Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

USA: Sexual Violence Should NEVER be Normal

By

Libby Allnatt, Phoenix, AZ, USA, SSH Blog Correspondent

Photo taken by the author

Trigger Warning – Attempted Rape

As the United States grapples with the misogyny, racism and bigotry that was seemingly validated with the election of Donald Trump, it is more important than ever to not normalize sexual violence.

The presidential election of 2016 rattled much of the nation.

It was supposed to be her.

On January 20, 2017, we were supposed to be inaugurating our first woman president.

But that’s not what happened. If you are outside the United States, I would venture to guess you’re aware of the trash fire that has transpired here since the country not only condoned the candidacy of an admitted sexual predator, but handed him the White House on a silver platter.

The election threatened the livelihood of many groups: Muslims, Mexicans, Jews, the LGBTQ+ community, just to name a few. These threats should not be underestimated. Trump’s refugee ban last week served as proof that he will try and make good on his threats.

Another group who felt threatened as we watched the polling results roll in on November 8: women. (Not all women, I should add. More than half of white women voted for Trump.)

The attitudes that normalize Trump’s “locker room talk” are the same attitudes that women must face the repercussions of every day as we walk down the street.

I started a new job this semester and work nights three days a week. At first I felt uneasy about knowing I’ll be walking home late at night, in the dark, in the city. But I refuse to feel scared.

I and the women around me have had lots of experiences with street harassment, and I feel disgusted to even say that I haven’t had it as bad as many others. I have struggled to understand the roots of the phenomenon and arm myself with knowledge.

While I believe we should avoid demonizing Trump alone (change is broader than one man, and government and the nation as a whole also needs to be held accountable for what they condone and initiate), we can’t ignore what his victory represented to a lot of people: that America condoned the actions of an admitted sexual abuser.

Groups have thoroughly documented hate crimes by perpetrators who used Trump’s exact words. A man harassed me a few days after the election using Trump’s words.

After the election of Donald Trump, women’s everyday fear of sexual assault was intensified, as if that’s even possible.

The other night when I walked home from work, a man in a car catcalled me. (The anonymity and distance of being in a vehicle does wonders for the empowerment of harassers.) I breathed a sigh of relief when he drove away.

The next night I walked home again. My stomach clenched when a group of four men were walking in my direction. I clutched my keys between my fingers.

A thought passed through my head: What if I got raped right now?

They passed me without saying anything, and I felt ridiculous for being scared of a group of innocent men. But this is our reality.

Some say street harassment is a fact of life, that we should deal with it.

But do they know what it’s like to breathe a sigh of relief when you make it through the door because you arrived untouched and unbothered?

I text my mom the second I get back to my apartment, the text already written out before I depart for home. The response she sent last night once I notified her of my safe arrival? “Yay!” A casual and all-too-normal declaration of joy at your daughter making it home unscathed.

The fears are for good reason. Last year at my own apartment complex a man followed a girl into the building, forced his way into her room, and tried to rape her before her male roommate stepped in. I would link to the news story, but I am obviously wary of publicizing the apartment complex I live in.

Paranoia. Fear. Guarding our bodies at all costs. Could we take on a man twice our size? Do we have our pepper spray? How do we fight back?

We fight back by not being scared. By continuing to talk about the obscene, ridiculous and terrorizing details of our experiences. By intervening when we have to. By holding accountable those who don’t take it seriously.

The hand signing executive orders to deny women reproductive rights and health care has been accused of groping their bodies. The words that spew hatred for any skin color that isn’t white come from the same mouth that makes jokes (threats) of dating 14-year-old-girls.

I don’t care who’s in the Oval Office. Sexual violence isn’t normal. And I refuse to ever let anyone make me feel like it is.

Libby is a student at Arizona State University. Originally from Salt Lake City, Utah, she is majoring in journalism with a focus on print and she is minoring in psychology and women’s studies. You can follow her on Twitter @libbyallnattasu and Instagram @LibbyPaigeA.

Share

Muslims Belong Here: Marching in D.C.

By

Via the Guardian:

“Thousands of protesters gathered and marched in cities and at airports across the US on Sunday, in opposition to the executive order from Donald Trump which imposed a freeze on refugee admissions and a ban on travel from seven Muslim-majority countries….

Around 100 people were held at airports on Friday and Saturday. Many were released as a dramatic court victory for the American Civil Liberties Union in New York on Saturday night saw a federal judge place a temporary stay on the order and rule that all those held should be released.

But by late afternoon on Sunday, travellers remained in custody at various airports, with attorneys reporting that some border agents were refusing to comply with the judge’s order.”

Myself and two of our DC-area Stop Street Harassment board members attended the Washington, D.C. protest. We also met up with Chai, the c0-founder of Collective Action for Safe Spaces.

We rallied at the white house and then marched down 15th Street, up Pennsylvania Ave to the U.S. Capitol and then back.  There was a huge pocket of people protesting along the route in front of Trump Towers. Basically waves of people marched from 1 p.m. until well after 4 p.m.; when I passed the white house en rote to my car around 4:45 pm, groups of people were still heading down 15th street, marching.

Trump has made a lot of executive orders that I’ve disagreed with during his first week in office, but this one is having an immediate, scary and unfair impact on people’s lives. Many members of congress have spoken out and even Dick Cheney, who I didn’t think could do anything but evil, has come out against this move by Trump.

No doubt Islamaphobia will be on the rise in public spaces in the USA by emboldened Trump supporters. This is not okay. Everyone should be and feel welcome in our country, no matter their religion or country of origin.

Chai

#NoMuslimBan #RefugeesWelcome #Resist

Share

Post-Election Map of Hate, Including Street Harassment

By

splcnov292016The Southern Poverty Law Center released a new report yesterday on the more than 860 post-presidential election hate incidents that have been reported so far in the United States. You can see the breakdown and learn more about the types of incidents they are tracking here:

Here are examples of the Anti-Woman incidents, which they classify as street harassment.

“Since the election, the frequency and tone of street harassment of women seems to have changed. Women — about 5% of the total reports — reported that boys and men around the country are parroting the president-elect’s sexist and vulgar comments from the now-notorious 2005 audio tape.

In Minneapolis, middle-school boys leaned out of a school bus to yell, “Grab her by the pussy!” to a man walking with a female colleague.

A 50 year-old woman from Venice, California, reported that she had not been “catcalled” in over 20 years. The day after the election, three white men in a pickup truck bearing a Trump sticker shouted at her, “Do you want us to grab your pussy?”

In Arlington, Virginia, a woman crossing the street reported that two young white men yelled at her from their car: “You better be ready because with Trump, we can grab you by the pussy even if you don’t want it.”

In New York, a girl on her way to school reported that a man on the subway told her he was “allowed to grab my pussy because it’s legal now.”

A woman in Spokane, Washington, reported that she encountered young men who she described as being “‘liberated’ from normal behavior since the election.” They shouted “We’re going to rape you!” from a Jeep with the word “TRUMP” emblazoned on its side.

And in a Brooklyn, New York, restaurant, a woman who voiced her support for Hillary Clinton was punched in the face by a male patron.”

If you’ve experienced any of these types of harassment (e.g. anti-immigrant, anti-Black, anti-LGBT, anti-woman), you can report it via this URL or the hashtag #ReportHate.

Related, here is a Ms. Magazine article by Carly Lanning about how Trump is a “trigger” for sexual abuse survivors.

H/T our board member Patrick!

Share

USA: Post-Election Street Harassment in New Orleans

By

Sequoya La Joy, Louisiana, USA, SSH Blog Correspondent

After GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump won the votes of the electoral college this November, the climate for women in New Orleans has changed. As a university student, our on-campus counseling center has been extremely busy and overbooked since after the election. As a sexual assault advocate on campus, I have received an increase number of calls from people who are scared to be assaulted and scared to go out in public.

I walk a small six block commute from my parking garage to my workplace and while on this commute have had an increase of unwanted comments on my body parts than I have even in the summer when I wear less clothing. I have died turquoise hair at the moment and have had multiple men stop me to tell me they like my hair and then ask me if the carpet matches the drapes. I also had a man walk closely behind me for 6 blocks at 2 am until I stopped to pretend to make a phone call. When I stopped, I made sure I was in a well lit place and the man stopped too. He asked if I spoke Spanish and if I had the time and could help him. I answered back in Spanish and told him the time and he told me he was visiting from Central America and then invited me to follow him and party. I told him I was on my way somewhere and waited until he walked a few blocks ahead before I turned the corner to walk towards my parking garage. I realize I feel much safer knowing that my parking garage has 3 entrances that need keycodes to be opened but I still do not feel safe on the six block walk from my work to my car that I have taken hundreds of times.

I also recently went thrift shopping with a friend of mine. A male employee of the shop stopped us several times while we were together and after we had separated. It seemed as if the man had an intellectual disorder or impairment but he still touched my shoulder and back in a way that made me uncomfortable and complimented my hair and clothing. He also told my friend multiple times that he liked her legs and how nice her legs looked in the boots. When we exited the store, he held the door for us and whispered in her ear about her killer legs and told us to both be sweet. In this situation, I knew the employee was overstepping boundaries by continuing to find us in the store and initiate conversation. I also knew by his sexual comments about my friend’s legs and his touching of my shoulder and back that this would be considered sexual harassment. However, as I read this man may have been intellectually impaired, I didn’t know how to react. I didn’t want to cause a scene or come off as mean and the friend I was with who would have normally told someone who was making her uncomfortable to get lost also didn’t know what to say to this man.

I thought a lot about this after getting home and I thought about the Republican state I live in. It made me think if I had any place to tell this man not to talk to women like that when the president elect had publicly shamed, assaulted, harassed, and insulted women. I have personally experienced more street harassment this month than in other months and now am at a crossroads about how to deal with it. Also, after the incident of being harassed by the store employee, I wonder if women will ever be able to escape being subjected to harassment. In this political climate, what are politicians and the media doing to try and reduce instances of sexual harassment and assault?

Who is responsible for educating harassers on how to treat women?

Is it the job of the harassed to constantly educate and inform their harassers that what they’re doing is wrong, uncomfortable, and scary?

I feel as a woman who has dealt with a lot of harassment in public and private spaces over the years, that it is not my responsibility to prevent my own harassment or educate my harassers. Sometimes, I am tired and cannot grapple with the mis-education our patriarchal society has given my harassers and I believe that that is okay.

It is not our job to educate our harassers.

Sequoya is a Native American and Italian woman from Chicago who fell in love with New Orleans. She’s currently a Sociology Major at Loyola University New Orleans and supports her higher education habit by slinging drinks to the masses. She aspires to attain a PhD and write a best seller. She currently operates a small blog.

Share

We Will Continue Working to Make Public Places Safer for All

By

As an organization that works to make public places safer for everyone, we are dismayed at the rhetoric that the president-elect uses when talking about women. We are upset when he suggests that there are people in our country who should be indiscriminately deported, or who should be prevented from entering our country simply because of their religion. We disagree with the language the president-elect uses and policy plans he suggests which divide us and belittle us.

We are outraged that a sexual abuser will be president.

We fear that the disrespect and hate shown by him to large demographics of the population — including immigrants, persons of color, persons with disabilities, LGBQTIA-identified folks, and all women — will be seen by some as tacit approval to harass and assault those demographics with even greater aggression and audacity.

This makes modeling respectful behavior and speaking out against those who harass, discriminate and abuse others more crucial than ever, as is finding and receiving support if it happens to you.

1. Use our national street harassment hotline (run in partnership with RAINN and Defend Yourself) to find 24/7 support in Spanish and English, online and via secure IM chat.

a. Find ideas for dealing with harassers in the book 50 Stories About Stopping Street Harassers.

b. Make a tax-deductible donation so we can serve even more people on the hotline.

2. Share your story of harassment on our blog to raise awareness. On the blog, you can also share stories about how you did something when you witnessed harassment — inspire others to do something, too.

3. Plan to take action during International Anti-Street Harassment Week and help bring local and international attention to the issues. April 2-8, 2017, www.meetusonthestreet.org.

4. If you’re in the Washington, D.C. area and witness or experience harassment on the transit system, you can report it.

WMATA anti-harassment transit campaign

Rest assured, we will continue working to make public spaces more welcoming for all. Join us. Together, we must ensure that justice, equality and love prevail.

The Stop Street Harassment Board of Directors

Share