Street harassment is so common in New York, it’s practically a pandemic. It’s so common that I walked from the 28th subway to BUST HQ’s on 27th (that’s a block) and got cat-called five times today. And it’s raining. Goddamn, don’t these men have jobs? Apparently the thing topping their to-do list is ‘YELL AT WOMEN ON STREET’ followed by the less important, but equally creepy, tasks of: ‘hide in bushes & wait’ and ‘make lots of calls from a blocked number where the only thing you do is breath heavily down the receiver!’ Seriously dudes, not okay. Of course, the thing to wonder is ‘does this ever work for you?’ but street harassment isn’t really about picking up ladies, is it? No, it’s about exerting the power of your male gaze and making women feel unsafe and objectified on our public streets.
Of course, women are fed-up. And yesterday was the first-annual International End Street Harassment Day! The Stop Street Harassment blog has an amazing list of the direct actions feminist and anti-street harassment groups planned for yesterday. Check it out! If you missed the actions, but still want to kick some street-harassment ass, you can always share a street harassment story or post a picture of a creeper on Hollaback. Don’t stay silent, talk back!
