Hey, Shorty! on the Road

Crossing the Line: Sexual Harassment at School is a newly released report from the American Association of University Women that presents the most comprehensive, nationwide research to date on sexual harassment in grades 7-12. It reveals sobering statistics about the prevalence of sexual harassment and the negative impact it has on students’ education and concludes with concrete recommendations and promising practices for preventing sexual harassment directed at school administrators, educators, parents, students and community members.

Girls for Gender Equity is recognized as one of the promising practices in Crossing the Line, and Hey, Shorty! is lauded as a resource. You can download a free PDF of Crossing the Line here.

Girls for Gender Equity (GGE) founder and executive director, Joanne N. Smith, was a featured panelist at the Sex, Power and Speaking Truth: Anita Hill 20 Years Later conference at Hunter College in New York City. The panel was moderated by Pat Mitchell, President & CEO of The Paley Center for Media, and Joanne spoke alongside several other activists and scholars, including Melissa Harris-Perry, Rha Goddess, and Ai-Jen Poo. Smith talked about the impact Anita Hill’s testimony had on her as a young, first generation Haitian-American woman and explained how Hill’s legacy is carried on in the work of GGE’s youth organizers in the public schools today. Video footage of the entire discussion is available from C-SPAN, and a number of highlights from the panel can be found at GGE’s Twitter page.

One of the most exciting things about being a street harassment activist is the look on peoples’ faces as they figure out what on earth I’m talking about. Many of my friends have never heard the term ‘street harassment’, or consider it some sort of overblown synonym for catcalling, but when I start to describe the behaviors and attitudes it encompasses, their expressions transform from skepticism to understanding. Suddenly, the stories start pouring out, and I know I’ve helped them see that this all-too-common experience is an actual problem – which means that they then become a part of the solution.

Public sexual harassment and gender-based violence, though constant and pervasive, are largely invisible problems. The activists who spoke at September 26th’s Hey, Shorty! book event in Washington, D.C. at the Busboys and Poets restaurant and gathering space know that overcoming this invisibility is a critical first step in their work. Hearing their stories of broaching conversation with girls and boys in public schools, LGBTQ youth, D.C.’s transgendered population, and D.C.’s sex workers was eye-opening, especially in light of the incredible weight these issues carry. The potential for activists to raise awareness and teach acceptance in their communities is an important part of preventing tragedies, like the recent rash of violence against trans people that has happened in D.C.. Mandy Van Deven’s experience developing a curriculum about gender respect at Girls for Gender Equity stood out as an example of innovation in the face of huge challenges. How do you un-teach the traditional perceptions of gender and power that lead to public sexual harassment? How do you help young people un-learn what they have been socialized to know their entire lives? And, most importantly, how do you then empower them to fight back?

With the exciting and rewarding aspects of activism come the inevitable disappointments. In my experience, the idea that gender-based harassment and violence is somehow the responsibility of the victim is deeply prevalent even among otherwise well-meaning people. For instance, while representing Holla Back DC on a local radio show, I was asked twice by the genuinely concerned hosts whether I thought it would be an acceptable compromise on the way to ending street harassment if women would just stop dressing sexy on the street. The fact is, of course, that everyone has every right to wear whatever they want to wear without being harassed and intimidated. As Holly Kearl, the author of Stop Street Harassment, pointed out at the event, studies show that clothing has absolutely nothing to do with it. Women wearing sweat pants are harassed. Women wearing burkas are harassed. LGBTQ people are harassed for not fitting traditional gender norms.

When a woman who identified herself as a social worker asked the speakers whether transgender women should cover themselves up and stop “dressing so trashy” to avoid harassment, I wasn’t surprised. The speakers’ answers, however, were inspiring. Mandy explained that “trashy” and “classy” are socialized categories that reflect class-based values and highlighted the complex intersectionality of sexual harassment with other forms of bias. This kind of thinking, she explained, is counter-progressive. If the goal of our activism is to create a society where people are free to express their identities, Holly said, then we can’t judge those who already do. Vanessa Crowley from the D.C. Trans Coalition said that simply being transgendered is a display of “radical authenticity” that bravely flies in the face of gender norms, for which trans people are punished everyday. Instead of suppressing self-expression that challenges cultural perceptions of decency, we should interrogate where these perceptions come from and ask why we believe in them. I’m proud to be part of a group of activists that pushes our communities to do just that.

By Zosia Sztykowski, Community Outreach and Events Director at Holla Back DC

Pictured in photo: Holly Kearl, Stop Street Harassment; Vanessa Crowley, DCTC; Mandy Van Deven, Hey, Shorty!; Andrew Barnett, SMYAL; Catherine Paquette, HIPS

I was humbled to be asked by the Barnard Center for Research on Women to share the work I have done with Girls for Gender Equity and Hey, Shorty! as a part of the “Writing, New Media, and Feminist Activism” panel at their 40th anniversary event, Activism and the Academy: Celebrating 40 Years of Feminist Scholarship and Action. Many of us struggle with our understandings of the interplay among theories and activisms. In particular, we struggle with perceptions of them as being distinct from one another and the value each is assigned, culturally and within social justice movements. There are precious few spaces where the false division of scholarship and organizing is identified and examined, and this weekend’s event provided an exemplary moment of collision. It has been, and continues to be, a privilege to participate in such groundbreaking work.

Below are a few reflections from the high school students who attended the conference as a part of their Fierce and Fabulous: Feminist Women Writers, Artists, and Activists class, which is taught by of one of my co-panelists, Ileana Jiménez, a social justice educator and feminist activist. Their presence and participation in the conference was inspiring, and I was excited to read what they had to say.

Barnard Feminist Conference Encourages Unity
Is There Enough Awareness About Feminism?
Feminist Bloggers Take Action

By Mandy Van Deven

Located in Seattle’s historic Pike Place Market, Left Bank Books is a 38-year-old radical institution of learning and agitation, so I was overjoyed when they agreed to host a stop on the Hey, Shorty! book tour. The event drew a crowd of folks who came to learn more about gender-based violence in public spaces, gain tools with which to write curricula for youth programs, and share their own expertise in transformative justice strategies. One woman who attended was a part of the organization Home Alive, which I read about some ten years ago in a book by feminist author Inga Muscio and from which I found inspiration as a budding activist. Hearing about the successes and struggles of anti-violence work in Seattle, and how they are similar yet different from those in New York City, enriched the conversation and made the subject matter more meaningful for the attendees. The Pacific Northwest has a long history of radical social justice activism — from the labor movement to the WTO protests in the fall of 1999 — and that spirit is still very much alive in its cities.

By Mandy Van Deven

Last night’s crowd at In Other Words, Portland’s feminist bookstore and community center, was small and intimate. Many thanks to all who attended, especially the cutie pie who loudly and proudly sang her ABCs when the amount of attention she received wasn’t sufficient (way to advocate for yourself, girl!) and the two women from Seattle who suggested seeing the vaux swift roost in the chimney of a local elementary school on the migration to Guatemala! Who knew Portland had such interesting entertainment?

By Mandy Van Deven

“It is truly important to acknowledge that the problem does not lie within the individual being harassed, the problem lies within the external forces that perpetuate and enable sexual harassment to exist in a place like school, where all are supposed to feel safe.” (Hey, Shorty! p. 110)

The above quote comes from Girls for Gender Equity’s (GGE) recent book Hey, Shorty!: A Guide to Combating Sexual Harassment and Violence in Schools and on the Streets. On August 10th, GGE representative Nefertiti Martin came to Teachers Unite’s summer Restorative Justice Reading Group. Teachers, social workers, and community organizers gathered after having read an excerpt of the book and were prepared to learn about GGE’s work and discuss the issue of sexual harassment in schools.

Girls for Gender Equity, a member of the Dignity in Schools Campaign – New York, works in a variety of capacities to educate about the ways that sexual harassment manifests itself and how to address it. GGE is the lead organizer of the Coalition for Gender Equity in Schools (CGES), an intergenerational coalitions of students, teachers, parents, and other school community members who are concerned with ending sexual harassment in schools. GGE representative Nefertiti Martin began by addressing just what the opening quote implies: sexual harassment has become normalized behavior in our society because men and women are socialized to act in a certain way towards each other. GGE empowers young people to recognize these incidents that we accept as the norm and speak out against them.

GGE also works on a more political level, specifically with their Title IX campaign. Title IX of the Education Amendment outlaws discrimination on the basis of sex in U.S. public schools and requires schools to appoint a Title IX coordinator to handle complaints. GGE called over one hundred schools to simply inquire about this position and most did not have a Title IX coordinator, demonstrating the complete lack of accountability. However, GGE is working toward the New York City Department of Education (NYC DOE) implementing recommendations such as listing Title IX coordinators on school websites and including GGE’s PSA on the DOE website.

GGE sees sexual harassment as a safety issue, and for this reason it is an urgent matter. They address sexual harassment, as it exists on the broad spectrum of gender based violence, which includes but is not limited to offensive comments, unwanted touches, and rape. GGE also treats LGBT bullying as a form of sexual harassment.

The idea of personal comfort level opened the group conversation around how educators can address the issue of sexual harassment in schools. A lot depends on perspective, the group agreed; something that makes one person uncomfortable may be perfectly acceptable to another. However, in schools, we need to draw the line somewhere. From a restorative justice angle, all perspectives are valued and respected. Therefore, anything that makes anyone feel uncomfortable could be considered unacceptable. It is important for students to learn the rules and standards of their own school community, and recognize that other spaces have different rules.

Ultimately, the discussion concluded with the idea that what we’re really talking about is a shift in school culture. Creating a sense of community accountability is a task that’s rooted in mutual respect. Oftentimes, however, schools fail to really break down what respect means—including both respect of the self and others. Communication is the key here. If schools are going to address issues of sexual harassment and set down ground rules, discussion needs to take place so that all parties are heard and there is understanding as to why these rules need to exist.

By Emily Shaw
(Reposted with permission from National Economic and Social Rights Initiative)

Emily Shaw is an intern with the Dignity in Schools Campaign — New York

Many moons ago I met Matt Dineen through some mutual friends and our shared work in independent media. A passionate activist and all-around lovely guy, Matt currently works at Wooden Shoe Books as a collective member and event organizer. After hearing about Hey, Shorty!’s release, Matt invited me to Philadelphia to do a reading — and I enthusiastically accepted.

Technically speaking, I’d never actually met filmmaker and educator Nuala Cabral in person until yesterday, but it felt like we were old friends since we’ve been in touch with each other for years via the Internet — again because of shared interests and community-based work with youth to end gender-based violence — and follow each other’s work. Nuala’s short film, Walking Home, has garnered a lot of attention online for its criticism of street harassment. Wanting to share the opportunity with local activists, I invited Nuala to be a part of the Wooden Shoe event and asked if there were other folks in Philly I should reach out to. This is how Hollaback! Philly’s Rochelle Keyhan, a lawyer by trade, came to be added to the list.

Holly Kearl is someone who has shared the stage with me and Girls for Gender Equity on several occasions. From Holly’s book release event at Bluestockings to the first-ever New York City Council Hearing on street harassment to the the National Conference for Women Student Leaders, our work coincides with great frequency — much to my delight. Five smarty pants activists deep, this is how the Wooden Shoe Books event drew over 40 people to talk about violence against girls, women, and LGBTQ folks in public spaces.

If you weren’t able to make it there, you’re in luck! Hollaback! Philly research assistant Elizabeth Welsh live tweeted the event from beginning to end. Here’s a taste of what you missed:

Welcome to the live-tweet of our anti street harassment panel! We’ll be getting started in just a minute.
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Introductions! @mandyvandeven @nualacabral @hollabackphilly and @hkearl are all here with us.
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@mandyvandeven is telling us about getting involved with Girls for Gender Equity in Brooklyn: ggenyc.org
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It quickly became clear to Mandy and to ggenyc.org that sexual harassment is rampant in kids’ lives - and seldom gets talked about.
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Moving on to @hkearl talking about her street harassment experiences, starting as a 14-year-old runner
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Many women end up altering the activities they choose to participate in in an effort to avoid street harassment
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This is why Holly frames it as a quality of life issue. Discovering the term “street harassment” led her to begin speaking out.
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32% of women choose outfits that will attract less attention on a monthly basis - planning for street harassment before leaving the house!
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45% of women avoid being out after dark on a monthly basis - what does this mean we’re missing out on? Classes, socializing, campaigning…
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1 in 5 women have moved to a different neighborhood; 1 in 10 have changed jobs/commute in an effort to avoid street harassment.
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Street harassment negatively affects men who are not harassers - women are often wary of interacting with them.
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Holly’s tips for helping to stop street harassment: Share your story, end the silence!
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Sharing our stories breaks down stereotypes about who gets harassed and helps increase solidarity with other women (and men!).
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Some women have had success asking harassers to repeat themselves, or repeating harassers’ words back to them, loudly, if in a crowded place
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Turning it around like this often embarrasses harassers by emphasizing how stupid they sound.
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If someone is harassing on the job, complaining to the parent company can lead to great results!
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Bystanders can also reach out to victims, asking “Are you okay?”
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The Young Women’s Action Team fought neighborhood street harassment by alerting business owners where groups of men were loitering outside.
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Neighborhood business owners banded together to create respect zones and not tolerate loiterers (who were also bad for business!)
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More on the Young Women’s Action Network in Chicago: http://t.co/MCl17ly They harnessed the power of data, no matter how informal.
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You can see more from Holly at her website: stopstreetharassment.org
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We’re up now! Hollaback! is everywhere! Because, unfortunately, street harassment is everywhere.
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We encourage you to report street harassment: philly.ihollaback.org Young Women’s Action Network showed what a difference data can make.
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Don’t forget, all reports submitted to our website are anonymous. Build solidarity between people who want to walk the street unharassed.
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We’re also working for LGBTQ people, who also unfortunately get harassed.
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Next up: Local filmmaker and activist @nualacabral. While living in Brooklyn she bumped up against street harassment on a daily basis.
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Check out Nuala’s Walking Home: vimeo.com/user1897188 
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When Nuala put her film on YouTube, it connected her with a movement that was even more empowering than creating the film.
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Nuala: “Those moments of being street harassed feel really lonely and disempowering.”
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Now we are opening up for questions. Please @ us with any questions you’d like to ask!
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Question about addressing street harassment with school kids. Nuala: Too much victim-blaming from both boys and girls. Also: Responsibility.
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Nuala: “If we care enough to want change, we need to think about responsibility and what we’re going to do to make change.”
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International Stop Street Harassment day is the first day of spring - March 20th.
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This year it will be Anti-Street Harassment Week, by popular demand!
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Mandy: “Girls for Gender Equity wrote Hey Shorty! as a way for other organizations to see our growth thru failures as well as successes!”
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GGE grew over 9 years. This is NOT a rule-book, but suggestions for other organizations. http://www.feministpress.org/books/girls-gender-equity-gge/hey-shorty
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A question now from the Anti-Violence Partnership of Philadelphia avpphila.org
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We’re saying: Queer and trans folks tend to get harassed not only sexually, but also with words involving more violence.
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Holly: Street harassment of trans women tends to often be about gender policing, and is threatening to men who think they’re very masculine.
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Us: Our official stance is not to differentiate between race or class - everyone harasses.
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Holly: Most harassment is same-race, especially the more severe forms. There needs to be education around what constitutes harassment.
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Mandy: The emphasis has been put on perception and not intent, and that’s wrong. Intent does matter - it’s racist/classist to say otherwise
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Mandy has written extensively on street harassment for Bitch Magazine: http://bitchmagazine.org/profile/mandy-van-deven
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Mandy advocates for street harassment to be addressed on a community level rather than by criminalizing it.
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Question: A favorite activity of K-2nd graders at the recess program I ran was standing by the fence and yelling at women on the street.
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Us: A lot of the time it’s about impressing other dudes more than interacting with women.
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Questioner: It started with the 2nd graders, and after a couple of weeks trickled down to the kindergartners.
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Mandy: In schools, a big problem is institutional support for addressing these things - Figuring out what the policies are, if they exist.
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Mandy: We talk about socialization as adults, but it’s process that starts as young people. An 8-year-old boy hollering at women on the street doesn’t even know what he’s looking at.
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@hkearl: I’ve actually started getting more questions from parents’ of 9- 10-year-olds. Anyone know any good resources?
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Questioner: This is a cultural problem, and people should be boycotting sexist/misogynist music I’d classify as hate speech.
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Questioner: I can’t understand how other males aren’t seeing this and don’t have empathy for this situation.
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Questioner: We need to teach men how to talk to women. I don’t want to hear about how my outfit makes me look sexy.
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Questioner 2: I think there are a lot of men out there who think that’s the way you talk to a women.
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Holly: Sexualization from a young age makes this seem normal.
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There’s a whole section on Holly’s website for and by men: stopstreetharassment.org/male-allies/
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Nuala: Guys say things like, 2 out of 25 women will respond, so I’ll still yell at the other 23.
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Nuala: In order to reach men, I’ll also talk to women. We need to be clear about the distinction between a complement and harassment.
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Nuala: No women wants to get harassed, but some women and girls like getting attention. Those are the girls these guys are trying to reach.
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A lot of @nualacabral’s work with young girls involves building self-esteem when talking about street harassment.
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Nuala: For some girls, their body is the only thing they get complemented on. We need to address that.
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Nuala has gotten a lot of pushback from her video because it shows men of color. As a woman of color, she wanted to break the silence.
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Nuala: We have to acknowledge that there are some complexities there. You have to be sensitive, but it’s a fine line to be neutral.
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Nuala: If you look at the media, the bodies of women of color are more consistently exploited.
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Nuala’s recent blog post about a NYC newsstand that illustrates the problem “All black booties, all white faces.” http://nualacabral.wordpress.com/2011/05/23/the-news-stand/
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Nuala: “It’s just more acceptable for certain women to be degraded.” Questioner: “It’s not acceptable, it’s normal.” Nuala: “Normalized.”
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Nuala: “I like that you also brought up the self-esteem of a man, especially for men of color. We know that oppression breeds oppression.”
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Holly: “For some men it’s about oppression, for others it’s because some men feel so entitled.”
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Holly: “My research has shown that black women are more likely to be approached as prostitutes. It’s this history of exploitation.”
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Questioner: Men and women are taught that the only relationships we can have are sexual or more, that we can’t have friendships.
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Questioner: A lot of men can’t relate to women as another human being, a person with morals and goals and a future.
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Mandy: For any kind of change to happen, there has to be an education piece on the larger framework of sexual violence in our culture.
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Mandy: We have this impression in our minds of how violence happens and who the victims are, but it’s completely separate from reality.
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Us: If you don’t have a smartphone, you can submit via email, or by texting to our email address, or manually uploading on the website.
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Questioner: Why are women okay on the streets of certain international large cities, but not here?
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Holly: My theory is that street harassment is less likely in countries with more gender equality.
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Questioner: I thought in those other countries women are treated with more respect. Us: More, but it’s not perfect.
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Questioner: There were a number of women in the black revolution movement who acted out strongly against sexual harassers.
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Questioner: Women are getting hurt because of harassment. Are you aware of any men who have been hurt as a result of being harassers?
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Mandy: I know there are a lot of women who are in prison for killing domestic abusers and rapists…
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Mandy: There’s very little documentation of violence in response to street harassment, but that would be interesting.
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Questioner: I struggle with the polarity between public accountability and shaming. I dreamed of putting up flyers about the same man who was harassing me all the time, but could never go through with it.
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Questioner: Do you think public shaming has a place in this movement, or is that counterproductive?
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Us: Even imagining what you would have said and done can be theraputic, even knowing that you never would have done it.
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Us: Psychologically, it’s really helpful for women to know there are other people thinking about and struggling with the same thing.
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Holly: People in DC banded together to say “Stop harassing women” to one man who was always in the same place. A lot of these harassers are repeat harassers who always stand in the same place. It’s not very many men.
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Mandy: The anthology “The Revolution Starts at Home” has a lot of suggestions for community-based steps to take toward accountability without shame http://www.southendpress.org/2010/items/87941
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Questioner : How does sexual harassment compare with harassment of other groups, like Muslims, especially right now.
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Mandy: The way all groups are affected creates potential to reach across boundaries, but I don’t think they’re all the same.
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Mandy: The manifestation, function, and social acceptability greatly vary. It’s dangerous to say that they’re the same.
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Holly: Women of all backgrounds who took my survey felt harassed because they were female; men mentioned all the other factors first.
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Questioner: The economic impact on women’s lives is amazing! Imagine if it were something men had to deal with. What areas are under-researched?
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Holly: That’s why we need to capture that data, because then we have some idea of what we can do.
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And it’s a wrap! Many thanks to @mandyvandeven @nualacabral @hkearl @hollabackphilly and of course to YOU for coming along with us!

Check out the remaining dates of the Hey, Shorty! tour here.

By Mandy Van Deven

Note: Also, check out these post-event writings by Nuala, Holly and Rochelle.

We raised $920 through Groupon.com! Girls for Gender Equity was featured on a G-Team campaign July 12th-14th to help raise money to bring our Sisters in Strength activists to Atlanta in November to present on participatory action research at the National Women’s Studies Association’s annual conference: Feminist Transformations. We needed 55 supporters pledge $10 or more to reach the tipping point for success, and we were able to do that on the first day of the campaign!

G-Team is a community outreach initiative within Groupon that brings communities together to do good, have fun, and make an impact. G-Team has been working in New York City to help nonprofit organizations like ours raise money and awareness by channeling the collective buying power of Groupon followers and our local supporters.

Girls for Gender Equity needed your help to make this campaign successful, and our generous supporters pulled through! We thank you for your unwavering commitment to girls and women living self-determined lives!