Together we can end street harassment @endharassment - Tumblr Blog

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i need this sweater

endharassment

Check out this video for statistics on street harassment.

http://1drv.ms/1F8Y92H

video made by me! sources used: http://www.gallup.com/poll/155402/women-feel-less-safe-men-developed-countries.aspx

http://www.stopstreetharassment.org/resources/statistics/

http://www.stopstreetharassment.org/our-work/nationalstudy/

http://www.stopstreetharassment.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/2014-National-SSH-Street-Harassment-Report.pdf (If you’re using Mozilla, download the report before viewing it… There seem to be browser issues and some text is missing if you view it directly in the Mozilla browser)

https://letterstoourbrothers.wordpress.com/2014/03/27/street-harassment-statistics-what-the-studies-say/

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Oxygen%2FMarkle+Pulse+Poll+Finds%3A+Harassment+of+Women+on+the+Street+Is…-a062870396

http://manhattanbp.nyc.gov/html/home/home.shtml/uploads/HIDDEN%20IN%20PLAIN%20SIGHT.pdf

micdotcom

The next time someone says catcalling is harmless, show them this story

In the latest example of street harassment turned violent, a San Francisco man was nearly murdered after telling a man to stop harassing, or catcalling, his girlfriend. Local man Ben Schwartz was stabbed at least nine times, almost to death, by the currently-unidentified stranger.

"At first we tried to just ignore it, just kind of walk away and make our way home, cross the street and try to take a different path," Schwartz told ABC 7. But when the unidentified man kept following the couple, Schwartz prepared himself for a confrontation. "It turned violent very quickly, punches thrown," he said. "Next thing I know, I kinda had a knife in the back of my neck."

To raise money for his medical bills, a GoFundMe campaign page has been created.

brutereason

I think it’s safe to assume that a vast majority of people don’t leave their house in the morning looking for a conversation with a stranger on the street. Men assume this about other men. I have NEVER heard a man I know say something like, “This dude on the street complimented my jeans.” Probably because, even if someone liked said jeans, they know better than to bother someone who is trying to go about their lives. The same respect and indeed, dignity, is not afforded to women. Women, it seems, are expected to receive engagement from strangers without question. Unless there’s something circumstantial that creates cause for polite conversation (the loose shoelace, for instance), there’s no reason to assume a woman would like to be spoken to, especially when it’s clear such interaction is sexually motivated.

6 Things You Might Not Think Are Harassment But Definitely Are (Because Apparently We Need To Clear A Few Things Up) | Bustle (via brutereason)

profeminist

TW for sexual harassment, violence against women

This Feminist Hotline Replies To Your ‘Unwanted Suitors’ With A bell hooks Quote

“The experience is all-too familiar for many women. An overly aggressive suitor asks for your number. You feel uncomfortable or unsafe, manipulated or just want to end the interaction. Sometimes, it feels easier to hand over your digits than to reject the person outright; but you don’t want to field unwanted text messages or phone calls.

Been there? Over it? Go ahead and memorize this number: (669) 221-6251.

That’s the hotline for the new Feminist Phone Intervention, which automatically replies to calls or text messages from unwelcome admirers with an automatically-generated quote by renowned feminist writer, theorist and professor, bell hooks.

As the anonymous saviors behind the hotline write on Tumblr, “Why give any old fake number, when you can have bell hooks screen your calls?”

Next time an “admirer” calls or texts, bell hooks will reply with a quote like:

For women deflecting pushy guys at the bar, the hotline “protect[s] your privacy while dropping some feminist knowledge.” And its creators acknowledge that unwanted sexual advances sometimes move from irritating to dangerous. They cite, “because we’re raised to know that evasion or rejection can be met with violence” and “because women are still threatened and punished for rejecting advances,” as grim realities necessitating measures of protection, however small.

Recently, the fear and intimidation that women experience when they encounter unwanted sexual advances was well documented by the #YesAllWomen Twitter trend. The powerful movement inspired a Tumblr site, When Women Refuse, which chronicles the chilling acts of violence against women who rejected unwanted sexual advances.

The makers of the hotline ask that supporters consider donating to the initiative and note that all funds raised that exceed the phone bill cost will be donated to the The National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health.”

Read the full piece here

profeminist

"The point is, if you are a guy defending your right to verbally harass women, it might be a good idea to explore why you feel the need to share every single thought or musing you have about a woman’s appearance. What makes you so entitled you believe you have the right to share that information out loud, in public, with her and everyone else around?

Constantly receiving comments about our bodies doesn’t just make us feel scrutinized, it makes us feel objectified. Internalizing that male gaze doesn’t “boost women’s confidence,” as Santagati suggested. Research actually shows it “increases body shame, disrupts attention and negatively predicts well-being.”

What makes you think that we want your validation anyway? What makes you think that we actually give a fig about what you think of our bodies? Has it ever occurred to you that we already know we are beautiful, or that we don’t actually care? Many men have never thought about that. It’s too scary. For many men, there’s still nothing more threatening than a woman who doesn’t require male validation.”

From What Men Should Ask Themselves Instead of Wondering Why Women Don’t Like Catcalling

ibelieveyouitsnotyourfault

By Rachel Vogus

Hey there, sister,

When I was eight years old I started going through puberty. Maybe it started for you years later, but maybe you were like me anyway—not ready to go from being another dirt-smudged-face, rough and tumble kid to being clearly a girl or, even worse, a...

micdotcom

Brilliant Tumblr shows women get catcalled no matter what they’re wearing

Besides the fact that a women’s appearance is never a justification for street harassment, it’s almost a moot point since women can get catcalled no matter what they’re wearing.

To prove it, Kati Heng started a tumblr to document what girls are wearing when they’re catcalled, and some of the outfits might surprise you. Titled “But What Was She Wearing: Stop the Cat Call,” the tumblr compiles and publishes photos and descriptions of what women were wearing along with their story of street harassment.

samanticshift-deactivated202404

so i’m walking home, and when i look over my shoulder i notice this guy skulking close behind and staring at me. i speed up, and he jogs up to me and goes “fuck you bitch, what d’you think i’m going to do?” so i dial 911 on my phone and hold it in front of his face, and he mutters ”paranoid bitch” as he walks off.

idk dude, if your response to a woman’s visible discomfort is to swear and call her names, maybe she’s not exhibiting paranoia so much as reasonable fear. just throwing that out there.

owning-my-truth-deactivated2022

Saw this on DC Metro today #StopStreetHarassment

a-smol-pebble

Let me tell you a story

Two days ago, walking home at 8pm with my friends, i had a glass bottle thrown at my head through a car window that drove past, as they yelled and catcalled us. It missed, by a few meters. We could have been blinded by flying glass shards.

Yesterday, a friend I thought I could trust stayed over at my place. He got drunk and put his hand on my ass, under my pants, and tried to come into the bathroom while I was showering after I refused his request to let him see me naked. Luckily, I had locked the door. He pounded on the door and yelled at me, saying that ‘I let everyone else see me naked’. The next morning he told me how much he hates all feminists, because 'not all guys’. For some reason i let him convince me to kiss him.

Today, I was told by a man at the busstop that a second man, standing near us, had already tried to solicit sex from an underage girl and had said he would target me next. 'I think he’s going to follow you. Please, run away.’ I brushed it off as nothing until my friend started talking about reporting to the police.

It’s supposed to be national women’s day today and all i can feel is unsafe, brainwashed, and silenced. I’ve been lucky so far, but I’m scared that next time I wont be.

This is wrong. It needs to stop. Please.

realtalksexadvice

I just saw a post about how the Netherlands was passing a law trying to make catcalling and "hitting on" women illegal. I mean I understand the point, but it seems a little ridiculous to me. I mean sometimes I hit on girls, and if they immediately show no interest I back off. I'm completely respectful and non-creepy. But making that illegal? That just seems really drastic to me.

Okay, that seems drastic to you.

It doesn’t seem drastic to me.

As someone who has been followed by a group of three men twice my size down a dark road when I didn’t respond how they wanted to their invitation to suck their dicks.

As someone who routinely gets called a stuck up bitch for not responding to any kind of comments on the street at all. As someone who once had an empty honeybear thrown at her head in a coffee shop for not showing a male customer enough respect.

As someone who has read countless stories and heard accounts from people I actually know about how “catcalling” went from a misplaced compliment to threats or actual violence.

Good for you that it seems ridiculous. Those laws aren’t meant for you.

And no, this response isn’t soft and cuddly. It’s awful presumptuous of you to assume that just because you aren’t an active menace to women that everyone acts the same way. It’s also incredibly narcissistic to assume that your opinion on the matter somehow trumps the safety and well being of women everywhere.

Go back and re-read the message you just sent us. Because YOU don’t personally act this way this law meant to protect women from something YOU DON’T DO is somehow ridiculous.

You’re ridiculous.

Listen to the experiences of women goddamnit. Women are telling you, telling the world, telling law makers that we don’t feel safe on the fucking streets. That we can’t walk to our goddamn cars after work or get from point A to point B unescorted without being threatened with rape, murder or a combination of both. That “catcalling” and “hitting on” women on the street is much less about compliments and trying to strike up conversations with strangers and much, much more about men feeling they have a right to comment on women as they pass. And more than that, that those women in someway OWE them a response.

Fuck that.

Hell yes The Netherlands are passing laws to protect their citizens. I wish other countries would take note.

-Dani

misandry-mermaid

Hello! Obviously I'm a guy, so I've never had to deal with stuff like cat calling, which, for clarification, I don't partake in. But as a woman, do you think catcalling in general is bad, or does it depend on what's said? For example, if someone gives what society would see as an "appropriate" compliment, such as, "you look lovely", or beautiful, etc. Compared to something vile, or a whistle, etc. as a woman, do you believe there's any differentiation between the two?

Catcalling is not complimenting. If you’re complimenting someone, you’re complimenting them. Catcalling is catcalling depending on certain factors: what is said, how it’s said, who says it and to whom, the location and time of the comment, if it’s said in a way that invites response, how they react to not getting the response they want, etc. I don’t know anyone who would consider a stranger walking up and standing face to face with a woman and telling her she looks lovely as catcalling (not to say that it’s always okay and that we’re obligated to respond positively to that interaction), but yelling the same phrase out a car window or repeating it over and over while demanding attention and a response would fall under that category. Make sense?

misandry-mermaid

Compliments are about bringing attention to a good feature in somebody to make them feel good. Catcalling is about bringing attention to the fact that a man benefits from a woman's existence. The point of catcalling isn't to make women feel good, it's to make women know that the women are making the men happy. Which is not a compliment when coming from a stranger because they know nothing about the woman except how she looks, so it can ONLY be objectification.

Much better.

Especially “The point of catcalling isn’t to make women feel good, it’s to make women know that the women are making the men happy.”

Women: We don't like getting catcalled

Men: Yes you do

brutereason

Let’s start with the underlying motivation to tell a woman she’s pretty. Yes, you want to pay this stranger a compliment and let her know that she’s attractive. But here’s the thing: we live in a society where we are taught that women’s bodies are for public consumption – to be observed and commented on by all and sundry. You can’t go five feet in a supermarket with out running past a dozen magazines that run cover pieces on which (female) celebrity has gained weight, which ones have the best beach bodies, which ones have lost the baby weight and which ones are “just not looking so good”. It’s taken as a matter of faith – as with Santagati’s comment earlier – that women want or need the approval of men in order to feel attractive. There’s an entire genre of songs of men informing women that they’re beautiful because clearly she doesn’t realize it. There’s the “Modest Is Hottest” body-shaming trends in conservative Christianity. We’re taught over and over again that the world has the right to comment on women’s bodies and perceived levels of attractiveness.

Men Behaving Badly - Street Harassment And Cat-Calling - Paging Dr. NerdLove (via brutereason)

#endharassment