Stop Street Harassment and Holla Back!

1. Stop Street Harassment and Holla Back! Shannon Lynberg & Holly Kearl June 4, 2010 National Conference for College Women Student Leaders

2. The History Of Holla Back DC! • From DCRCC to Teaism • Why we chose to organize online first • Wordpress, Facebook, and Twitter • The importance of mapping street harassment and collecting experiences • HBDC! Values • Where we are now • Collected over 300 experiences and over 150,000 site visits from all over the world • The Future of HBDC! • Community Engagement & Education • Policy • Direct Services

3. Stop Street Harassment • 2007: Master’s thesis on street harassment at GWU • 2008: Launch of Stop Street Harassment website & blog • 2010: Book on street harassment out on Aug. 30

4. What is public sexual harassment, or street harassment? What behaviors do you consider to fall under the umbrella of gender-based street harassment?

5. Our Definitions Any sexual harassment that occurs in a public space when one or more individuals (man or woman) accost another individual, based on the target’s gender, as they go about their daily life. Unwelcome words and actions by unknown persons in public places which are motivated by gender and invade a person’s physical and emotional space in a disrespectful, creepy, startling, scary, or insulting way.

6. Gender-Based Street Harassment Includes: • Wolf whistles • Leering • Sexual innuendo • Comments about your body • Tales of sexual exploits • Graphic descriptions of pornography • Pressure for dares • Hooting, sucking, lip-smacking, and animal noises • Sexually explicit gestures • Unwelcome touching and hugging • Sexist and insulting graffiti • Demanding “Hey , baby give me a smile” • Sexist jokes • Exaggerated, mocking, “courtesy” • Public humiliation • “Accidentally” brushing sexual parts of the body • Pressing or rubbing against the victims body • Invading a victims space • Sexual snake attacks (grabbing breasts or buttocks on the run) • Indecent exposure • Soliciting sexual services • Demanding sexual services • Stalking • Sexual assault From Back Off, How to Confront and Stop Sexual Harassment and Harassers by Marty Langelan (p. 39)

7. Discussion: • What have you experienced? • How have your experiences made you feel? • Have they made you change your life in any way or impacted your feelings about going into public places?

8. A Few Quick Facts • According to academic & community studies, at least 80% of women and girls around the world experience street harassment a few times. • Studies in Egypt and Yemen showed that even in countries where most women wear veils, men harass women in public. • For most women, street harassment begins around puberty and can continue their whole life. • Women who live in cities, take public transportation, are often in public alone, and are members of marginalized groups tend to experience the most harassment. • Countries like Japan, Brazil, Egypt, Mexico, Lebanon, Russia, Australia, and the United Kingdom have resorted to women-only subway cars, buses, and/or taxis because so many men harass women.

9. The Implications of Street Harassment • This type of degradation has been trivialized and women don’t talk about it. This continues to perpetuate the silence and we become socialized to ignore it. • It is much more than just an annoyance we should just learn to live with. Any form of sexual harassment is about power and control. To understand street harassment we have to analyze the complex relationship between gender and power. • It is important to remember public sexual harassment has much larger reaching effects than just the isolated incidents.  When an individual experiences repeated incidents of street harassment, it can have a major affects on their sense of safety, self esteem, how they view their own self worth, and it can even have a negative affect on one’s interpersonal relationships .

10. Fighting Street Harassment

11. Egypt • Egyptian Centre for Women’s Rights: • Research report on prevalence • Rallies and marches • International conferences • Creating education toolkits for teachers • Lobbying for laws

12. India Members of Blank Noise in India challenge the notion that public places are for men and are collecting clothing women were harassed wearing as part of their “I Never Ask for It Campaign”

13. Lebanon & Mauritius In Mauritius, activists produced a report on street harassment, held discussion groups, met with stake holders, and held educational concerts on the topic. Lebanese activists have created an anti-harassment heroine, Salwa, and have cartoons to educate youth about sexual harassment

14. Chicago • Roger’s Park Young Women’s Action Team • Surveyed their peers about street harassment • Lobbied businesses to post harassment-free zone fliers in windows • Lobbied for more lighting along dark but busy roads • Organized two city-wide anti-street harassment days, complete with a city march • Host local workshops on street harassment • Surveyed their peers about harassment on public transportation • Lobbied Chicago Transit Authority to address safety concerns – already the CTA has created new PSAs about sexual harassment

15. Ideas on Campus • Hold a workshop about street harassment • Make a documentary about students’ experiences • Create an art exhibit or do performance art to depict street harassment • Is there an area known for harassment? Document the stories and gather a group of people together to talk to an authority figure. Demand action to end the harassment. • Hold an anti-street harassment rally in a visible place on campus • Be sure to invite male allies, LGBQT groups, members of the multi cultural center, sororities and fraternities, and athletic groups. This issue impacts everyone and everyone can speak out against it and work to end it.

20. Methods for Responding to Harassment • Use straightforward, direct action tactics • Build a supportive network • File official charges with the university, school board, church board, businesses, police, public transportation when appropriate

21. Non-violent Ways to Engage Your Harasser • Name the behavior. Describe exactly what the harasser is doing, stating behavior (“you are exposing yourself”), principle (“this is about respect”) and a direct command (“put that penis back in your pants right now”). • Interrupt the harasser with this all-purpose statement: “Stop harassing. I don’t like it—no one likes it. Show some respect.” c. Put up a “stop sign.” Put your hands in front of your chest, palms out, look the harasser in the eye and say, “Stop right there.” • Make an A-B-C statement. “When you do A, the effect is B, and I want C.” For example, “When you say, ‘Hey sexy’, it makes me uncomfortable. From now on just say, ‘Hello.’” e. Ask a Socratic question. “That’s so interesting—can you explain why you think you can put your hand on my leg?” The more idiotic the action the more impossible it will be for the harasser to explain.

22. Bystander Intervention • What we know about bystanders • The bystander effect • The importance of bystanders • What can you do as a bystander? • Speak up: Don’t be silent if someone anything offensive, derogatory, or abusive. Let them know that behavior is wrong, that you don’t like it and nobody does. Challenge the people around you and our cultural norms. • Distraction:When you see an individual harassing someone, distract the perpetrator. This snaps them out of their "sexist comfort zone” and allows the target to escape. • Intervene: when someone else is being harassed to help them out of the situation and let the harasser know that his actions are not condoned by others. Men engaging in this tactic can be particularly powerful.

23. Your Ideas? • Ideas for addressing a street harasser • Strategies for addressing street harassment in your community

24. Role Play Discussions

25. Resources • Stop Street Harassment www.stopstreetharassment.com • Holla Back DC! http://hollabackdc.wordpress.com/ • RightRides for Women’s Safety www.rightrides.org • Girls for Gender Equity http://www.ggenyc.org/publications.php • iHollaback: http://ihollaback.org • Blank Noise: http://blog.blanknoise.org/ • Young Women’s Action Team: http://www.youngwomensactionteam.org/ • New Yorkers for Safe Transit: http://nyfst.org/

26. Contact Us Shannon Lynberg and Chai Shenoy dchollaback@gmail.com http://hollabackdc.wordpress.com http://www.facebook.com/hollabackdc @hollabackdc Holly Kearl stopstreetharassment@yahoo.com http://www.stopstreetharassment.com http://streetharassment.wordpress.com http://www.hollykearl.com @stopstharassmnt & @hkearl