Professor Cacoilo
Activist, Interlopers, and Pranksters
Final Semester Project
Street Harassment
Street Harassment, what is it and have you experienced it? Sadly, most have or will at some point in their lives. Street Harassment is any unwanted comments, gestures, and actions forced upon a stranger in public without their consent. Examples of this can be anything from rape to a subtle whistle as you are walking by. People are harassed for several reasons, such as gender, race, religion, sexuality, and basically anything that can be used to identify someone. This makes the streets we walk on dangerous.
Unfortunately, the biggest victims of street harassment are women. In fact, in a survey done with 811 women, it was shocking to reveal that 99% of them have experienced some sort of street harassment. Most of these harassment are done by men. The biggest question, is why? the simplest answer is that men receive sexual gratification from groping, following, and sexually humiliating woman.
While most men call it a compliment to catcall a woman, most women are uncomfortable with the situation. Catcalling can lead to following which can lead to assault and sometimes unfortunately murder. Street Harassment has made streets unsafe for woman allowing them to always have a guard up. Personally, I avoid walking the streets late at night in fear of what could happen. This was something taught to me from an early age. Past a certain time, I wasn't allowed to be outside because my parents were afraid of what could happen to me, there explanation was "because you are a girl." It's unfortunate that we have to live in a world where women have to avoid certain things in order to feel safe.
When street harassment takes a turn for the worst, and women are physically assaulted or raped, very few speak up about it. Reason for that is because most women are in shock and don't know what happened. Some are also afraid of the consequences. It has been shown through past trials, that women who do speak up about their experiences aren't taken seriously and are blamed for being raped due to what they are wearing or what they were doing. This is why i want to shine a light at street harassment to hopefully educate women on what is wrong. I hope to encourage women to speak up and feel like they aren't along. Street harassment happens to 99% of women, it is something that shouldn't be so common but is. through such an unfortunate situation, women should be able to unite to help other women. This is why, i created an Instagram account, where women can share their stories concerning street harassment, and hopefully with time, create a public area where women can come to seek help. This instagram account, is targeted for not only women but men. I want men to be able to scroll through this account and realize that what they do is toxic, and although it may seem harmless to them, it creates a sort of stigma for women where they no longer feel safe walking alone in public.
 |
| Instagram account created to join the fight to #StopStreetHarassment |
If only this man knew that it wasn't a compliment. He sexualized me in a place where I was most vulnerable. I couldn't say what I wanted to say and I couldn't do what I wanted to do because I was in a work place. This was "not just a compliment", hence why I wanted my instagram handle to be just that. It's sickening to me that males think it is okay to say things like that to women and expect them to smile. It was unwanted and it truly made me uncomfortable. It's been almost a year since that incident and because of that I am very selective when helping out men in the store. The saddest part, is that I am not the only one, my coworkers feel the same way, and so do other women who have been harassed.
This instagram account was inspired by two artist. The first one was Tatyana Fazlalizadeh, who created a project consisting of a series of portraits of women based on the conversations she had with them about harassment. She transforms these portraits into posters and includes text that summarize the persons experience and puts them in the street. This project is called "Stop Telling Women to Smile." She uses her artistic skills to take women's voices and faces and create a bold piece of art illustrating how uncomfortable and unsafe the streets are for women.
The second artist who greatly inspired me was Sophie Sandberg. The creator of the instagram account, @catcallsofNYC. Through there, she showcases what men say to women in the city of New York. She writes them on the streets using chalkboard in hopes to address the words said to women daily.
 |
| Proud moment when the account who inspired you to create an instagram account follows you back, considering her following (32.3k followers) |
With my instagram account I have been able to create a following. Some of the post done have been about current events such as the 17 year old child who was raped and later killed herself after giving rape evidence. Not only was she raped but the public didn't believe her. The humiliation was unbearable and a young child lost her life trying to find justice. This sparked up conversation within a follower and I.
I also created Instagram stories, in order to receive more feedback. In this particular post, I asked what my cover picture meant to them. This was one of the responses.
I posted the feedback sent to me by followers, whether it was in written form or through pictures.
Overall, I look forward to posting more feedback from my followers and all of the current events happening around not only myself but the world. Street harassment isn't talked about often but it happens more frequently than one thinks. I hope that my instagram account is one step further into addressing the problem. I look forward to the future of my account and hope that men realize that catcalling isn't just a compliment and that women grow from it and realize that they are not alone. #StopStreetHarassment
Work Cited:
No comments:
Post a Comment