Hey, Shorty! on the Road

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!

Free Minds, Free People was amazing! Not only did I meet incredible people from other great organizations, but I learned that Girls for Gender Equity is not alone. There are other organizations fighting for the same and similar causes. It felt good to facilitate “Hey Shorty!: A Youth Organizing Model to Combat Gender-Based Violence in Schools and on the Streets” and empower other young woman and men, and they wanted to actually know more! So many people approached me wanting to buy the book and the documentary.

An older woman of color approached me and said, “I’m glad to see our youth making a change. You’re amazing.” All I could do was smile really hard and say, “Thank you so much.” The other workshops I attended were so educational and equally as great as the one I co-facilitated with Nefertiti Martin, Joanne N. Smith, and Mandy Van Deven. I was so proud and happy to see other youth doing such amazing things in one place. I wish it didn’t come to an end so fast, but it’s something I will take with me and remember forever!

By Andrenkia “Red” Booker

** Check out what FMFP participant Biba Fullon wrote about her takeaway from this workshop. **

Just days before leaving for a multi-stop Midwest excursion, Open Society Foundations generously donated 200 copies of Hey, Shorty! to the 2011 Allied Media Conference (AMC) in Detroit, MI — and Girls for Gender Equity could not have been more thrilled. An annual gathering of grassroots artists, activists, and writers who use new and traditional media to further the aims of social justice, AMC is the perfect place to learn from and build with organizers working throughout North America. The conference provided an opportunity to reconnect with friends and allies from cities like New Orleans (BreakOUT) and Atlanta (SPARK Reproductive Justice Now) while learning about youth-led activism across a variety of issues from places as varied as Toronto (Aqsa Zine), Los Angeles (Youth Justice Coalition), Albuquerque (Young Women United) and Whitesburg, KY (Appalachian Media Institute). I was even able to attend a workshop facilitated by former Sisters in Strength intern Veronica Tirado, who was presenting on behalf of the Audre Lorde Project. By the end of the weekend, every copy of the book had been given away and many promises to continue conversations about strategic alliances had been made.

After an invigorating and action-packed four days, my departure to Madison, WI was bittersweet. A university town during the summertime is a time of slumber, and the slowed pace was welcome. The site of extensive protests on behalf of worker’s rights, handmade flyers and screen-printed posters litter shop windows and houses alike to show the massive level of local support for union’s right to collective bargaining. I visited the state capital, the second tallest in the nation (Washington, DC has the honor of being the first, of course), to see the steps of the place that had, until recently, been occupied by so many politically active Americans. Their presence lingers, both in my own imagination and the conversations I had with Madison’s ever-engaged population. This was the backdrop of the Hey, Shorty! discussion at Rainbow Bookstore Cooperative, an assembly of folks that was small yet intimate.

The event at Women and Children First, a feminist bookstore in Chicago, brought out a smart and lively group. The questions following the talk I gave about the book’s emergence from Girls for Gender Equity’s work were so plentiful that the store’s workers practically had to kick everyone out in order to close down for the night. I was happy to see a few familiar faces, including one of GGE’s past interns (circa 2004), Kate Walsh, who now works with girl-serving organizations Street-Level Youth Media and Girls Rock! Chicago. I left the city considering the events of the past two and a half weeks and how rare it is to have the opportunity to follow the ripples when you drop a stone — yet that is precisely the good fortunate this tour is enabling.

Photo credit: Grassroots Youth Collaborative

By Mandy Van Deven

The following clips are of college students who attended the workshop about Hey, Shorty! at the National Conference for Women Student Leaders stop on the tour at the University of Maryland.

After an intensive fundraising week, I am thrilled to be heading to the Allied Media Conference. I’ve been to AMC once before and had an excellent time building with fellow activists and writers who are committed to social justice. This will be a welcoming event for the work of Girls for Gender Equity and Hey, Shorty! I plan to screen the DVD continuously in the exhibition area and collect comments from viewers about its impact to share with you here. I hope to meet folks with whom GGE can continue to build a national movement to end gender-based violence.

By Mandy Van Deven

We owe much thanks and gratitude to our supporters for their generosity during this fundraising campaign! It’s not too late to make a contribution!

On Monday, some of the ladies from Sisters in Strength (me, Ash, Red, and Taryn) had the opportunity to have our brains picked by a group of college-aged activists who are taking part in a weeklong Feminist Summer Camp, organized by Amy Richards and Jennifer Baumgardner’s Soapbox Inc, where they learn about and interact with several feminist activists and organizations. This group of young activists was able to hear about the book Hey, Shorty!, including some of the statistics collected from the participatory action research done by Sisters in Strength in 2007 and 2008 to examine the state of sexual harassment in the NYC public schools.

Over dinner at Concrete Utopia, the activists had the chance to dialogue with the Sisters in Strength interns, and asked us several questions that were lingering on their minds after hearing about the work done by Girls for Gender Equity. Many of the questions came as a result of hearing about how normal sexual harassment has become in New York City public schools. The discussion then went into the role of the Department of Education, when it comes to sexual harassment in their schools, and what GGE envisions happening as a result of their work.

The highlight of the evening came from one of the activists referring to the Department of Education as firefighters who only respond to the call of duty after the burning building has already collapsed. The statement was definitely one to remember, as it was not only dead-on but everyone was in agreement that something needs to be done immediately. Overall, the evening was quite informative, and by the look on the activists’ faces when the event was over, the ladies of Sister in Strength had once again managed to educate and inspire yet another group of activists. 

By Kayla Andrews

On June 9th I made my way to Atlanta, GA, the city where I first discovered street harassment and social justice activism while an undergrad at Georgia State University. Even though I had a car, I took public transportation to school my freshman year, and had to walk through groups of men outside the Five Points MARTA station daily who thought it was good fun to make sexual advances at young women and spit lewd comments at those of us who visibly identified as queer. Apparently not much has changed on the streets in the ten years since I was in college, but Atlanta’s anti-street harassment activist scene has grown to include three organizations that co-hosted last Thursday’s talk at Charis Books and More.

The event kicked off with my telling a brief history of Girls for Gender Equity (GGE) and the development of its youth organizing internship for teen women of color. Next up was Cortez Wright, of SPARK Reproductive Justice NOW, who told of their work mobilizing youth toward a radical analysis and sustainable systemic change. Then Lauren Zink and Crystal Rodgers spoke about the recent emergence of Hollaback ATL in the city. In an improvised addition, I also asked Carla Stokes, of HOTGIRLS, who brought some of her organization’s past and current participants to the event and set up an impromptu installation of their work on street harassment, to talk about the steps they’ve taken to curb this behavior. After each of us finished our respective introductory spiels, we co-facilitated a discussion among the attendees that ranged from individual and systemic responses to street harassment, to how street harassment effects various communities differently (e.g., people of color, Muslim women, queers, trans people), to the roles men and boys play as both victims and harassers, to the privileging of masculine norms that encourage the behavior in people of all genders.

The evening ended with my being invited back in the fall for another Hey, Shorty! event — this time one that focuses on sexual harassment and LGBTQ bullying in schools and features all three of the books co-authors. Stay tuned for more information as details of that date unfold.

By Mandy Van Deven

Check out the new PSA “Who is Your Title IX Coordinator?” by the Coalition for Gender Equity in Schools!