what you can do

Street harassment, violence against women, and other forms of hate have become expected, even acceptable, realities of everyday life. Changing these realities is something only we can initiate and see through. Deviate social norms, relentlessly break your silence, cancel history and stop hatred:

"Spectatorship is all too comfortable for many individuals. In accepting hate and prejudice, whether actively or passively, the members of society are typically rewarded in both a psychological and material sense. By contrast, those relatively rare individuals who choose to violate norms of seperatism, respect diversity, and fight for the rights of exploited and victimized groups are likely to suffer loses of their own" (Levin 2002:79).

Breaking your silence and speaking out "means breaking through the cultural stereotypes and political propoganda to recognize that the members of a particular group are human beings who are worth saving" (Levin 2002:80).

People who break their silence and speak out against street harassment are "the rebels, the deviants, the incredibly decent and indepedently motivated people who, even under trying circumstances, simply (or not so simply) refused to follow the dictates of legitimate authority" (Levin 2002:91).

"Thus, if even one spectator decides to break away from the inertia of the masses and become a rebel, he or she might serve as a role model for many other bystanders to imitate" (Levin 2002:91).

Article in Boston Globe

This is an article we just found that was printed in the Boston Globe about the growing fight against harassment in the streets.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/08/06/hey_baby/

Who are these guys?

In addition to thinking about what happens on Halloween night, I want to encourage bloggers to think about what role race plays in cat-calling and how cat-calling/hollering makes you feel. Barbara Perry notes that the sexuality of men of color/nonwhite men is often constructed as "dangerous," or they're portrayed as oversexed (In the Name of Hate). Do you think this is true? How does this affect a woman's (or your) decisions to go out at night alone, or your fear of men hollering (if you do fear it)? It would be interesting to hear viewpoints on this idea and how race affects how you perceive the cat-calling. Does the race of the guy who's calling affect whether you feel fearful? If you picture a guy cat-calling who is he? And you don't have to focus on race. Is he rich, poor? Old or young? Why do you think of him like this? Feel free to discuss!

Breaking the Silence

Found this great quote in Chapter 19 of Barbara Perry's "Hate and Bias Crime: A Reader"

Regarding gender bias, "by recognizing the group-based animosity underlying these victimizations, we not only decry the violence but also take the first step in confronting the underlying attitude that allows violence to occur." (Weisburd and Levin 1994:41).

That is, breaking our silence and engaging in this forum for discussion allows us (a) to decry the culture of fear created by cat-calling and other behaviors that single out women in the public sphere, and (b) to begin confronting and changing the underlying attitudes toward women that make men feel like they can behave this way and that make women feel like this unwanted attention is inevitable.

The following excerpt entitled, "The Lessons We Learn," comes from a report on two women viciously murdered on the AT.

"The day after the murders were reported in The Washington Post, a woman camping along the Appalachian Trail was reported as saying that she felt safe hiking with a male companion. She said "But when I think of the women out here hiking alone, it really scares me." If we see this as the isolated incident, rather than a hate crime with political implications for all members of the targeted group, then statements like this can be made. But how would a statement like that play in the case of the 40 odd African American churches that have been burned (see News pages this issue)? Imagine an African American saying "When I think of African Americans going to all black churches, it scares me. I feel safe going to churches that are predominantly white."

[We succumb to many dangers by] ceding whole arenas of life as "too dangerous" for women alone. Many women feel they would be "asking for it" if they went certain places without male escorts. So we simply agree not to go places such as camping, out at night, or into cities without a male escort.

"I miss my husband"

I once talked to a couple of married women about why they missed their husbands when they were gone on business trips. I found this strange, because I loved it when my husband went away (I was married at the time). I loved feeling the freedom to be and do whatever I wanted. When I asked them what it was about their husbands they missed and why they did not relish time alone, they replied that they didn't feel safe -- that they were afraid to be alone. So, in addition to all the activities women may not participate in outside their homes due to the "danger," many women don't even feel safe to live alone.

It's not even that we are not safe in certain locations. We are not safe anywhere we go without a male escort. We feel safe in our own homes (as long as a man is there), we feel safe in the woods (as long as a man is there), and we feel safe to go out at night (as long as it is with a man). I suppose we feel safe to go some places without a man -- a shopping mall during the day, the grocery store, the day care center to pick up the kids (coincidentally all things which fit neatly into women's traditional roles). But major areas of our lives, especially those which defy traditional feminine roles (such as going camping alone or living without men), are circumscribed because of the supposedly random isolated incidents by a few psychos."

(Murder on the Appalachian Trail Mantilla, Karla; copyright Off Our Backs, Inc. Jul 1996; Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved)

Spread the Word

It's great to see the blog kicked into gear. For any newcomers, here's an expansion on who we are, what we are doing, and what we hope to accomplish.

We want to make women in our community (as GW students and Washingtonians) feel comfortable—even good—on the streets. We want to give the following women a voice:

women who feel that they have to wear an ipod to drown out the cat-calls hurled at them as they walk down the sidewalk

women who are forced to spend exorbitant amount of money on transportation (taxi cabs) in order to be out and to feel and be safe

women who can’t go out at all because they don’t have the cash flow for those taxi cabs

women who have to invent or constantly mention significant others, fiancés, and live-in partners to legitimize their going out into the public without looking for a potential mate

women who don’t feel empowered to defend there bodies, their space, or their propriety when in the public sphere

women who must cover up and conceal their bodies before going out into the public sphere to avoid unwanted attention and being told “they’re asking for it”

women who don’t feel safe being in public without male escorts to protect them

women who are verbally, physically, or emotionally assaulted by the words and actions of others on the streets that force them off the streets and into their homes

women who can’t walk down a quiet street alone without experiencing at least some degree of fear

We want to take back the night (and the day!!) We hope to accomplish this by breaking our silence, giving ourselves a loud, strong, fearless voice fostered by online discussion and sharing.

Please join in, spread the word, and feel free to contact us with comments, contentions, questions, and contributions. thisisladiesnight@gmail.com

trouble posting on our blog

some of you are having trouble posting responses... below each post there is a "comment" button - if you press that you can share your stories or opinions about what has happened to you... here is one response which is quite interesting from lbora:

LBora said...

It seems to be a trend that no matter how your dressed that a women is an easy target for these gross comments. So it brings up the question how does this stop? What really confusses me is why these comments are said in the first place, so women really respond? I highly doubt that these "invites" such as being a guys hoe are ever excepted, so why do they still do it?

Any comments on this one ladies? I believe it is a question we are all asking ourselves... any ideas on how to make it stop?! things you've done.. .things you've seen done, or just ideas in general... press the comments button and let us know!