Need ideas for dealing with street harassers? Listen to a Crime Prevention 101 online radio show tonight at 8 p.m. EDT focused on the topic.

Hosted by Susan Bartelstone, Crime Prevention Specialist

To Listen: http://www.voiceamerica.com/voiceamerica/vshow.aspx?sid=1306

Missed the live show? Available as a podcast and on iTunes: http://tinyurl.com/CP101itunes

It doesn’t just occur when women pass by a construction site or a group of men hanging out in front of a store.  Simply by being in ANY public place, women can be subjected to behavior that ranges from the merely annoying (catcalls, whistles, references to body parts) to the downright terrifying (public exposure, public masturbation, threats of rape).  It’s called street harassment and it happens pretty much all over the world.

This week, I’m interviewing national street harassment expert Holly Kearl, author of the upcoming book Stop Street Harassment:  Making Public Places Safe and Welcoming for Women for a definitive look at this problem.  She runs the website Stop Street Harassment and the companion blog where people from around the world submit their street harassment stories and where she discusses street harassment incidents that make the news.

Then I speak with Chai Shenoy and Shannon Lynberg, co-founders of Holla Back DC which is part of a worldwide grassroots organization that aims to empower people to build a community free from public sexual harassment and assault.  Trust me; they offer a very unique way to effectively “holla back” at your harassers.

You’ll also learn some awareness and prevention skills and simple verbal responses to street harassment that’ll increase your chances of staying safe in these situations, when I speak with self defense instructor Lauren Taylor, from Defend Yourself, who’s also based in Washington, DC.

IT’D BE A CRIME NOT TO LISTEN!