Friday, March 25, 2011
Catcalling menace
From whistling to catcalling, and even groping, street harassment is an everyday reality for many women around the world. But now a new wave of feminist groups are organising to stop it.
One dark evening in south London, a group of men slow their car behind a young woman walking alone.
They call out to her, propositioning her to get into their vehicle.
She keeps walking, heart rate quickening, ignoring their lewd comments. The men continue to follow her and their words get more aggressive.
Just before she reaches the nearest underground station, she's had enough. She strikes the men's car and flees down the station steps.
In a rage, the men leap out of their car, chase her, grab her by the neck and pin her to the wall.
This was an experience that drove Vicky Simister to take action and found Anti-Street Harassment UK.
Most women have experienced leering or suggestive remarks It's one of a new wave of groups tackling an age-old problem. At the forefront of the movement is the international Hollaback! campaign group. Having started in the US, it will open another dozen chapters next week, everywhere from India to Croatia.
Hollaback! and Anti-Street Harassment UK offer forums in which women can share their experiences, share photos of their harassers and view maps of where previous incidents have occurred.
Most people would recognise that what happened to Simister was totally unacceptable. But what if the incident had not escalated into violence? What if Simister had not been followed? What if it was just suggestive remarks shouted across a street?
Day in and day out millions of women are whistled at or shouted at on public streets. It's unpleasant, and for Hollaback! activists it's all part of the nasty business of street harassment.
They're in a long tradition - going back to the 1970s Reclaim the Night movement - of trying to make the streets safer and more pleasant for women. Much has been done, in the West at least, to deal with harassment in the workplace, but the streets remain a different proposition.
A study by stopstreetharassment.com suggests that 95% of women say they have been the victims of leering, honking or whistling and a large proportion have been groped or grabbed in public.
Around the worldPublic sexual harassment known as "eve teasing" in IndiaIn the US, Reclaim the Night campaign started in the 1970s with marches against sexual violence and pornographyIn Japan, groping on the subway has been a problem for many yearsMass sexual assault on reporter Lara Logan and other incidents highlighted issue in Egypt
Emily May, the founder of Hollaback!, is on a mission to stop the harassment.
"It stems from a broader culture of gender based violence," says May. "To shift that culture it takes people standing up and saying street harassment is not okay because most people in our society don't want it to exist."
When a man shouts "hi gorgeous" or "come over here love", the recipient of the comments might be annoyed, but the remarks are often disregarded by bystanders, so the problem goes largely unaddressed.
"Women are advised to ignore it, and we don't speak up about it. Therefore, these men keep on doing it and push boundaries further and further," says Simister.
And it's dangerous because it's difficult to distinguish which men simply shout and which ones may use catcalls as a gateway to violence or sexual aggression.
Maggie Hadleigh-West Activist and film-maker“Men have been indoctrinated into it, and it's been a privilege for them to walk down the street fantasising about women”
"If a guy is checking out a woman it's annoying, but that's how sexual predators who are honing their craft test how far they can go," says activist and filmmaker Maggie Hadleigh-West.
And street harassment varies from country to country. In the UK and US, most women will experience only shouting, but in many parts of the world street harassment can escalate to groping and more frequent public sexual assaults.
In India it is euphemistically referred to as "eve teasing", in Japan groping on the subway has long been a problem, and the attack on Lara Logan in Egypt gained international attention.
But why do some men harass women in public?
Street harassment occurs because our society has always allowed it and dismissed the behaviour as "men being men", says Hadleigh-West.
"Culturally, men have been indoctrinated into it, and it's been a privilege for them to walk down the street fantasising about women. The culture hasn't checked the behaviour."
Some cities have implemented women-only subway cars to stop harassment Because society has perpetuated this as a cultural norm, men tend to engage in street harassment as a way to prove their masculinity, says Northeastern University associate professor of sociology Kathrin Zippel.
"Often times it's not really about the women, it's just about the men performing masculine acts for each other and establishing a pecking order amongst themselves. What is really going on is the dynamic among men."
So can the leering, the catcalls and the grabs ever really be stopped?
"Some activists have targeted city planners and the public transport officers to make the case that women should not face harassment in the streets," says Zippel.
In response some countries such as India and Japan have created women-only subway cars.
But critics say this sort of measure is only a temporary fix.
"I find recreating segregation in public to be highly problematic. In the short term it might be a good solution, but they also notice that if women step onto mixed cars there are less women on them and the ones who are experience more harassment," explains Zippel.
To take the burden off women, the founder of antistreetharassment.com Holly Kearl suggests that councils gather survey data on assaults and sexual harassment and then work out what kind of responses work.
On college campuses in the US officials addressed safety concerns by adding more lighting, installing safety phones and redesigning bus stops
Not all men impose unwanted attention upon women, and Kearl agrees that it's important for these men to join in the movement to stop street harassment.
The attack on Lara Logan focused attention on Egypt "We have to engage men. In our society it is easy to sexually objectify women, so it is important to make men realise that every woman you harass is someone's mother, sister or daughter, and she is a person who deserves respect."
When men take accountability for the actions of themselves and their peers, it helps to create a cultural shift in attitude. If a man feels that catcalling won't be accepted by his peers, he is less likely to engage in the behaviour.
"When men are made aware of it, hopefully by women they love, they can listen, hear and see what is going on. It becomes an individual responsibility and men really do care when they get it," says Hadleigh-West. "I have seen enormous change happen in the consciousness of men."
This article is from the BBC News website. � British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/magazine-12771938
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I remember my Dad saying to me 'Keep your hands in your pockets and your comments to yourself' and I think a lot of men forget this. Nothing wrong with looking at an attractive person, but to intrude on them by yelling idiotic comments or to be physically abusive? No. That said, after reading about how our football/film/music 'heroes' act, I do seriously wonder about the future...
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Of course it's not right to cat call and intimidate women, but women are deluding themselves if they think that a man doesn't look at them and sexually objectify them within the first 2 seconds of meeting/seeing them. Not out of misogyny, but because we can't help it.
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Ok the article has its flaws but its interesting how many men are taking outrage at generalisations and then moving the debate onto ground of their choosing.A bit like the way men get to take ownership of a woman's value by their reaction to her atttractiveness perhaps? I think "Hi gorgeous" is harassment - and I'm a bloke. What's worng with 'Good morning?'
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Some of the comments by men on this article prove the women who were interviewed absolutely right. Men are brought up in our culture to believe they have the right to watch, judge, and loudly comment upon the body of any woman who trespasses into public space. Unfortunately, their response to an article like this is to go on the defensive rather than to look at their own behaviour critically.
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James, you say you "tooted your horn in appreciation" - how do you think that made her feel? Flattered? Try upset and embarrassed. She probably left the house feeling good - you'll have crushed that.Horn hooting is frightening. It's loud, and makes you jump. It happened to me a lot when I was a kid - only 14-16. Less when I was older. I think it's a power thing, and it's nasty.
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Comments 5 of 27