Black Woman Walking

We don't have a lot to say these days as we continue to balance our feelings about the importance of fighting street harassment - what we believe is a part of the spectrum of sexual violence - and dealing with the racism and classism so apparent in the work being done to combat unsolicited advances, particularly the homogeneity of the dialogue as it exists online.

Nevertheless, we wanted to post two items of note: a new street harassment survey is out, compiling information for a forthcoming book on the topic - go check it out! And take eight minutes for this amazing video by Tracey Rose. Hat tip to WhatAboutOurDaughters for the link.



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You Are What You Wear

Sadly, Elle Magazine - which usually errs on the side of intelligent (well, despite its advertising revenue, but let's be real) - has crossed the line into contrived and offensive Glamour-dom.

A new feature with the magazine’s creative director, Joe Zee, features women lined up on the street accepting his critique on their clothing choices.

Thanks to Wendy at Glossed Over for her apt explanation that it is exactly this sort of media that reinforces street harassment. It also, no doubt, perpetuates the women-to-women "hating" that keeps us mired in decision-making about what we will wear walking out our doors rather than how we can help each other be more free.

And Elle, your shareholders might be telling you differently, but from those of us who actually read your magazine... Stick to the great journalism. Leave the misogyny for the others.

Nearing extinction?

This week, we heard the news: catcalls nearing extinction. While we suspect our allies in DC (sites like DBS and Stop Street Harassment!) would disagree, we appreciate this type of media coverage.

In the article, it is stated the supervisors on construction sites have been battling the stereotypes against their workers - often by taking action if women complain. Women's social capital is also credited - both women who increasingly hold construction jobs, and women in general, who have gained more rights as the years have gone by. Now, their complaints are taken seriously, have more weight.

So it seems to go. Only once we've gained "credible" social status, our legitimate complaints are taken seriously by men in power. Only when one of their own is harassed - in this case, a construction worker's wife mentioned at the end of the article - do they pay attention. How often have you told a man about being harassed to be met with incredulous stares and disbelief? We'd love to believe street harassment is on the decline, but evidence from our walks of life tells us another story.

And, always a good place to find humorous (if not particularly PC) ways to holla back, via Overheard in NYC:

Black dude following girl: Hey man, check out that ass! Look at that ass! That's some fine ass. Look at that ass.
Black chick being followed: (into her phone) Hold on. (turns to man) Nigga, go away!

Guys at the gym, a gat, and the North End

We're late this week, though not for lack of news...for lack of words. Sometimes it can be hard to know what to say in face of all this madness in our world.

We either visit ladies-only gyms or not at all (just a personal choice), but we've heard stories about this before. Check out this video from Slate.com about being harassed at the gym. We're relieved the advice isn't "ignore it," at least not in total. Ignoring - nee ignorance - has never gotten us anywhere.

In our own city this week, police have learned more about the string of assaults in the North End. These sketches, released by the BPD, depict the potential attacker. Women are being encouraged not to walk alone, and the police are also offering free self-defense courses. We don't want to hate on efforts to keep us safe, but wouldn't the money be better spent on more fuzz out there working the streets so that we don't have to take this on ourselves? If we're going to live in a police state, it should at least work to our advantage once in a while.

And in what is also the most disturbing incident of street harassment to date, a woman was shot and killed after refusing to hand over her phone number to an unknown man. We see guys get aggressive about digits on the subway here in Boston, but murder? She didn't write for that.

Like we said, hard to find the words. But we keep having hope.

Hands up

All kinds of cool is the newly launched Stop Street Harassment! resource website and companion blog. Submit your stories or practical solutions for fighting harassment.

Also out this week is another Guardian Comment Is Free article about street harassment. The lovely ladies at The F Word followed up with an excellent short piece that once again had women confessing their experiences in droves.

Is it just us or do people want to talk about their experiences and get a little validation?

Serials on and off the television

Weird but happy news from Seattle this week: police may have finally apprehended the man connected with some twenty-plus gropings in the area over the past two years. Even if there is a second perp involved, all targeted women have been Asian (leading the fuzz to suspect a copycat perp is still at large). Despite how horrific we acknowledge these attacks to be, we are relieved that no one was sexually assaulted and that justice may be served for all of these women.

In HollaBackBoston news, we found this HBB-like art for sale this week. It isn't any of us - is it you?

Also, is it just us or is this T Mobile commercial oddly reminiscent of the lines we get for existing in public? "Maybe if you weren't so cute, you wouldn't get harassed." "Only the ugly girls think it's an insult." "You should be thankful for the attention."

We're glad our daddies had a better grasp on respect than this one.

The annals of catcalling

Where to begin this week?

We were so pleased by the CNN article covering Holly Kearl's thesis research last week...and where did it go? Perhaps not surprisingly, Kearl had to go on the defensive as a sick amount of blogging men and women somehow found it difficult to believe that women don't like or want to be harassed. I guess we don't walk the same streets or live in the same imbalanced world as these hostile folks.

Whole lotta links, almost not worth visiting except to admire and add to Kearl's continuous defense of her work, and to view the occassional apologies that follow people's wack judgments of her:

• a tricky link from the Word Warrior - but a good follow-up


• WTF is MTV on?


• hates street harassment/doesn't love HollaBackNYC


• Texas hater who also appears to be a woman


• the standard "but you'd like harassment from hot men" response


• Holly calls out some wack assumptions


• someone who's on it


• run-of-the-mill angry male privilege


• hating on the research (somehow forgetting Kearl's work was approved by her MA advisors)


• a reasonable post


• obligatory Feministing thread


• a real idiot


• a rad commentary (if a less enlightened comment section).

Ugh. All in all, we continue to applaud Holly for standing up for herself and her work. We shy away from large forums because the trolls make us tired and unhappy, so we have much respect for anyone who faces it head on.

Today's Miss Conduct's blog in the Boston Globe is one of the more insightful, balanced pieces that has shown up in the wake of CNN's report. At least someone in our city knows what's up. NPR also covered Boston's MBTA anti-harassment campaign, though with some curious omissions and a focus on the "grope patrol," plainclothes cops who ride dem trains and try to mitigate dangerous situations. But, they awkwardly note, "We're not looking to discourage guys from talking to women." Um, okay.

And last but not least, Salon.com Broadsheet writer Tracy Clark-Flory talks high tech street harassment in Saudi Arabia.

This week in harassment

Stuff we like this week:

The Speakout, which launched on International Women's Day (March 8), collects stories of street harassment from around the globe, as well as reports news about rape culture. We don't like street harassment; we do like allies and blogs that collect and spread important information.

We also dig this write-up from Restructure, which points to a recent UC Davis study about how men and women interpret direct and indirect messages about sexual intimacy. According to the study, men's faulty introspection is to blame, many of them assuming that women's indirect refusals ("I have to get up early" or "I'm seeing someone else") are just ways of conveying messages like "Let's speed this up" or "Don't tell my boyfriend."* These responses, what are often thought to be "polite" and "ladylike" in our culture, should instead be replaced with more direct messages, according to the research findings. But as the Restructure critique points out, "These studies that show men accept direct resistance messages 'easily and without negative reactions' should be investigated for more details." No joke. Even though we know and love some excellent men, we'd love to know a few more guys who hear us, whether we speak indirectly or otherwise.

Last but not least, we'll be hanging with some smart young ladies this weekend at the Boston Public Schools' Girls Conference. Looking forward to it!

*The study does not include research or data about men who hear/understand "no" and ignore it.