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#16Days of Activism: Hosting Youth Workshops (Day 13)

December 7, 2015 By HKearl

Nov. 25 – Dec. 10 are the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence. To commemorate the week, we are featuring 1 activism idea per day. This information is excerpted from my new book Stop Global Street Harassment: Growing Activism Around the World (Praeger 2015).

Street harassment begins at a young age for many people. More adults are recognizing this and the importance of creating spaces, like workshops, for youth to talk about their experiences and brainstorm strategies of resistance. Youth workshops have taken place in countries like the United States, Cameroon, and Germany.

In March 2012 in the United States, female youth organizers at the Brooklyn, New York-based nonprofit Girls for Gender Equity (GGE) hosted “Bring Your Brother Day” to talk about street harassment. The young women of GGE “felt strongly about the importance of bringing the young men in their lives into their work to counteract sexual harassment and gender-based violence,” wrote community organizer Neferiti Martin and intern Katie Bowers for the SSH blog. “The workshop grew out of youth organizers’ concerns that the conversation around street harassment and gender-based violence is taking place primarily among women. By reaching out to the young men in their lives, youth organizers are working to build allies.”

The three-hour workshop explored gender stereotypes and how they impacted the lives of young people and included street harassment story sharing and a discussion about how young men can be allies to young women. “The young men were thoughtful, open, and engaged throughout the workshop,” wrote Martin and Bowers. “Their comments and opinions added new depth to the conversation and reflected the positive influence of the awesome young women in their lives.”

Wearing orange shirts that said “Stop Street Harassment,” 25 youth aged 15–19 attended a street harassment seminar in Buea, Cameroon, in December 2013 that was organized by Zoneziwoh M. Wondieh, the leader of Young Women for a Change, Cameroon (WFAC). In small groups, the youth shared their stories of harassment, ranging from whistling to grabbing and touching. “African baby,” “Fine ass,” “My size,” and “Pretty butts” were examples of verbal harassment the girls said they had faced. One boy shared how he had been sexually harassed by a man and how it made him understand better what his female peers experienced on a regular basis.

For six hours the youth listened to guest speakers, learned steps for dealing with harassers, and engaged in role-play and debates with the goal of being ready to mentor others and speak out against harassment in their community. As an outcome of the youth seminar, WFAC launched an SMS text campaign to send educational text messages about street harassment to anyone who wants to receive them on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. Wondieh posts tips and information over social media, too. She estimates that she has reached 1,000 youth through her various efforts, and she’s having an impact. For example, a young man recently told her that thanks to the information she shares, he has “reconsidered what he thinks is proper behavior toward women.”

In Germany, the women in the group ProChange recognize that the best place to start educating people about street harassment, sexual violence, and sexism is in schools, so in 2014, they created violence prevention and assertiveness workshop trainings for students ages 9–12 years old. So far, they have held one workshop and are working to secure more funding to be able to lead more. “We want to achieve a shift in their mindset so that the youth can be self-confident and free from role models and stereotypes,” they told me. “In our view it is important to start at an early age because they are already surrounded by stereotypes and influenced by sexist advertisements and media … [We want them] to be empowered to choose their own ways.”

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#16Days of Activism: Patrolling (Day 8)

December 2, 2015 By HKearl

At various times and places, a spate of well-publicized attacks on women in public spaces has inspired people to set up patrols or volunteer escort services. In recent years, this happened in Norway, the United States, and Egypt.

In 2011, after reading about men raping several young women who were walking home at night in Oslo, Norway, four young women in their early 20s formed Action Against Rape (AAR) and decided they would patrol the city after dark to help make the environment safer. The first weekend they went out, around 200 people joined them. During the next year, AAR organized patrol groups of 4–6 people every Friday and Saturday night from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. Wearing yellow vests, they fanned out across the city. They rarely encountered harassers, but AAR co-founder Lisa Arntzen felt their very presence deterred harassment and violence. “I was 21 and didn’t have the power to make the big changes, so this was something easy I could do,” Arntzen told me. “That’s why so many people joined us. They realized they could contribute and it wasn’t hard at all.”

Similarly, in response to numerous sexual assaults of women in Brooklyn, New York, American bike messenger Jay Ruiz reacted by starting the Brooklyn Bike Patrol in 2011. He recruited 10 volunteers, and they began escorting women home from five neighborhood subway stops from 8 p.m. until midnight most nights. People could simply call them to request an escort. Within weeks, they expanded their volunteer base and service area. Wearing florescent-yellow T-shirts, the volunteers continue to receive up to a dozen calls each night.

Because many men in Egypt take advantage of crowds at protests and holidays to harass, grope, and commit gang assaults against women, activism groups set up patrols during these times in 2012. Wearing bright-yellow vests, they look for harassment situations and break them up. They also publicize a phone number people can call if they need help. For example, in 2012 during Eid-ul-Fitr, the holiday at the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, volunteers with Bassma (Imprint) interrupted many instances of harassment and helped police arrest several harassers each day. Founder Nihal Zaghloul wrote for the SSH blog, “It is OUR RIGHT as women to walk in the streets safely, and [since] NO ONE will give us this right, we must take it ourselves.”

Similarly, during political protests, as many as 300 volunteers with groups like Operation Anti-Sexual Harassment wear shirts proclaiming Tahrir Square a “safe square for all” while standing at every checkpoint, atop watchtowers, and throughout the crowd. They pass out hotline numbers and instructions on handling rape trauma victims. After one of their patrols in December 2012, Yasmine Abdelhamid said it was the first time since the uprising that she felt it was safe for her to protest in Tahrir Square.

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#16Days of Activism: Street Demonstration (Day 6)

November 30, 2015 By HKearl

Initiating a street demonstration by holding signs with anti-harassment messages, asking people to write their own messages, and facilitating impromptu conversations are additional tactics growing in popularity among people wishing to challenge street harassment in their community. These types of actions have taken place in many countries, including Jordan, Egypt, Chile, India, and the United States.

Human chain in Jordan. Image via Al Bawaba — *Human chain in Jordan. Image via Al Bawab*a

In June 2012, more than 200 people in Amman, Jordan, formed a “human chain” from Al Hussein Sports City to the Interior Ministry Circle to protest various gender-based crimes, including street harassment, the practice of forcing rape survivors to marry their rapists, and honor killings. Women and men of all ages stood in a row, each holding signs that condemned these acts and called for behavioral changes and changes to laws. Weeks later in Egypt, the Nefsi (I Hope) anti-sexual harassment campaign also organized scores of people into a human chain along a busy road in Cairo. Some of the participants’ signs read “I wish I could ride a bike without anyone bothering me” and “I wish you would respect me as I respect you.”

In 2014, Observatorio Contra el Acoso Callejero en Chile held an open outdoor meeting at a plaza where more than two dozen women and men of all ages discussed street harassment, passed out pamphlets to passersby, and wrote anti-street harassment messages on signs like “Mi cuerpo no es un objeto” (“My body is not an object”) and “Yo me visto para mi no para ti” (“I dress for me not for you”). They held the signs for passersby to see and then attached them to strings hung around the plaza. They also attached small ribbons on which they had written their street harassment experiences, and people walking by stopped to read them.

In Bangalore, India, members of the volunteer group Jhatkaa spent a day in 2014 walking around the streets of the city with a whiteboard and asking women to write down their experiences with street harassment. People were eager to participate and wrote statements like, “Lots of times men have pinched my breasts and made passes at me on the buses,” “Been whistled and stared at wearing a pair of jeans,” and “The creepy stare.” The organizers wrote in a summary of their event: “Many women thanked us for doing it and told us they felt lighter after speaking about it and participating in fighting against it. On seeing photos of other women and their experiences-they also felt good knowing that they weren’t the only ones. We shared these photos on Facebook and Twitter and received positive comments for the work.”

Since 2011, Philadelphia-based groups like FAAN Mail and Feminist Public Works have held a demonstration in the spring. It includes drumming, chalking, and posting flyers and signs and discussing street harassment with passersby. In 2014, they framed it as reclaiming public space at LOVE Park and hosted chalking, street theater, music, art making, and double Dutch jump rope. People could write their answers to complete the phrase “A Safe Street is …,” and several chose to publicly share their street harassment stories while standing on a “soap box.” Around 50 people participated. “This year’s action in Philadelphia was our most dynamic action yet,” wrote FAAN Mail co-founder Nuala Cabral in a report of the event. We offered several activities that enabled people to reclaim public space and address this problem in creative ways. Children were a part of the event. Male allies stood with us. It was a beautiful day.”

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