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Today’s Events – April 16

April 16, 2015 By BPurdy

Virtual Events:

April 16 | 4:30 p.m. in Delhi, 6 p.m. in Kuala Lumpur (7 a.m. EDT): @INBreakthrough, @FemIndProject and @PixelProject will co-host a Tweet chat about cultural differences in harassment and reactions.

No Moleste di Strada has designed thought-provoking stickers and are placing them in public spaces highly affected by street harassment. They intend to creatively raise awareness on the phenomenon by also asking peoples’ contribution. They encourage our followers to spot the stickers, send us the pictures, and suggest us new ideas! Find the stickers on their Facebook page, and share both online and in public spaces near you!

 

International Events:

Bahamas: Hollaback! Bahamas will be hosting a chalk art event at College of the Bahamas in collaboration with the PRO Society (art club) as well as a free self-defense workshop for College of the Bahamas students.

Canada (Toronto): The Street Talk Project is launching their new exhibit! Inspired by the Take Back The Night movement and #yesallwomen, The Street Talk Project is a public art installation and gallery exhibition that addresses how women navigate the city and the socialized sexism that governs their bodies on a day-to-day basis. Using humour and subversive advertising, this project will bring attention to the ways in which public space is navigated differently by different bodies; address how sexism is felt viscerally on a day-to-day basis; and further the belief that we are all responsible for making public spaces accessible and welcoming for all bodies. [Exhibit Launch is April 16, 7-8pm at the Whippersnapper Gallery in Toronto.]

Colombia: OCAC Colombia will host ANY AGGRESSION WITHOUT RESPONSE. The Colectiva Urgente Anárquica y Sinverguenza (C.U.C.A.S), will do a workshop teaching feminist defense. We are still waiting to confirm the place, so please be aware. [2pm] | JUEVES 16 DE ABRIL – 2PM. NINGUNA AGRESIÓN SIN RESPUESTA. A cargo de la Colectiva Urgente Callejera Anárquica y Sinverguenza (C.U.C.A.S), se realizará un taller de defensa feminista. Aun estamos a la espera de confirmar el lugar, entonces estén muy pendientes

France: Stop Harcelement de Rue will be going in subway and suburban trains, and a Paris train station in order to distribute flyers and to sensitize people to all the types of violence women have to go through in transports. During these events, they will be wearing a super-hero costume as the “Team Zero Relou” (no streetharassers team)! They will also hold a Artistic happening in the hall of the Gare du Nord station, where actors will play scenes of harassment (the public will not be made aware of it being acting until the end) [5pm Gare du Nord, Paris]

France: Stop Harcelement de Rue Lyon will hold a chalk walk [5 pm. Location: Quai Victor Augagneur]

France: Stop Harcelement de Rue Lille are holding a leaflet distribution at Lille Flandres subway station. [5 pm]

Nepal: This is the final day of Nepal Mahila Ekata Samaj (Nepal Women Unity Society)‘s five day self-defense training with adolescent girls of the slum community.

United Kingdom: Hollaback! Nottingham is holding a clay workshop! They’ll be discussing street harassment and methods to deal with it while creating pieces for an upcoming exhibit [2pm at Nottingham Women’s Centre, 30 Chaucer Street, Nottingham UK. Women only please]

 

USA Events

California: Valley Crisis Center will have a button making machine where individuals can make/design their own button describing what they can do to fight street harassment/catcalling/degrading comments and also empower others to do the same. Today is your last day to snag one!  [Merced Community College  10-1PM]

Illinois: Volunteers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champagne campus are  holding a tabling event, and handing out buttons and sexual harassment resources [11a-1p, Main Quad]

Maryland:  UMBC’s Take Back the Night 2015: In recognition of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, join the Women’s Center on Commons Main Street Thursday, April 16th and let’s take back the night!!

Events and activities include:
– Community Resource Fair (begins at 6pm)
– Clothesline Project
– Survivor Speak Out Forum (begins at 6:30pm)
– March Against Sexual Violence
– FORCE Monument Quilt Making Opportunity and other art activism projects
and more!

[Women’s Center at UMBC 1000 Hilltop Circle, Commons 004 at 6 PM]

Minnesota: Hollaback! Twin Cities is hosting a chalking event at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. [7:30 to 9 p.m]

Nebraska: The sociology, queer alliance and radical notion clubs at Hastings College will be distributing bystander intervention flyers on campus.

New York: No Disrespect & The Safe OUTside the System Collective present: Free the Streets. Panel discussion making connections between sexualized, gendered, and police harassment + breakouts creating solutions through prevention, intervention, support, and accountability. [6:30-8:30 p.m. at Audre Lourde Project, 85 South Oxford Street, NYC]

Pennsylvania: SAFE at Temple University, Philadelphia, is holding a self-defense class. [6pm in Morgan Hall D301]

Pennsylvania: Touch Me Philly Productions will be debuting “Reasonable Fear: A Series on Street Harassment and Rape Culture.” Touch Me Philly Productions Presents two weeks of theatre and events exploring the topics of Street Harassment & Rape Culture. This series includes a main stage theatrical production, workshops, comedy, films & more. All designed to let you explore this topic in a safe atmosphere. Nine short plays were chosen from our open submission call to create our Main Stage Theatrical Production. Catch this show Thursdays – Saturdays April 16-18 & 23-25 at 8 p.m. | INFO

Massachusetts: Guerilla Feminism Boston is collecting short stories for their handmade zine, to be passed out during their Chalk Walk (see below). As they say, “As Black women, women of color, queer, trans women & gender nonconforming poc we’re often made to feel unsafe in our own communities due to gender, homophobia, race, sexuality, and gender expression. Often this affects our commutes to and from work, school, social events and other engagements.” To submit your story to be included in our zine, please email submissions to guerrillafeminismboston@gmail.com. We’re looking for artwork, poetry, stories of what it means to be YOU walking down the street, hanging out at a bar, interacting with the police, etc. Please keep these writings under 500 words. [Submit by April 16]

Virginia: Hollaback! RVA is hosting a chalk walk on the VCU campus! They invite you to visit their table to pick up candy, literature, and chalk. [VCU Campus in Richmond]

Washington:  Jaded at Club Contour, a weekly dance night with a heavy focus on safety in their community, is hosting a dance night and distributing pamphlets explaining what street harassment is and why it’s so dangerous, and (if feasible) set up a large poster board where people can write their own stories. [9pm-2am at Club Contour, 807 1st Ave Seattle, WA]

Washington, DC: American University will host a chalking on campus [10 a.m. – 1 p.m.]

Washington D.C.: Collective Action for Safe Spaces will be hosting their 6th anniversary party, “Lights, Camera, Collective Action!” [6-9pm at Room & Board, 1840 14 St., NW]

 

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Filed Under: anti-street harassment week Tagged With: American University, Bahamas, Boston, breakthrough, buttons, california, canada, CASS, Chalk Walk, clay, collective action for safe spaces, College of the Bahamas, colombia, france, Guerilla Feminism Boston, Hastings College, Hollaba, Hollaback Nottin, Hollaback RVA, Hollaback Twin Cities, illinois, Jaded at Club Contour, Kuala Lumpur, lille, Lyon, maryland, massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nepal, Nepal Mahila Ekata Samaj, new york, Ni Molestie di Strada, OCAC Colombia, paris, pennsylvania, Reasonable Fear, SAAM, SAFE At Temple, seattle, self defense, Stop Harcelement de Rue, take back the night, temple university, The Pixel Project, The Street Talk Project, toronto, Touch Me Philly Productions, UMBC, Valley Crisis Center, VCU, virginia, Washington, Washington DC, Whippersnapper Gallery

Toronto Man Says: To prevent sexual assault, Toronto should legislate women’s clothes

July 23, 2012 By HKearl

In response to several recent sexual assaults at York University in Toronto, Canada, Al-Haashim Kamena Atangana, a 33-year-old Islamic convert and street cleric, says the answer is to legislate women’s clothes.

Via the Toronto Sun:

“You should take your example from the way Muslim women dress,” he wrote. “Why does (sic) Muslim women who wear long dress and covers her head aren’t targeted for sex attacks?…If (women) want to prevent being sexually assaulted, they should cover themselves,” said Atangana, adding that while he doesn’t expect Western women to dress as Muslim women do, they should have a “dress code” and take note of the burka the head scarf and face veil some Muslim females wear.”

He suggests that “Toronto (become) the first city in North America to introduce laws that would make it illegal for women to dress provocatively.”

Thankfully, the Toronto Sun quotes intelligent people who poke holes right through his assertions and suggestions.

Readers of this blog know the drill: street harassment and sexual assault doesn’t happen because of what we wear, they happen because the perpetrators are abusing their power and acting disrespectfully. I just visited Egypt and I saw first-hand that it’s not about what women wear. In public places in Egypt, most women are veiled and every woman is very modestly dressed (I got to wear pants and long sleeve shirts in 110 degree weather), yet every single woman has a harassment story.

After reading this story, yet another one about a man in Toronto blaming women for men’s harassment and assault, I’ve got to ask, what is up with men in Toronto?

* In January 2011, a representative of the Toronto Police stated, “women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized.” This led to Slutwalk Toronto and countless SlutWalks around the world.

* In October 2011, after school officials reported a man who was harassing girls on the way to school, police advised them to tell their female students to only change into their school uniform once they arrived at school.

* In February 2012, a woman reported harassers in her neighborhood and the police told her to grow a thicker skin.

* In March 2012, the Toronto Globe & Mail newspaper published a horrid piece by an older man who wrote on and on about how great and acceptable it is to leer and objectify young women in public places.

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Filed Under: News stories Tagged With: sexual assault, street harassment, toronto

Toronto police are at it again…

October 12, 2011 By HKearl

Greenwood College via CNews

How would you feel if someone violated your privacy and space by following you, leering at you and then looking up the skirt of your school uniform while you were going to school? Then how would you feel if the response of local police was to tell you and your classmates to stop wearing your school uniform during your commute, indirectly blaming YOU for the victimization?

That’s exactly what happened to two female students at Greenwood College, a private high school in Toronto. After a man harassed them and looked up their skirts while they were taking the subway to school, the Toronto police advised the school principal to tell the female population to put on their school uniform at school instead of at home in the morning. The principal apparently supported the sentiments and shared the message with the whole school.

Via CNews:

“This bit of guidance was given to Allan Hardy, the school’s principal, by an investigating officer from 53 Division on Thursday after two of Greenwood’s female students — both decked out in the school’s uniform of skirt, shirt and blazer — were allegedly followed around and ogled by a man while on the subway earlier that morning.

The girls, who were on their way to school at the time, were travelling northbound, Hardy confirmed, adding that the suspect had been looking up the girls’ skirts.

Hardy relayed the officer’s advice in an e-mail to parents and teachers informing them of the incident. The Toronto Sun obtained the e-mail from a confidential source.

“This person was looking up the girls’ skirts,” said Hardy, who would not divulge the ages of the two students. “So the advice is given … if they had, for example, jeans or sweatpants on, it wouldn’t be an issue.”

This is not okay.

While sadly schoolgirl outfits are inappropriately sexualized and fetishized (e.g. see Britney Spears’ “Hit Me One More Time” music video, Halloween costumes, and video games) and that sexualization and fetishization does nothing to prevent the harassment of REAL schoolgirls, telling girls to not wear their uniform on the subway is not the solution.

Street harassment—including harassment on public transit systems—happens to many high school students regardless of what they wear. It happens even when they wear jeans and sweatpants! It happens to women who wear business suits, exercise clothes, and burqas! Since it doesn’t matter what we wear so dictating clothing choices as a prevention method is NOT okay or effective. And even if it was effective, the focus should still be on the HARASSER not the person facing harassment!

When someone sent me this story this morning, I was exasperated and shocked. Of all places for a police officer to say such an inappropriate comment, it happened in Toronto?!

In January a representative of the Toronto Police stated, “women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized.” This remarked sparked SlutWalk Toronto and scores more SlutWalks around the world.

But apparently that message wasn’t clear enough. What more do we have to do so demand that police officers in Toronto and people around the world stop telling girls and women how to dress and inspire them to focus instead on solely stopping harassers and assaulters and ending the culture that fosters such harassment and assault?

Here’s an important op-ed by Monica Bugajski in response to the police’s reaction.

[Thanks Katie B. for the news tip]

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Filed Under: News stories Tagged With: Greenwood College, sexual harassment, street harasasment, toronto, victim blaming

“The feeling of being trapped and helpless was quite strong.”

March 20, 2011 By Contributor

Around 11:30 or 12 one night after work, I took a bus route that required me to walk a few blocks to my apartment. My building is right on a busy street and the front door was always unlocked. Among the people on the bus were a group of giddy young girls and an older, shady-looking man. He had been focused on the girls, but when I stood up for my stop, he got off the bus with me.

He followed me for three blocks, while I crossed and re-crossed the street and paused to see if he would pass (he didn’t). I reached my building but was afraid to go in because he would see it was unlocked. I waited at a well-lit bus stop, where a young man was waiting as well. The stalker remained across the street, occasionally staring at me (I stared back) and patiently waiting for me to move. I contemplated crossing the street to talk to him, but reflected the streets were quiet and he might be stronger (and faster) than he looked. I was stuck and helpless.

Fortunately, my live-in boyfriend was at home and came out to walk me around the back and inside my building, but otherwise, I would have had few options – nearly all the stores were closed and I didn’t have any friends nearby. The feeling of being trapped and helpless was quite strong. As a young woman, I am tired of being targeted by unsavory, creepy men. I shouldn’t have to walk around with a constant fear of being followed, watched or accosted.

– Victoria

Location: Eglinton Ave. W and Avenue Road, Toronto, Canada

Share your street harassment story today and help raise awareness about the problem. Find suggestions for what YOU can do about this human rights issue.

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Filed Under: Stories, street harassment Tagged With: stalking, street harassment, toronto

Speak up – you can save other people

July 7, 2010 By Contributor

[Editor’s note: The following was posted in a comment on another story and I think it deserves its own post]

Today I took the subway in the middle of the afternoon to go run some errands.  I was inside of the train at Yonge and Eglinton station when a man standing beside me touched my upper part and whispered something in my ear. I got scared and I pushed him off…and moved towards the people. The subway was stopped for few minutes at that station when it happened.

The man got off the subway and disappeared. I thought nothing of it… Just that maybe he wanted to flirt, but then I saw him bug another lady on the platform.  That is when I decided to report him to the Authorities because I thought that he might escalate his intentions and do something even worse to someone else or someone weaker like a kid.  Or attack in the middle of the night. Who knows!! This happened in the middle of the afternoon!! With lots of people around… who know what he is capable of doing when there is no one around.

I am very satisfied with how police and the TTC Authorities handle the harassment. They made me feel confident that I made the right decision.  I actually feel happy to live in a place like Toronto. I feel safe because Police are really looking out for you….

So I encourage everyone who might be in a similar situation to SPEAK UP!!! You don’t lose anything and can save other people!

– TS

Location: Toronto subway

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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Filed Under: Stories, street harassment Tagged With: reporting a harasser, street harassment, toronto, TTC Authority

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