Today in Street Harassment
[Scene: Waiting for light at 14th and U]
Old man sidles up to me: "Hey baby. It's no coincidence the sun just came out. I mean it, you're so beautiful. And that's no line, sometimes a girl just needs to hear it..."
Me: "Yeah. Don't you just hate when you forget your headphones and have to listen to every asshole corner you at the light and pretend like he's not just another dude harassing you in the street?"
[light changes on cue / end scene]
posted by Heather @ 3:41 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
Hi Heather,
Here are a few of my thoughts on the subject of street harassment.
Street harassment is a problem because it is disrespectful, inappropriate, and threatening behavior to adolescent girls and women in public places.
This behavior has the greatest negative effect on the well-being of adolescent girls who become conditioned to become silent, submissive, and fearful as opposed to becoming assertive, self-reliant, and confident.
Defeating street harassment requires a 3 Petal Plan that involves a combination of actions represented by the petals of Society, Targets of Harassment, and Bystanders. While each petal has a different role, they must all work together in order to create a lasting effect.
1. Society must create a culture of intolerance for street harassment in order to eliminate the behavior.
2. Targets of Harassment must learn strategies and methods to directly voice their disapproval when harassed.
3. Bystanders - must learn strategies and methods to intervene and mitigate when observing incidents of harassment.
Every situation of street harassment is different. Each situation requires a different response. But the overall strategy is the same: Society, Targets, and Bystanders need to communicate that street harassment is unacceptable behavior and will not be tolerated.
Erik K.
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