From Flirting to Harassment
Very interesting video from Primetime.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iB9-UPtmUOE&feature=related&noredirect=1
Read About International Anti-Street Harassment Week!
Read below for an update on International Anti-Street Harassment Week!
Here are just a few highlights of the week:
* UN Women listed the week of awareness on their calendar
* Women in Cities International in Canada launched a new publication called “Tackling Gender Exclusion,” based on the findings and experiences of the “Gender Inclusive Cities Program (GICP),” funded by the United Nations Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence against Women.
* Hollaback launched a bystander street harassment campaign
* A group of men and women in NYC created a 2 minute video about bystander responses men can have to men who harass women on the street. In the one week since its launch, it’s been viewed 45 times shy of 200,000!!
* Thousands of middle and high school students and college students across the USA participated in classroom and community discussions about street harassment
* Rallies on the issue of street harassment took place in Delhi, India; Philadelphia, PA, and New York City, NY
* Sidewalk chalking took place in Brussels, Belgium, South Dakota, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and Maryland
* Film screenings took place in Turkey, Croatia, Canada; and numerous cities across the USA
* Creative action like street theater, monologues, art exhibits, handing out “red cards,” and mud art occurred in numerous cities worldwide
* The Women’s Media Center made their Wednesday #SheParty discussion about street harassment on Twitter. Visit Twitter and read through the #SheParty thread to see all the tweets about street harassment during the 2-hour online discussion
* The Pixel Project created a new section on its website about street harassment
* B Safe created a translation of Stop Street Harassment in Norwegian
* Breakthrough/Bell Bajao in India launched a be a hero bystander campaign
* Lots of online campaigns occurred, including several blogging series.
* Discussions and conversations about street harassment included many focused on the intersection of racism (in the USA) with sexism as well as homophobia/transphobia and how that impacts people’s sense of safety in public places. The week coincided with many rallies in the USA in protest of the killing of Trayvon Martin, a young African American man who was shot simply for “looking suspicious” while wearing a hoodie, walking home from a store with a bag of candy in his pocket. In Washington, DC, a huge rally in protest of the recent attacks on two gay men and a transwoman also happen to occur during the week. These are all inter-related issues and for many people, all forms of discrimination they face in public places. I hope these conversations continue.
The Bus Rule
I was riding the M train back from an appointment downtown back to school. It was rush hour and the train was completely packed. This was my first day riding the muni by myself. A middle age man, maybe early thirties, made a space for me on the bus. Which I thought was very nice of him since I’m sure he could tell I was in a hurry. We began having small talk, mostly about how crowded the bus was. As people began departing from the bus we were able to move. I moved to the back wall of the train where the routes poster is displayed. I had stopped talking with him so I didn’t think it would be rude to put my headphones in and begin listening to music. I stood against the wall with my hands around my purse which I had rested on my legs. The man was standing next to me. And even though the train had become less crowded it was still too crowded to move with ease.
The man began scooting closer to me. I didn’t think anything of it. All though it made me uncomfortable I chalked it up to how crowded the bus was. He then grabbed my hand, I shook him off. When he made the motion to do it again I put my bag on my shoulder and my hands behind my back. I thought that would be enough of a hint however I was wrong. He then took his upper and forearm and began rubbing them up and down my breasts. I froze, I should have walked away but I couldn’t move. It was like I was seeing it from above. On top of that no one did anything. Even though on a train your surround by people they are all in their own worlds attempting to have as minimal contact with those around them. After the next station stop he finished. The entire rest of the time he was on the train I was so fearful. I understood that I would not be able to leave the train until he got off. I did not want him to follow me. Luckily he got off two stops before mine.
Every time I get on the bus or train I know make sure to dress in a way that is attracting the least attention, which I call the bus rule. I always try to leave with a group with at least one man. I will not enter the bus during rush hours, especially by myself. I am always very aware of my surroundings. But most of all I am fearful. I should be able to be independent and feel safe to get what I need to done but that is not the world which I live in. I hope that can change one day. I truly do believe that sharing stories is the first step in that process.
Hollaback! Sites Launch!
HOLLABACK! GROWS TO 45 CITIES INTERNATIONALLY
New locations in India, Colombia, and Chile join the movement against street harassment
December 7, 2011 (New York, NY) – The movement to end street harassment takes another giant leap forward today as an additional 11 Hollaback! sites launch internationally, adding to an already vibrant network of 34 sites across four continents. Each site is run by a team of local advocates who are deeply committed to working on-line and off-line to end street harassment in their communities.
“I decided to start a Hollaback! because I wanted to be a part of a collective of dedicated and passionate activists fighting to make the streets safe for women all over the world,” said Hollaback! Palo Alto Founder Viviana Arcia. The organization is now in 45 cities across 16 countries, with leaders speaking more than nine different languages — each with the same message: street harassment must be put to a stop. New locations include Bogota, Colombia; Boston, MA; San Luis Obispo, CA; Chennai, India; Dusseldorf, Germany; Minneapolis, MN; Montreal, Quebec; Palo Alto, CA; Portland, ME; Santiago, Chile; and Winnipeg, Canada.
“What we tend to forget is that preventing sexual harassment in the long run is about changing our attitudes, not just ensuring physical safety. This is where we come in with Hollaback!” said Hamsini Ravi, Project Coordinator Hollaback! Chennai.
Local Hollaback! site leaders run their local blogs and organize their communities through advocacy, community partnerships, and direct action. Site leaders are as diverse in their backgrounds as they are in their experiences of harassment. Hollaback! reports that 44% lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer, 33% identify as people of color, 76% are under the age of 30, and 90% are women.
“Women and members of the LGBTQ community have always been taught that street harassment is inevitable and something that we need to accept, smile at, or ignore,” says Cara Courchesne, Director of Hollaback! Portland, Maine. “Hollaback! changes that storyline.”
Hollaback!’s international sites are already having an impact. In Querétaro, Mexico, site leaders have developed a workshop to promote cities free of harassment for all people. In the last two months, 600 young people have taken part. In Baltimore, MD, the site leader has organized several successful events, including an Anti-hate Prom and the Baltimore SlutWalk. In Croatia, site leaders are creating a survey that will allow them to collect data on street harassment that will then be used across the Hollaback! network, giving Hollaback! an ability to compare street harassment across cultures.
About Hollaback! Hollaback! (ihollaback.org) is a global movement dedicated to ending street harassment using mobile technology. Launched in 2005 as a New York City blog, Hollaback! has expanded and now has iPhone and Droid apps that give victims a real-time response to street harassment, breaking the silence that has perpetuated street harassment internationally, and a crowd-sourced initiative to end street harassment. Street harassment is one of the most pervasive forms of gender-based violence and one of the least legislated against.
Celebrating the 16 Days of Activism
Today is the seventh day of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence (http://16dayscwgl.rutgers.edu/). One might ask, “what’s the connection between gender-based violence and street harassment?”
Well, violence against women is best conceptualized through a wide spectrum of beliefs, attitudes, and actions which all contribute to the dehumanization and objectification of women. At one end of the spectrum can be found the behaviors most commonly identified as street harassment (name-calling, whistling, touching, etc.) and rape, sexual assault, and domestic violence at the opposite end.
And while one might think street harassment does not compare to the brutalization exhibited by domestic violence or rape, the connection is one which makes for an easy transition from the former to the latter. Both are similar in that street harassment and domestic violence are rooted to the disrespect and objectification of the female body and of women in general. In addition, because this objectification is rooted in patriarchal ideas which position women as inferior and less than men, both street harassment and domestic and sexual violence exist to further instill in women, as well as men, the idea that women are less than men (and less than human) and, as such, they can be victimized, harassment, raped, and beaten.
If anything, these 16 Days should be a reminder of not only the wide variety of violence that exists in women’s lives but also the ways in which they are enforced and helped made the norm. Most importantly, however, it is also a reminder that women worldwide are organizing and fighting to help rid the world of this spectrum.
Le Tigre’s “On Guard”
We’ve been getting in the mood for our launch with Le Tigre’s anti-street harassment anthem “On Guard.”
LYRICS:
You can comment all day til dark.
You can call me any name you want.
You can look me up and down.
I won’t stop, no, I won’t fall apart.
You can put me down.
You can make me mad.
You can call me mean.
But I think it’s really sad that
Some days I just wanna stay inside.
You must love it that that I live my life
ON GUARD!
ON GUARD!
ON GUARD!
ON GUARD!
Stop thief, you can’t steal the way
I fuckin’ felt when I got up today.
Well I guess you’re the judge,
I guess you’re the king
Of the forever beauty pagent I’m always in.
My heart beats blue, beats red, beats mad.
Is this the only power that you really wanna have?
Yeah count from one to nine, how high do I rate?
I guess feeling good was my first mistake.
ON GUARD!
ON GUARD!
ON GUARD!
ON GUARD!
Let me see you shake it baby shake it some more.
Let me see you shake it baby shake it some more.
Let me see you shake it baby shake it some more.
Let me see you shake it baby shake it some more.
ON GUARD!
ON GUARD!
ON GUARD!
ON GUARD!
Are you a girl or boy?
ON GUARD!
Are you a boy or girl?
ON GUARD!
Are you a girl or boy?
ON GUARD!
Are you a boy or girl?
ON GUARD!
ON GUARD!
ON GUARD!
ON GUARD!
ON GUARD!
The Revolution Begins in Palo Alto
Welcome to Hollaback! Palo Alto!
We are so excited and honored to be a part of the fourth class of Hollaback! The site has been a dream come true for me, particularly after close to a year of sharing stories with friends, family members, students at my university, and community members about their respective experiences with street harassment. I myself have been a victim/survivor of lewd comments, cat calls, and even stalking on the street. As a result of this, I became impassioned to begin activism on street harassment within my Palo Alto community.
I had already come from an extensive anti-violence against women/rape background and doing so allowed me to make the connections between street harassment (which is typically met with a “boys will be boys” or “she was asking for it” attitude) and rape and violence against women as a whole. The way our society has come to view the public harassment of women mirrors attitudes associated with private violence, coercion, and brutality. Victims are blamed (either for wearing a short one inch too short) while perpetrators are either tolerated or excused.
As such, I want to have this blog be not only a space in which individuals of all backgrounds, genders, and sexualities within the Palo Alto community can feel comfortable sharing their experiences and opinions regarding street harassment but also a locality in which intersecting oppressions and forms of violence against women and other marginalized communities can be discussed and critically examined.
So, this site is for you, made by you, and dedicated to you.
Hollaback! Palo Alto
