Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Early April 2016 News Round-Up

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Here are a few news stories on my radar recently:

Economic Times, “Widespread sexual harassment still persists in Delhi: Study“

“Sexual harassment remains a pervasive problem in Delhi despite tougher laws being enacted after the gruesome Nirbhaya rape and murder case in 2012, according to a new study that found 40 per cent of female respondents were sexually harassed in the past year.

About 40 per cent of women surveyed in Delhi said they have been sexually harassed in a public place such as a bus or park in the past year, with most of the crimes occurring in the daytime, researchers said.

Further, 33 per cent of women have stopped going out in public and 17 per cent have quit their jobs rather than face harassment in public places.

‘What this means is that women, despite Nirbhaya, are still afraid,’ said Mahesh Nalla, from the Michigan State University in US.”

Telegraph, “German rail operator launches women-only train carriages following sex attacks“

“Mitteldeutsche Regiobahn will introduce the option for women passengers on the Leipzig to Chemnitz line, positioning the carriages next to the train conductor.

‘The local proximity to the customer service representative is chosen deliberately,’ a Mitteldeutsche Regiobahn spokesman said.

The carriages are designed to make solo female travellers or women with young children feel safer on trains.

Boys up to the age of ten will also be allowed to ride in the special carriages.”

Yahoo News, “New York City proposes crackdown on taxi driver sexual harassment“

“New York City’s taxi authority plans new rules for drivers that will impose tougher penalties for sexually charged comments and contact with passengers amid growing concern about harassment.

The Taxi and Limousine Commission, which licenses about 150,000 drivers of yellow cabs and other for-hire vehicles such as Uber [UBER.UL] and Lyft, wants to curb unwanted communication and touching as the number of drivers has significantly grown.

The TLC said the regulations are meant to clear up any confusion about what defines sexual harassment as more drivers enter the industry.

The behavior is already prohibited under a broad definition against threats, harassment or abuse, but the commission’s goal is clear up any confusion about what defines sexual harassment said TLC spokesman Allan Fromberg.

The agency plans to debate the proposal at an April 21 meeting.

‘This rule amendment would provide clear definitions of sexual harassment and unwanted sexual contact, which would help TLC prosecution enforce its rules and protect our passengers,’ he said in a statement.”

The Hollywood Reporter, “‘Ovarian Psycos’: SXSW Review“

“For the women of the Ovarian Psycos Bicycle Brigade, riding through the streets of Los Angeles is an act of guerrilla theater, bandanas optional. Taking back the night — and, on tough and disapproving turf, the daytime streets as well — they’ve staked their place in the riot grrrl lineage and are direct descendants of the feminist and Chicano movements of the ’60s and ’70s.

A concise and intimate documentary on the collective illuminates why they find solace as well as purpose in their DIY activism. Many of these tough pedalers are self-described “at-risk adults,” still pushing against the undertow of abuse and trauma.

As a portrait of the group, Ovarian Psycos, which takes its bow in the Documentary Feature Competition at South by Southwest, is incisively personal rather than all-encompassing. It showcases compelling characters and, at its most potent, explores complex territory between mothers and daughters, tradition and independence. The film is a natural for doc platforms with a political edge.”

Odyssey, “How It Actually Feels To Be Catcalled“

“Here is a look inside the mind of someone who has been verbally harassed by strangers since the age of fourteen.”

The Ohio State University, “Why sexual harassment is worse than other types of abuse online“

“A survey of 293 women who played video games online showed that, while they didn’t like general abuse such as swearing and insults about their game-playing skills, they could dismiss these types of comments from their mind pretty easily.

But even after the game was over, women continued to think about the sexist comments, rape jokes and threats, and other sexually related comments that they received while playing with men.

‘Most women players understand trash talking and having their playing skill insulted, even if they don’t like it,’ said Jesse Fox, lead author of the study and professor of communication at The Ohio State University.

‘But what disturbs them is being targeted simply for being a woman. They don’t easily forget those comments and continue to think about them when they’re done playing.’

And while the results suggested women didn’t think it was the responsibility of gaming companies to stop general harassment, they did seem to blame the companies for not doing more to end sexual harassment.”‘

DAWN, “‘Cycle chalao, patriarchy dubao’: Taking to Karachi streets without the company of men”

“Three girls are cycling ahead of me, one trailing with a poster that reads #GirlsOnBikes. Another has one hung on her back:

‘Hamari sarkein, hamara sheher.’

Fifteen bikers — an unusual sight of kameezes, long hair and dupattas— follow at their pace behind me. There is assurance in travelling in a pack, but our collective confidence is intentional and prepared.

Our all-women bike rally is based on a troubling reality: we are protesting street harassment against women.

Earlier this month, a girl in Lahore was hit by a car of boys while cycling to join the Critical Mass group. The girl — Aneeqa — responded with indifference to their initial attempts at harassment. But that did not deter them; they drove closer, and rammed their car into her bike. The reaction was somehow justified in their head.

Our bike-rally is an act of solidarity for Aneeqa, who, I realise, is probably cycling right now with the girls in Lahore, hardly two weeks since her bruises healed.”

Open Democracy, “Sexual harassment in Kosovo: no longer invisible“

“The oddest finding, however, is the excellent ability of male survey respondents, the main perpetrators of harassment, to identify specific acts as sexual harassment – in some instances even better than women. For example, 48.8% men think leaning on another person’s body without their permission is sexual harassment, compared to 25.1% of women. Similarly, being pressured to go out with someone is seen as an act of sexual harassment by 41.9% of men, compared to only 23% of women.   My theory would be that there are some pretty enlightened men in Kosovo, and women so normalized to acts of harassment that they don’t even think of them as such. It may also mean that many men know exactly what sexual harassment is, but still harass others or simply stand by when they see it happening around them (the bystander effect applies to women as well).

This can change. This report has provided the first quantitative data on the prevalence of harassment in Kosovo, and should serve as a great resource to shut down arguments that it isn’t a widespread problem – the kind of arguments I frequently read from young men on the internet whenever the issue of sexual harassment is brought up in Kosovo.”

Vice, “In Mexico, Women Are Protesting a Wave of Brutal Murders with Performance“

“Help me, help me,” screams a stout but strong elderly woman standing on the banks of a garbage-filled canal in Chimalhuacan, Mexico. The woman is Irinea Buendía, and she is acting in a street theater performance, holding a sign with the words: “I didn’t commit suicide, you killed me.” The woman in the photo is her daughter, Marina. Buendía is surrounded by dozens of women dressed in fiery costumes. They are all screaming the names of other women who have been killed in the State of Mexico.

This canal has become the final resting place for an undetermined number of women who have been kidnapped, assassinated, mutilated, and dumped in the sewage-filled water. The group gathered here is composed of various feminist collectives which have reappropiated this harsh environment as a public theater space. Femicides have become an alarming crisis in the state, where more than 1,500 women have been murdered in the past ten years. It is believed that the victims’ gender was a primary motive in the majority of the assassinations.

All over Mexico, various womens’ groups are using creative theater to combat the scourge of gender-based violence. In Mexico City, the Hijas de Violencia (Daughters of Violence) shoot street harassers with confetti guns and sing punk anthems to denounce sexual harassment. In Puebla, a state where women have been murdered by their boyfriends and partners, the organization El Taller hosts a feminist school to help women identity violence in their personal relationships.”

Observers, “Video: Tunisian women share insults they’ve received on the street“

“Why are you so nervous? Do you have your period?” “You’re ugly, go home!” “You’re a girl, you can’t drive.” These are just a couple of examples from a video project in which filmmakers asked 60 Tunisian women to give examples of verbal sexual harassment they’ve faced on the street.

On March 20, Tunisia celebrated 60 years of independence. For the occasion, two women’s rights NGOs created this video, which they titled “60 years of independence and our bodies are still colonised.” It is full of insults, sexist comments and unwelcome propositions. Several of the women are famous in Tunisia, including journalist Lina Ben Mhenni, actress Amira Chebli, and MP Bochra Belhaj Hmida.”

The Guardian, “From Peru to Kosovo, female MPs aim to end abuse of women in politics“

“During her time as mayor of Lima, the Peruvian capital, Susana Villarán experienced brutal and harmful attacks and threats. She says they were designed to ‘diminish my image and make it clear it was not a place for a women like me to try and disrupt that male world of politics and power.’

The British MP Jess Phillips began receiving online threats when she started speaking about women’s rights after winning her parliamentary seat last year. She receives daily attacks and has seen online articles in which ‘people wished to see me raped or come home to see my sons hanging from a tree as I couldn’t possibly care about men.’

Villarán and Phillips shared their stories at the launch of a campaign by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) to stop violence against women in politics.

Launched on the fringes of the Commission on the Status of Women in New York last week, the #NotTheCost campaign is seeking to raise awareness of the different methods of violence women face when seeking positions of power at local, national and international level. This can include physical, sexual, psychological, verbal and economic violence.”

Human Rights Watch, “Sudan: Silencing Women Rights Defenders“

“Sudanese security forces have used sexual violence, intimidation, and other forms of abuse to silence female human rights defenders across the country, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The government should investigate all alleged abuses, hold those responsible to account, and undertake legislative reforms to protect women’s rights.

The 61-page report, “‘Good Girls Don’t Protest’: Repression and Abuse of Women Human Rights Defenders, Activists, and Protesters in Sudan,” documents efforts by Sudanese authorities to silence women who are involved in protests, rights campaigns, and other public action, and who provide social services and legal aid, as well as journalists. Women engaged in these efforts are targeted with a range of abuses, from rape and rape threats, to deliberate efforts to tar their reputations. Their male counterparts may be less likely to experience some of these abuses.”

BDnews24, “Ganajagaran Mancha announces signature campaign demanding arrest of Tonu’s killers“

“The Comilla Victoria Government College student was found dead, her head smashed, near her house inside Comilla Cantonment on the night of Mar 20.

Mancha spokesperson Imran H Sarker announced the programme at Dhaka’s Shahbagh on Wednesday, while the killers remain at large and unidentified even nine days after the murder.

Following a Road March to Comilla on Sunday demanding justice for Tonu, the platform had also called for a one-hour strike at all educational institutions across Bangladesh on Wednesday.

The mass signature campaign aims to push the authorities to meet three other demands — implementation of an anti-sexual assault policy as per High Court orders, new law for death penalty for rapists and ensuring security of all women.”

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Respect Black Women!!

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How many men will we let violate, shame, use, harass, beat, and kill Black girls and women while we stand by? While we excuse them, apologize for them, or look away!?

How many?!

The answer should be zero. But it’s not. Instead, the answer is countless, thousands, millions.

And that is WRONG.

Yes, women of all races face harassment and sexual assault – as a white woman I can personally attest to this – but studies show that overall, Black women face higher rates of sexual assault and higher rates of street harassment.

And that is WRONG.

Street harassment stories, articles, and documentaries suggest that Black women are more likely than women of other skin tones to be called a bitch and a ho (“You ain’t a bitch or a ho,” says Queen Latifah) by men, to be physically attacked on the streets, to be chased, to have trash thrown at them, and to be propositioned when they’re not sex workers (the latter was found to be true in Egypt, too).

And that is WRONG.

It’s no coincidence that the main anti-street harassment efforts that focus on youth have been led by/made for young teenagers of color (Young Women’s Action Team, Girls for Gender Equity, Helping Our Teen Girls, A Long Walk Home, etc).

To add insult to injury, there is less outrage when men harass or assault or murder Black women than when it’s white women. Some Black women muse this is why they are harassed and attacked more….men know they’re more likely to get away with it.

And that is WRONG.

Well, here is just one more example of this.

Image via Feminist Media as it's no longer available on Humans of New York

The site Humans Of New York is “a photographic census of New York City, one street portrait at a time.” They recently posted the photo on the right along with the following caption:

“This one is very serious, guys:

I came upon these two on the sidewalk. They were having a conversation. “Excuse me,” I said, addressing the girl: “I’m sorry to interrupt, but is there anyway I can take your photo?”

“Why would you want my photo?” she asked.

“Because you look beautiful,” I said. And she did. She was Sudanese. There is a very distinct beauty among people from the Sudan, and she was filled up with it. Suddenly the man cut in:

“I was just telling her she was beautiful,” he said.

Naively, I assumed I had just walked up on one stranger giving a compliment to another. I wanted to capture the moment. “Let me take your photograph together,” I said. The man seemed reluctant, he started smiling nervously and inching away. But the girl called him back.

“Come take a picture with me,” she said. Encouraged by her attention, he returned. She put her arm around him, and I took the photo.

As I examined the photos on my camera, the man started whispering to the girl. She answered him in a loud voice: “I told you! I’m not that kind of girl.” She seemed agitated now. Finally sensing that I had misread the situation, I stepped between them. The man began hurrying down the sidewalk.

When the man left, the girl’s demeanor changed completely. She seemed shaken. Her eyes were tearing up. “He just offered me five hundred dollars to go out with him,” she said. “And then when I said ‘no,’ he offered me one thousand. Why does this always happen to me?”

“It happens a lot?” I asked.

“All the time,” she said. “I’m sorry I’m getting emotional. I just can’t go out of my house without this kind of thing happening. I have a son. I’m a mother. I would never degrade myself like that. I just don’t understand why this keeps happening.”

“Do you mind if I tell this story?” I asked.

“Please,” she said. “Tell it.”

Let’s hope this man, and all men, realize the emotional damage they are inflicting on the women they try to buy. In the meantime, feel free to SHARE.*

*With this man being an Orthodox Jew, I hope that all long-time followers of HONY would by now have realized the high respect I hold for the Orthodox Jewish community as a whole.”

Despite the fact that the woman wanted her experiences shared and the person who took the photo said he wanted others to read and share it, the photo and story are no longer on the site.

Feminist Media reported that Humans Of New York (HONY) “removed the photograph from their Facebook page, which has over 90,000 subscribers. Because of uproar from what appeared to be men of the Orthodox Community.”

They posted photos of other Orthodox men who gave their views on the situation (like telling people not to rush to judgment) and with each post there was the message: “UPDATE: The original post has been removed out of respect for the man’s family. After 1,000 comments, I believe the discussion had run it’s course.”

Feminist Media writes,

“Hmm… many of the comments on these read along the lines of “Good job Brandon [the HONY photographer] for respecting the man’s family and taking the photo down” “Right decision HONY” “How we do know the woman’s telling the truth? HEARSAY!”

To which I say…you’re joking right? She asked to have her story told. I don’t give a flying fuck if this man is the fucking President of the United States, if he propositions a woman for being an escort after she said NO once he needs to be called out. And to say “I believe the discussion had run it’s course” is perpetuating that sexual harassment is okay. A commenter placed the question ‘would this photo have been removed if the racial roles had been reversed or if the woman had been white?’ “My question is whether or not a similar picture to “last night’s” would have been deleted or generated the same level of concern for the man’s reputation, community had the man in question had been Hispanic, Muslim or African-American?”

A comment summed up this photo “Again, another woman was silenced. To spare that man his embarrassment at being a hypocrite. A shame.” I hope everyone will reblog this to show that you cannot silence an idea and you cannot like this woman believes “ If you don’t like something – you can ignore it, delete it, unsubscribe – or just LEAVE.”

Yes, let’s just sweep racism, sexism, prejudice, and harassment right under the  rug right? WRONG.

Also interestingly enough before I had even finished writing this I was going to reblog the original tumblr post from the Humans Of New York tumblr and it had been removed.”

STFU Conservatives Tumblr posted the photo and story and this:

“After reading some of the discussion about this photo on the HONY fb page I cannot express how absolutely disgusted and frustrated I am by the public reaction. The public outcry was so much that Brandon (the man behind HONY) took the photo down and followed it up with some positive photos of Jewish men and their opinions of the post. One photo caption chanted on about virtue and suppositions, blah, blah, blahbitty fucking blah.

To put it shortly, an overwhelming majority of the reactions are in defense of this man and harshly criticized Brandon for posting this story. Many people both inside and outside of the Jewish community have rallied behind this man, claiming that we don’t know the whole story, that this woman could be lying, that it was wrong of Brandon to expose this man.

To that I have this to say: SHUT THE FUCK UP! So one of yours got caught out there on some slimey shit? Get over it! Everyone’s so busy being worried about this man’s privacy and how this photo will affect him and his family, but very few people stopped to consider the feelings of this woman. Very few stopped to support her and think about the trials she faces, the trauma she must suffer.

When it comes to Black women’s suffering, people seldom give a fuck. Where are all the follow up pictures of Black women sharing their mantras? hmmmm?

HONY had the opportunity to take a stance, to allow this woman the platform to tell her story, and although that is what I believe he set out to do initially, by deleting the post on FB (thank God for Tumblr) Brandon effectively worked to silence her voice… yet again. Something Black woman have had to suffer with for far too long: people constantly attempting to silence our voices and our stories. I will reblog this every time I see it!”

I’m on the HONY Facebook page now and there are comments like:

“You said you would share that Sudanese woman’s story. Why didn’t you leave it up in respect of her family and her wishes? Why did you side with the man who caused the problem in the first place? Why does he deserve more respect than she does?”

and

“What I learned from HONY: Black woman is “propositioned” and talks about the harassment she regularly receives: no one cares. White man who harassed a black woman is negatively portrayed in HONY: Why are you so quick to rush to judgement?! What about his feelings?! Why don’t you care about how much this could hurt him?!”

and

“I’m incredibly disappointed that you took down the picture of the Sudanese woman and her harasser. I know why you did it, but more than protecting his privacy, you silenced a victim of sexual harassment and a member of one of the most marginalized and ignored segments of society: women of color. Why is this man’s privacy more important than taking a stand against sexual harassment? Perhaps he should’ve considered not harassing an innocent woman if he wanted privacy.”

Amen. It’s problematic that street harassment happens in the first place and it’s doubly problematic that people shut down women who speak out, especially women of color, because they want to protect the men who harass, especially white men.

Alleged religious piousness, age, race does not give any man a free pass to harass and assault. In fact, my inclination is to be suspicious of older, white, religious men than of any other group because they are the most privileged and powerful group in our society and thus the most likely to get a free pass to keep on harassing and assaulting to their heart’s content.

This must end.

No more harassment, no more sexual assault, no more gender violence! Respect other humans, respect women, respect Black women!!!

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$100,000 for stoves in Sudan

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Women at refugee camps often face sexual assault from militants/rebels/fighters when they leave the camps to gather firewood to cook food and to sell. As a result of this problem, over the last few years groups like Oxfam International have been working on relevant initiatives, such as having guards accompany women and providing cooking stoves to refugees so they do not need to gather firewood. While of course ideally the goal is for all public spaces to be free from harassment and assault, in the meantime I am glad to know that this problem specific to women (given the division of labor) is being acknowledged and addressed.

This past weekend, Calling All Crows, a service organization that mobilizes musicians and fans to promote human rights, finished a year-long effort to raise $100,000 specifically to fund stoves for people at refugee camps. They donated it to Oxfam, and Oxfam will use it to provide 5,000 fuel-efficient stoves to Sudanese women. This is part of their overall goals to end violence against women.

With all the bad stories out there, it’s nice to read one that is positive and inspiring. Way to go Calling All Crows!

Calling All Crows, from their website
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Quick News Cap

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I’ve been working hard on my street harassment book and took a two day vacation over the weekend, so my posts have been lax the last week – sorry! Here’s a recap of three relevant news stories for the past week or so.

First, today journalist Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein goes on trial again in Sudan. Her crime is wearing pants in public. Rather than take lashings as other women who were arrested did or rather than take immunity from her job with the United Nations she is electing to go through a public trial in an effort to change the laws saying women cannot wear pants in public. Her original trial was scheduled for August but it got rescheduled to today. Best of luck to her!

Second, it’s been one year since the Egyptian Centre for Women’s Rights released its report on the high rate of public sexual harassment in Egypt. Bikya Masr writes about how little things have changed for women since then.

“The government and police have done little to enforce the laws in place, which call for up to one-year in prison and a hefty fine for perpetrators.

“The police chief told another man ‘what if this were to happen to a foreigner or even an ambassador’s wife? Then we would have a problem.’ I felt as if I was being demeaned because I was Egyptian,” said an Egyptian woman who recently took an incident to a local police office. She argued that the police do not seem to put much weight when it comes to average Egyptians complaining of harassment.

And it is Egyptian women who face the brunt of harassment on a daily basis. ECWR agrees, saying that “not addressing this problem leads to total injustice, especially since victims often hesitate to report incidents for lack of confidence in the legal system or fear of being blamed herself.”

Third (and lastly), there is an interesting article in the Yemen Times about street harassment. In January 2009, a survey revealed that most women experience street harassment and for many of them this causes fear and anxiety about going into public spaces. The article from last week covers the role of Sana’a’s police patrol who monitor the street for crimes like street harassment, the low report rate of harassment, and the impact of Sheikhs on negative attitudes about women being in public (punish women who are not modest and not cloistered etc). Educators suggest the importance of teaching both boys and girls not to harass each other and to report people who do.

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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Trying to Change the Law

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From AP
Women protesting at the trial. Image from AP

Today was the trial for Sudanese journalist  Lubna Hussein, one of the women I reported on earlier who were arrested for wearing trousers in public. Most of the women received a flogging, but Hussein and two others elected to have a public trial in the hopes of raising awareness about the oppressiveness of the laws and to try to change them.

According to the AP:

“In an attempt to rally support, Hussein printed invitations to diplomats, international media, and activists to attend her trial which opened last week. She also resigned from her job in the U.N.’s public information office in Khartoum, declining the immunity that went along with the job to challenge the law.

Around 100 supporters, including many women in trousers as well as others in traditional dress, protested outside the court Tuesday.

Witnesses said police wielding batons beat up one of Hussein’s lawyers, Manal Awad Khogali, while keeping media and cameras at bay. No injuries were immediately reported.

‘We are here to protest against this law that oppresses women and debases them,’ said one of the protesters, Amal Habani, a female columnist for the daily Ajraas Al Hurria, or Bells of Freedom in Arabic.

While the police broke up the demonstration outside the Khartoum Criminal Court, the judge adjourned Hussein’s trial for a month to clarify whether her resignation has been accepted by the United Nations.”

How every brave of her and the other women. I hope their efforts won’t be in vain.

Also, as I said in my previous post: while this isn’t directly “street harassment” per say, a lot of discussion about street harassment ends up touching upon “what was she wearing” so I think this story is relevant from that aspect. Also, street harassment can be viewed as a kind of social control that keeps a lot of women off the streets at night and/or when they are alone and this incident in Sudan shows blatant and extreme forms of attempted social control over women.

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