Street Harassment: What women put up with from men

Published on Jul 29, 2014 by Vocativ
Street Harassment: Sidewalk Sleazebags and Metro Molesters
Jen Corey was crowned Miss DC in 2009 and made it to the top 10 of the Miss America Pageant in 2010. A tall and striking blonde, Jen has battled with overzealous men approaching her since she was a teenager. An incident at a D.C. bar prompted her to use her platform as a beauty queen to speak out against street harassment, a topic that is often dismissed as just ‘boys being boys.’ But Jen and other women argue that there is something more sinister that lies beneath the motivation to aggressively cat-call or approach women in public places: “Street harassment is almost never about sex. It's about power. Which is the same way we view rape. So saying street harassment is not a big deal is opening up the doorway for men to view women as an object to be obtained.”

Jen herself was physically violated on the D.C. metro train in 2013 while coming home from work one night. This is her first interview about the incident.

You don’t have to be a beauty queen to experience street harassment, a fact that we will show through a montage of stories with a variety of women. Vocativ will also give viewers a firsthand look at the experience of street harassment by strapping hidden cameras onto one of our female interviewees as she walks down a busy New York City street.

In addition to Jen Corey, Vocativ interviewed Jennifer Pozner, Executive Director for Women in Media & News, and several members of Hollaback. To report street harassment, visit ihollaback.org


Final Word
I will now hang my head in shame. We men have no idea what women go through. And probably we have no idea because we have never had to personally go through such a thing. Hmmm, what would a man think if he was harrassed in such a manner? (see video below Eleonore Pourriat: Oppressed Majority)

References

Upworthy - Adam Mordecai
A Woman Wore A Hidden Camera To Show How Many Times In A Day She Gets Harassed. Argh.
Includes transcript of video shown above

Stop Street Harassment - Sprint 2014
Unsafe and Harassed in Public Spaces: A National Street Harassment Report (PDF)
From “hey baby” to “stupid fag,” from flashing to groping, sexual harassment in public spaces, or “street harassment,” is a problem many people experience, some with profound consequences. Since 2008, Stop Street Harassment (SSH) has collected thousands of street harassment stories. This ground-breaking study confirms what the stories suggest: Across all age, races, income levels, sexual
orientations, and geographic locations, most women in the United States experience street harassment. Some men, especially men who identify as gay, bisexual, queer, or transgender, do as well.

Wikipedia: Vocativ
Vocativ is an online news website founded by Mati Kochavi. The site publishes trending worldwide stories and highly produced, documentary-style videos for broadcast online and on television.

Wikipedia: Sexual harassment
Sexual harassment is bullying or coercion of a sexual nature, or the unwelcome or inappropriate promise of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. In most modern legal contexts, sexual harassment is illegal. As defined by the US EEOC, "It is unlawful to harass a person (an applicant or employee) because of that person’s sex." Harassment can include "sexual harassment" or unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature.

my blog: BuzzFeed: What Men Are Really Saying When Catcalling Women - Aug 8/2014
Yes, this is funny, but it is also sad because it's true. What happens when a guy has never learned how to act around the other sex? What happens if he doesn't have any social skills? He behaves like an amateurish buffoon. What would you do if nobody taught you what to do? Collectively, we are failing our children, we are failing ourselves. We do not provide adequate sex education. Most times we provide nothing at all. We are all sent out into the world without the necessary skill set for dealing with relationships: professional, social, and even romantic.

my blog: Eleonore Pourriat: Oppressed Majority - Mar 21/2014
The 10-minute film tells the story of Pierre, an ordinary guy, on an ordinary day, in an unnamed French town. But something is different in Pierre's world. Women are in charge. They run around barechested – hey, it's hot! – piss in an alley, and offer sexual favours to Pierre when he is stuck at a red light. (He's riding a bike, so his lack of physical barriers provides an opportunity if not a provocation.) Events culminate when Pierre is sexually assaulted at knifepoint. Inevitably, the police officer who takes Pierre's statement is female.

my blog: A Candy Bar Deals With Gender Bias - Mar 28/2014
Snickers candy bar paired up with Aussie builders to call out empowering statements to unsuspecting members of the public. "You know what I'd like to see? A society where the objectification of women makes life a gender neutral interaction free from assumptions and expectations."

2014-08-23

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