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Documentary: Black Girls R Us

January 5, 2016 By HKearl

Kayla Parker is a sophomore acting major attending Howard University in Washington, D.C. She created a “documentary style video detailing five black girls’ experiences with street harassment.”

She shared with me what motivated her to undertake this project:

Being from the South I had heard stories about street harassment, but I was never able to connect with the women telling these stories. It was only after I graduated high school and moved to Washington, D.C. for college that I began to understand just how severe this issue is.

I was shocked each time I witnessed women being harassed for simply walking down the street. The first time I experienced street harassment for myself, I encountered many emotions: fear, anger, guilt, sadness. This cycle of emotions became more and more familiar to me as I traveled the city to see theatre shows, meet up with friends, or even to get groceries.

I started losing count of the many times I thought my life could be in danger as I went through my routine of city living. I could not allow myself to sit idly as many women are injured, sometimes even killed as a result of street harassment.

To the women who have been forced to deal with this know that you are strong and it is never, ever your fault.

So true!! Thank you, Kayla, for channeling your feelings into this important project! #BlackGirlsRUs

Street Harassment Testimony Before DC Council – Moughari

December 5, 2015 By HKearl

On Thursday, the DC council held an historic hearing on street harassment. This was the testimony of our board member Layla Moughari.

Our board member Layla before she gave her testimony — *Layla right before she gave her testimony.*

Good morning, Committee members. My name is Layla Moughari. I am a resident of Ward One and a member .of the Stop Street Harassment Board of Directors. Thank you for the opportunity to speak at this roundtable.

I’m here to request that you take action against street harassment.

Many people see street harassment as harmless, and a fact of life. But street harassment can be terrifying and inhibit mobility, and there’s always a possibility that street harassment can escalate into violence or sexual assault.

In the 10 years I’ve lived in DC, street harassment has been a regular feature in my life. There have been times I’ve experienced it daily.

In Columbia Heights, I’ve experienced several aggressive and upsetting interactions. On one occasion, two men shouted obscenities at me because I didn’t respond to their advances. Another time, someone grabbed me as he rode past me on his bike.

And in another situation I was alone, walking to the gym at 6 o’clock in the morning. It was pitch black out and no one was around. I heard someone hissing at me. I looked around and couldn’t see anyone. The hissing continued but closer this time. I realized that someone was following me, getting closer to me, but hiding from me. I was alone in the dark. When the hissing continued, I felt that I was in imminent danger and completely helpless. I started to run and scream down the street. A concerned neighbor asked if I was OK. I was still scared, but I felt better instantly.

I skipped the gym that morning, and never felt safe walking home again. In fact, the harassment I experienced in Columbia Heights contributed to my decision to move from the neighborhood in 2012 after living there five years.

Unfortunately, this experience is not unique to me as is evident by the others here today and the many people who submit their stories to the CASS and Stop Street Harassment blogs. A national study commissioned by SSH found that two-thirds of women and one-quarter of men had experienced gender-based harassment in public spaces.

While some research exists on street harassment, we lack concrete data for DC and are limited in what we know about the rates, causes and consequence of street harassment here in the District, as well as the best practices for combating it.

I request that the city council assist in collecting data so we can better understand the scope of the problem and where specifically it happens. Then, once we understand the issue more, I hope the city council can work with local organizations on non-criminalizing, community-based solutions such as public awareness campaigns.

I hope that one day street harassment will be viewed the same way workplace sexual harassment is largely seen now, recognized by our culture as disrespectful, inappropriate, and harmful. Workplace sexual harassment was also accepted as normal not long ago. But with research, policies, laws, enforcement of the rule of law, and culture change, workplace harassment is much less pervasive today.

Street Harassment Testimony Before DC Council – Kearl

December 4, 2015 By HKearl

Yesterday the DC council held an historic hearing on street harassment. This was my testimony.

Good morning, members of the Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on Housing & Community Development. My name is Holly Kearl. I am the founder of Stop Street Harassment, a consultant for UN Women’s Safe Cities Global Initiative and the author of several books about sexual harassment in public spaces, or street harassment.

I’ve lived in the area for more than 10 years and across 8 of them, I was in DC daily for graduate school and then work. Like probably everyone in the room, I’ve personally experienced numerous instances of harassment here.

I am thrilled this roundtable is taking place. Only three other city councils in the country have held sessions specifically on this topic: NYC in 2010, Philadelphia in 2013, and Kansas City in 2014.

Yet, street harassment is a pervasive problem across the nation. My organization commissioned the largest nationally representative survey to date last year and it found that 2/3^rds of women and 1/4^th of men had faced street harassment. Women mostly faced sexualized comments and nearly 1 in 4 reported being touched sexually in a public space.

For men, homophobic or transphobic slurs were most common. As part of the research, I also conducted focus groups nationwide, including one with gay and bisexual men in Washington, DC, many of whom shared numerous harassment stories.

For most people who took the survey, street harassment began before age 17. This is not okay.

Addressing street harassment matters because it makes people feel unsafe, objectified, and uncomfortable in public spaces. It can limit people’s lives in significant ways, including where they go, when, with whom and what they do.

For this reason, a growing number of governments as well as the United Nations view street harassment as a human rights violation and something that prevents full equality.

I am grateful that Washington, DC leaders are acknowledging this too, most notably, on the transit system. Nearly four years ago, I testified about harassment before the city council during WMATA’s performance oversight hearing. I am glad that WMATA quickly agreed to begin tracking incidents, train their staff, and create PSAs. I can’t help but smile each time I see a poster on the system.

We join other capital cities who have recently launched transit campaigns in London, Paris, Tokyo, Delhi, Cairo and Bogota and in American cities like Los Angeles, Boston, Philadelphia, and NYC.

WMATA has committed to another PSA campaign next year, for which I’m grateful. We’ve discussed having its message focus on encouraging bystanders to speak up. For a first recommendation today, I want to emphasize the importance of bystanders being the focus.

Bystander intervention is important for many reasons and one is that it can help a harassed person get through a terrible situation more easily. I have heard over and over from women who say that an experience was so much worse because there were people all around when the harassment happened but no one said or did anything. If they are taught what to do, bystanders may be able to interrupt or stop the harassment, or at the very least, check in with the harassed person to see if they are okay and thus help them recover more quickly from what happened.

Harassment of course, is not limited to the transit system. It also happens on the streets, in parks, in bars and clubs, and in stores and restaurants. For that reason, my second recommendation is that the city council work with local groups like CASS and SSH on collecting data so we can better understand the problem and work to end it, using community-based, non-criminal solutions.

And last, because many people feel alcohol or the relaxed atmosphere of a bar or club makes inappropriate behavior okay, I would also suggest a special focus on addressing harassment there. A few cities have campaigns to train bar and club staff about harassment, including Boston and Iowa City and the whole state of Arizona. In the UK, the Good Night Out campaign works nationally with more than 100 night life venues.

Locally, CASS and Defend Yourself have a Safe Bars program and I hope the city council can help give local establishments incentives to work with them.

I am proud to live in an area where street harassment is taken seriously and I look forward to collaborating and working with the city council in the future. Thank you.

Historic DC City Council Hearing

December 4, 2015 By HKearl

The fourth ever hearing on street harassment was held in Washington, DC, on December 3, 2015. The first was held in 2010 in New York City, the second in Philadelphia in 2013 and the third in Kansas City in 2014.

The hearing was requested by Ward 1 D.C. Councilmember Brianne K. Nadeau and co-convened by the Committee on the Judiciary and Committee on Housing and Community Development. Our ally organization Collective Action for Safe Spaces was instrumental in helping the hearing happen, organizing witnesses, and crafting talking points and assisting people with their testimonies.

This is from Councilmember Nadeau’s website:

“Unfortunately, many residents in the District have experienced some form of street harassment, which can include vulgar remarks, heckling, insults, innuendo, stalking, leering, fondling, indecent exposure, and other forms of public humiliation, often focused on the individual’s perceived gender, gender identity, race or ethnicity, or disability. Street harassment impairs the ability of District residents to move freely and safely and contributes to a broader culture of violence. The roundtable will provide an opportunity for stakeholders to identify additional steps that could be taken to better understand and address the issue.”

The hearing lasted for four hours and 15 minutes. During the public portion, there were people representing various organizations, including CASS, SSH, Defend Yourself, Muslim American Women’s Policy Forum, Casa Ruby DC, and the Washington Area Bicyclist Association. There were individuals who shared heartbreaking and moving stories, including a mother and her teenage daughter, three transwomen of color, women of all races, and four male allies, including three men of color. CASS did a commendable job ensuring that a range of voices and viewpoints were represented in the panel.

Government officials also testified at the end, including the chief of police for the transit system and a representative from the mayor’s office in the department of human rights.

I was proud to join SSH board member Layla in testifying. You can read or watch her testimony here and read my full testimony here.

It was exciting to have SSH’s national study cited numerous times by the council members and people testifying. Many of us who testified advocated for the city council to collect DC-specific data so we can better understand the problem and work on non-criminal, community solutions. There was a special focus on asking for help working with bars — common sites of harassment — for CASS and Defend Yourself’s Safe Bars program.

Many people live tweeted throughout the event using #RaiseTheBar. A Storify will be available soon.

Photos:

(Click on the photo to see a larger version.)

DC councilmembers Anita Bond and Brianne Nadeau with their staff	First panel of speakers (L to R): Paris Sashay, Nelle R Pierson, Holly Kearl, Jessica Raven
Second panel of speakers (L to R): Schyla Pondexter-Moore and her daughter Carol Pondexter, Krystal Leaphart, and Lauren Taylor	Third panel of speakers (L to R): Melissa Yeo, Darakshana Raja, Robyn Swirling and Layla Moughari
Fourth panel of speakers (L to R): Star Silva, Dave Chandrasekaran, Ramin Katirai, and Julia Strange	Fifth panel of speakers (L to R): Tanisha Phllips, Ruby Corado, Lissa Alfaro, and Marty Langelan
Sixth panel of speakers (L to R): Mindi Westhoff, Rudhdi Karink, Shannon Kreider, and Jazmin Gargoum	Seventh panel of speakers (L to R): Carshena Chambers, Melissa Kleder, Valenteen Love, and Ben Merrion

Testimonies:

You can watch the entire hearing via the DC Council’s website. Closed Caption is available. I also recorded videos of several people who testified and those are available in this playlist on the SSH YouTube Channel. These are two of my favorite testimonies.

An amazing mother-daughter duo talk about how this issue unique affects teenage girls.

A passionate plea from a survivor of sexual abuse.

Media Coverage:

NPR interviewed councilmember Nadeau and CASS’s interim director Jessica Raven for a morning segment before the hearing (I was thrilled to hear on my drive to the hearing!).

In the evening, there were segments on NBC4, Fox5, and WUSA9.

The Washington Post, Washington Blade, The DCist and the Washington City Paper covered it too.

Today’s Events – April 18

April 18, 2015 By BPurdy

It’s the last day of International Anti-Street Harassment Week! Here are some of the actions taking place.

International:

Bangladesh: AUW Speak Up Club members will go out to streets of Chittagong with flyers and message boards to raise awareness about street harassment, to ask people to share their messages, to raise their voice, and to join the campaign.

Canada (Alberta): Hollaback! Alberta is holding “Street Harassment Happens Here,” where they will be walking through the high traffic areas of Whyte avenue, stopping every 5 minutes, and providing chalk & support to those who wish to participate. Participants are welcome to use sidewalk chalk to describe their experiences and/or feelings regarding street harassment on the sidewalk. It can be specific incidences that have occurred on Whyte Ave, or they can be general statements. Chalking can be a powerful way to share your experiences, reclaim spaces that are made to feel unsafe, and support those who are silenced by street harassment. [April 18, 1-5pm on Whyte Avenue in Edmonton between Gateway Blvd and 109th Street.]

Chile: OCAC Chile will host an event in a local park with performances and art [April 18]

Colombia: OCAC Colombia is hosting a an event in Bogota: SATURDAY 18 APRIL – 7PM: We will closure the week dancing, so you are invited to a pro-fund International Week Against Street Harassment spree. See you at la Redada, Carrera 19 No 33A-26 | SÁBADO 18 DE ABRIL – 9PM. Cerraremos la semana bailando e invitándoles a una farra pro-fondos Semana Internacional Contra el Acoso Callejero. Nos vemos en el Rehuso, en la Carrera 19 No 33A-26

France: Stop Harcelement de Rue Lyon will be holding a chalk walk [April 18 – 3 pm. Location: Montée de la Grande Côte]

France: Stop Harcelement de Rue Lille is holding a wall of shame: post-its are made available for passers-by to write insults and catcalls they were subjected to. The post-its are then glued to a giant board (this is the second wall of shame as the first one took place on International Women’s Day). [April 18 – 2 pm]

Nepal: The Nepal Mahila Ekata Samaj (Nepal Women Unity Society) will be chalk writing on street and bridge – Write the slogan and demand on street and bridge inform the public and masses abou the issue. [April 18]

Romania: FILIA: Centre for Curriculum Development and Gender Studies: is hold a public action in park to raise awareness and to share fliers with information about street harassment and also write chalk messages, discussing with people and ending the activity with a flashmob about the importance of bystander intervention and avoiding victim-blaming attitudes.

Serbia: Equity Youth Association will be hosting a week long campaign to educate locals about what street harassment is. This will include flyering and handing out graphics and info across the city with information from their recently conducted survey, and hosting a chalk walk with local university students in a city park that is notorious for being a high-harassment area [Flyering April 12-18, Chalk Walk April 17th]

Turkey: Hollaback! Izmir will be hosting several events through the week, including a street harassment forum [April 12, 2-3pm at Caffenol Bistro], a banner-making workshop [April 12, 3:30-4:30pm] and panels and street activity [April 18, 2-6pm] Find more info here.

United Kingdom: Hollaback! York will be holding their launch event during #EndSHWeek! Join them to share stories and learn more about their new community survey. [April 18, 1:30-3pm Fishergate Room the in the Priory Street Centre]

USA Events:

Maryland: STREETWISE is hosting a Basics of Self Defense Class. This 4-hour hands-on workshop will give you the confidence, knowledge and strength to feel empowered in a life-threatening situation. You will learn basic defense techniques on how to recognize, react to and survive an attack! [Saturday, April 18, 2015 @ 10:00am – 2:00pm at Fitness Craze – 223-D Brierhill Drive, Bel Air, MD 21015] INFO

Nevada: Hollaback! Las Vegas is hosting a Self-Defense Workshop with Israeli Martial Arts. The workshop is FREE but spaces are limited. To register, email gabrielle@RCCLV.org with the subject line “self defense workshop” [Saturday, April 18th 11am to 1pm]

New York: dianINQUE will be hosting community outreach via chalk walks and flyering on April 18 and 19.

North Carolina: SSH campaign manager Britnae will be hosting a charity yoga class at Durham Yoga Company. Street harassment takes a toll on our mental well-being. Take some time to recenter and focus on self-love during this yoga class! We’ll be giving out SSH-themed gift bags! Class is free, but 100% of proceeds will go back to Stop Street Harassment. [Saturday, April 18, 6-7:30pm]

Massachusetts: Guerilla Feminism Boston will be hosting Reclaim Our Spaces: A Chalk Walk for Black Women, WOC, Queer, and Trans Women. Join them while they use chalk to share our stories, tell our truths and stand in solidarity for those we have lost to street harassment & gender based violence. Allies are welcome as long as they are active in their support of the communities mentioned above. [April 18, 3:30-5:30pm at the Mass Ave T Stop on the Orange Line, Boston]

Washington, DC: SSH, CASS and Batala! will host street action at U Street and 14th Street, 2-4 p.m.[April 18]

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