radio recognized the importance of their stories and shared some of them through their media channels.

The stories from these and other upcoming focus groups will supplement a first-of-its-kind national study of 2000 people I am trying to make happen. Please donate $10 (or more if you can) to ensure it happens; I have a great group of PhD-level experts ready to advise me on the surveying instrument and a very reputable survey firm ready to conduct it once we have enough funds.

Public policy and public attitudes about street harassment will change only once we have the right combination of stories and data. So many of you have shared your stories (thank you), now I need your help so we can have data. Thank you.

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Chal Hatt Tharki

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Editor’s Note: This guest blog post was written by Janvi Mankani.

Eve teasing is a highly concern worthy issue in all of India and consequently in Mumbai today. Cat calling and snide comments against women have become such an inevitable part of the society and that calls for attention.

All the men who think they can get away with this kind of behaviour need to be addressed. “Chal Hatt Tharki” as a campaign is not directed towards men, asking them to stop cat calling and eve teasing. Instead, as the name itself suggests, is directed towards women; asking them to raise their voices against inappropriate behaviour. The very words, “Chal Hatt Tharki” here, encourage and support women to take a stance against eve teasing.

Chal Hatt Tharki is about empowering women, making them aware and letting them know that if they stand up for their rights, no one will be able to take them for granted. For when the women speak up, the men will learn their lesson with respect to eve teasing by default. It’s high time all the Eves got their due, and fearlessly stood up for their safety, their existence, and for themselves.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChalHattTharki

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