Posts Written by Samhita
By Samhita • 13 years ago

Lesson #5: Martin Luther King said “I have a dream.” He did not say, “I have a list of compelling facts and figures.”

Editor’s note: To close out Women’s history month we are running this series of guest posts from Emily May and Samuel Carter, co-founders of Hollaback, as they reflect on taking an idea and moving it to action, the best practices they have learned along the way and documenting for us that feminist history is happening right now. 

From the beginning, Hollaback! set forth a bold vision:

“Whether you’re commuting, lunching, partying, dancing, walking, chilling, drinking, or sunning, Hollaback! believes you have the right to feel safe, confident, and sexy, without being the object of some turd’s fantasy.”

And then when we transitioned from a blog to a nonprofit, the negative feedback came dribbling in. “The right to be sexy? I mean, is that really a right?” or “Turd? Your call to action includes the word turd?” Interestingly “turd” was chosen after a long debate over was the most gender-neutral but still empowering way to describe a harasser. “Jerk” implied a man, “crazy person” implied mental illness, but “turd” didn’t imply a thing. Except, well, turds.

And so we thought about it – long and hard. And although we agreed our tagline needed to be shorter, we didn’t agree with the attacks on our vision. Because for everyone who hesitated because we were doing it unconventionally—there many, many more with whom this fresh approach resonated.

When we first turned Hollaback! into a nonprofit, we thought we could get away with our marketing plan consisting of a logo and a press release or two. ...
By Samhita • 13 years ago

Lesson #4: The revolution will only be funded by the people who want revolution. These people won’t have much money.

Editor’s note: To close out Women’s History Month we are running this series of guest posts from Emily May and Samuel Carter, co-founders of Hollaback, as they reflect on taking an idea and moving it to action, the best practices they have learned along the way and documenting for us that feminist history is happening right now. 

One of the magic aspects of Hollaback! is that for the first five years, we needed almost no money.  The blog was free and we paid about $10 a year for the domain name.  Every year or so we’d raise maybe $100 or $200, and we’d have enough to silkscreen Hollaback! tshirts,  press buttons, or print stickers.

The founders of Hollaback! knew a thing or two about running organizations ...

Editor’s note: To close out Women’s History Month we are running this series of guest posts from Emily May and Samuel Carter, co-founders of Hollaback, as they reflect on taking an idea and moving it to action, the best practices ...
By Samhita • 13 years ago

Lesson #3: Strong-ties and warm-fuzzy feelings are essential

Editor’s note: To close out Women’s history month we are running this series of guest posts from Emily May and Samuel Carter co-founders of Hollaback as they reflect on taking an idea and moving it to action, the best practices they have learned along the way and documenting for us that feminist history is happening right now. 

When Malcolm Gladwell wrote “The Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted” in The New Yorker, he argued that the revolution would not happen through social media because the revolution requires “strong ties” and the Internet only facilitated “weak ties.”  There are lots of abstract ways to measure “strong” vs. “weak” ties, but the founders of Hollaback! felt that Gladwell was missing the mark. Neuroeconomist Paul Zak’s research shows that ...

Editor’s note: To close out Women’s history month we are running this series of guest posts from Emily May and Samuel Carter co-founders of Hollaback as they reflect on taking an idea and moving it to action, the best practices ...
By Samhita • 13 years ago

Lesson #2: Develop systems that elevate the voices of others, and then get out of their way

Editor’s note: To close out Women’s history month we are running this series of guest posts from Emily May and Samuel Carter co-founders of Hollaback as they reflect on taking an idea and moving it to action, the best practices they have learned along the way and documenting for us that feminist history is happening right now. 

The first step in establishing Hollaback! was figuring this leadership bit out.  While we knew it was important, we were deeply uncomfortable with it.  Help came with a book called No Excuses by Gloria Feldt, former president of Planned Parenthood.  Feldt argued that people with out traditional access to power (women, people of color, and others) have an uneasy relationship with power because it’s traditionally wielded over them. ...

Editor’s note: To close out Women’s history month we are running this series of guest posts from Emily May and Samuel Carter co-founders of Hollaback as they reflect on taking an idea and moving it to action, the best practices ...
By Samhita • 13 years ago

Lesson #1: You must have confidence—a belief in your gut—that you can really change culture.

Editor’s note: To close out Women’s history month we are running this series of guest posts from Emily May and Samuel Carter co-founders of Hollaback as they reflect on taking an idea and moving it to action, the best practices they have learned along the way and documenting for us that feminist history is happening right now. 

After we launched, the stories of street harassment didn’t stop coming. There they were: scary, infuriating, isolating stories, sent by people from all corners of the globe.  We had started Hollaback! for personal reasons, but at a certain point it wasn’t about us anymore.  It was about the stories and the opportunity that we’d inadvertently created to end street harassment.

It took a life changing aha-moment and some badass ...

Editor’s note: To close out Women’s history month we are running this series of guest posts from Emily May and Samuel Carter co-founders of Hollaback as they reflect on taking an idea and moving it to action, the best practices ...
By Samhita • 13 years ago

Hollaback: Lessons learned from building an idea into a movement

Editor’s note: To close out Women’s history month we are running this series of guest posts from Emily May and Samuel Carter co-founders of Hollaback as they reflect on taking an idea and moving it to action, the best practices they have learned along the way and documenting for us that feminist history is happening right now. 

We were a group of seven friends, helping each other get through this tough city-workaday world in daily free-wheeling conversations. Gender was a particularly rich theme. We were three men and four women, all a bit queer, and as we talked about our lives, neighborhoods, commutes to work, the parks and cafes we frequented, something emerged; the women of our group ...

Editor’s note: To close out Women’s history month we are running this series of guest posts from Emily May and Samuel Carter co-founders of Hollaback as they reflect on taking an idea and moving ...
By Samhita • 13 years ago

Hillary Clinton supports same-sex marriage

Duh. But awesome.

She’s right–America is at its best when we champion the freedom and dignity of every human being. It is not surprising but important and necessary that Democratic politicians continue to come out in support of same-sex marriage.

It’s going to take a global movement to ensure all people regardless of sexuality can live as who they are and be embraced. If you are interested in this, check out All Out and join the largest global movement fighting for LGBTQ rights.

Duh. But awesome.

She’s right–America is at its best when we champion the freedom and dignity of every human being. It is not surprising but important and necessary that Democratic politicians continue to come out in support ...
By Samhita • 13 years ago

What happened in the last episode of “Girls” was not “uncomfortable sex”

Trigger Warning and Spoiler Alert. 

..it’s rape. The most recent episode of Girls was slightly spoiled for me as I had glanced at Amanda Hess’s piece on it before I watched it, but I stopped myself from reading the whole thing. Still, I found myself watching with clenched teeth, waiting for the inevitable and uncomfortable, triggering and uncensored moment when I would be watching rape on screen. And then it happened. After they had sex once, the second time Adam raped his new girlfriend Natalia.

I was shocked, but not shocked, to return to Amanda and find that some have argued this scene was a moment of “uncomfortable sex.”

In their Slate review of the episode, David Haglund describes the scene as “exceedingly ...

Trigger Warning and Spoiler Alert. 

..it’s rape. The most recent episode of Girls was slightly spoiled for me as I had glanced at Amanda Hess’s piece on it before I watched it, but I stopped myself from ...

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