Interview with Holly Kearl, author of Stop Street Harassment

After her wonderful talk at PSU last week on harassment in school and on the streets, I had the opportunity to interview Holly Kearl and understand her views on why street harassment happens and what we can do to stop it.  Holly is clearly a wealth of information, and the interview below is full of helpful tactics and resources!

1. How did you get involved with street harassment and harassment in schools?

My involvement with street harassment began when I wrote my master’s thesis on the topic in 2007. There was an information gap and so I started to fill it in different ways, first with my website and blog, then with my book, and now by organizing International Anti-Street Harassment Week and giving talks across the country on the topic.

For my day job, I work at AAUW and addressing and preventing sexual harassment in schools and the workplace is included in their area of focus. Because of my work on street harassment, I had the opportunity to co-research and write a national study on sexual harassment in schools with AAUW’s director of research, Dr. Catherine Hill.

2. Why do you think street harassment is so pervasive in our culture?

Some of the root causes for street harassment include societal disrespect for women, the objectification of women, homophobia and transphobia, and unhealthy definitions of masculinity that encourage men to harass not only women but also other men, particularly men who do not seem to adhere to traditional definitions of masculinity. Some days it feels like everything in our culture reinforces and supports these behaviors. I know the media gets a lot of blame for things but they truly are prime examples, from marketers that use women’s bodies to sell products, to industries that value women’s looks more than their brains or talents, to commercials that tell men what “real men” do or don’t do.

I also see a lot of reinforcement of these ideas from generation to generation. From older women or mothers who tell girls that the harassment is a compliment or that they should just learn to avoid it or ignore it, to men who harass women in front of their sons or try to bond with sons or younger brothers over objectifying and harassing women.

Over and over I encounter people who believe street harassment is a compliment or no big deal or “the way things are,” and these attitudes reinforce street harassment, silences people who experience it, and give harassers a free pass to continue to do it.

3. What do you think are the best ways for someone to respond when they are harassed on the street?

Unfortunately, there is no one “best” way to respond to street harassment in every circumstance, in either public places or the workplace. Harassed persons must decide for themselves based on what is happening, where, and by whom, which response will make them feel both safe and empowered. However, the more informed people are about options for responding, the better they can be at making that decision.

Most people know how to ignore or avoid a harasser, but many may not know how to have an assertive response. Learning assertive responses is very important because those are often the most effective kind for holding the harasser accountable for his or her actions and deterring future harassment and because it usually feels empowering to the harassed person.

Here are five suggestions for assertive responses, informed by advice by former DC Rape Crisis Director and anti-sexual harassment trainer and author Martha Langelan, Defend Yourself founder Lauren R. Taylor, and sexual harassment expert and “godmother of Title IX,” Dr. Bernice Sandler.

a) Name the behavior and state that it is wrong. For example say, “Do not whistle at me, that is harassment,” or “Do not touch my butt, that is sexual harassment.”

b) Tell them exactly what you want. Say, for example, “move away from me,” “stop touching me,” or “go stand over there.”

c) Make an all-purpose anti-harassment statement, such as: “Don’t harass me” or “Stop harassing people. I don’t like it. No one likes it. Show some respect.” Speak it in a neutral but assertive tone.

d) Turn what they say or do around into a joke or make a clever statement in response.

e) Identify the perpetrator: “Man in the yellow shirt, stop touching me.” (This is especially useful if other people are nearby).

Reporting harassers to police, transit workers, store owners, and their employer (if they are clearly harassing on the job) are other viable options.

4. Other than responding in the moment to street harassment, what can we do to help fight it?

Share our stories to bring more attention and understanding to the issue. People care about issues that impact the people they care about…so I think more people would care about this issue if they realized how it affects their loved ones. Mentor and educate youth to know appropriate and respectful ways to interact and what their rights are if someone harasses them. Create awareness-raising initiatives at the community level. Campaign for concrete changes, like city ordinances, harassment studies, and awareness-raising public service announcement.

5. How do you think street harassment fuels the oppression of women and LGBTQ folks?

Street harassment causes many women and LGBTQ individuals to restrict their lives in different ways to try to be safe and unharassed. This limits their mobility and ability to do things like attend night classes, go to networking events, and freely walk around their city. The harassment reinforces and reminds them of their second-class citizenship and the way they are devalued in our society.

6. What is international street harassment week and what do you hope it can accomplish?

Amazing activists and ordinary individuals around the world work hard year-round to make public places safer…but there is strength in numbers. During the third week of March, the 18-24, everyone will join forces to collectively raise awareness that street harassment is a global problem and work toward solutions.  There are 6 options for how people can participate and together we can bring more attention to this pervasive problem and help facilitate time/space to brainstorm community solutions.

On tank tops and keeping your mouth shut

I’m wearing a tank top riding my bike with drop bars down the esplanade. Man shouts “titties!” at me as I pedal by, punishing me for not taking a more demure, protected, and passive method of transportation. I’m wearing a tank top to enjoy the rare Portland sun and riding a bike to enjoy and maintain my physical strength and health, not for that jerk to reduce me to a body part. Even if I am purposely dressing sexy (which is not a wrong thing): Look politely and keep your fucking mouth shut.

HOLLABACK! Grows to 45 Cities Internationally

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 7, 2011
Contact: Emily May, Executive Director
Emily@ihollaback.org
Phone: (347) 889-5510
 
 

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.
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Justice for Keenan and Reuban

MUMBAI: On October 20th, a group of friends went out to have dinner and watch a cricket match. After dinner, a drunk man harassed a few of the girls in the group, and was reprimanded by two of the guys in the group. Jitendra Rana returned with a large group of his friends and stabbed Keenan Santos and Reuben Fernandez. Keenan was held down and stabbed until he was disemboweled. He was rushed to the hospital by his friends, including his girlfriend, Priyanka, who telephoned his parents on the way to the hospital. He died soon after his father arrived at the hospital. Reuben was in critical condition but succumbed to his injuries ten days after the attack.

We mourn the loss of two brave men who had such bright futures ahead of them. Two men who were not willing to accept the harassment of women they cared about. Two men who stood for a world where every person can feel safe and confident in public spaces.

Please sign this petition which calls for a non-bailable jail sentence for the men who committed this heinous crime. Join us as we stand for a world without street harassment. Join us as we stand for the bravery of people in Mumbai, across India and around the world who take a stand against street harassment. Join us as we stand for justice for Keenan Santos and Reuben Fernandez.

Sexy or Sexism?

This is the question a new blog poses in their effort to “redefine sexy and identify sexism” when it comes to mainstream television programming.    This site was created by the Women’s Media Center and MissRepresentation as a tool to empowering people to determine what is sexy for themselves and to call out instances of sexism in mainstream media.

Its like being able to hollaback at your tv!

Transgender Day of Remembrance

Transgender Day of Remembrance is an event yearly where people who have been killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice are mourned and memorialized.

According to the TDOR site:

The event is held in November to honor Rita Hester, whose murder on November 28th, 1998 kicked off the “Remembering Our Dead” web project and a San Francisco candlelight vigil in 1999. Rita Hester’s murder — like most anti-transgender murder cases — has yet to be solved.

Various cities across the world hold vigils and some use the yearly event to promote awareness of hate crimes due to gender based violence and transphobia, as well as provide resources on gender identity and transgender issues. This year National Center for Transgender Equality released its survey of 6450 transgender and gender non-conforming individuals to reveal a more in depth look at the anti-transgender bias and discrimination happening widely in the US.  Injustice at Every Turn

A few events happening locally in PDX:

Hollaback PDX at Roots of Change

Pictured left to right Chad Sniffen, Emily May and Joe LeBlanc for the Hollaback session at the Roots of Change conference in PDX.  It was great presenting on the work of Hollaback! and the local efforts here in Portland.  Look for more Hollaback stories collected at the session soon…

I saw the sign but did we really need a sign? Slutwalk and Racism (reposted from Crunk Feminist Collective)

http://crunkfeministcollective.wordpress.com/2011/10/06/i-saw-the-sign-but-did-we-really-need-a-sign-slutwalk-and-racism/