Posts Tagged street harassment

By Maya Dusenbery • 9 years ago

Artist stitches catcalls into beautiful needlework

Playing off of the idea of a hope chest, artist Elana Adler has created a series of hand-stitched needlework samplers showcasing all the catcalls she’s received. Calling them a “beautification of an assault,” she explains the project:

It is a contemporary feminist interpretation of women’s work and an objectification of my personal experience. Each captures a moment, giving these words a visual presence, a power, and a state of concreteness. These words were hurled casually and heard quickly but required hours of time-consuming, careful stitching.

Playing off of the idea of a hope chest, artist Elana Adler has created a series of hand-stitched needlework samplers showcasing all the catcalls she’s received. Calling them a “beautification of an assault,” she ...
By Mychal Denzel Smith • 9 years ago

When black women die from street harassment

Who cries when black women die?

I’m not asking that as some type of rhetorical, poetic question, meant to move you toward ferocious finger snaps. I want to know. Who cries when black women die?

Further, who cries when black women are killed?

Mary Spears was killed. The man who killed her did so because she refused to give him her phone number. She told him “I have a man I can’t talk to you,” and yet he persisted. Rather than respect her wishes to be left alone, he shot her.

Who cries when black women die from street harassment? 

Who cries when black women die?

I’m not asking that as some type of rhetorical, poetic question, meant to move you toward ferocious finger snaps. I want to know. Who cries when black women die?

Further, who cries ...
By Syreeta McFadden • 9 years ago

“Sit back and shut the f*ck up”: On taxis, gender, and power

Ed. note: This is a guest post by Jeanann Verlee. Jeanann is an author, performance poet, editor, and former punk rocker based in New York City.

A few years ago, sharing a cab with a male friend of mine, I asked the driver to make two stops. The driver dropped my friend first and scarcely made it to the end of the block before he pulled over and told me to get out, refusing to go to the second stop. I asked why he waited until after dropping my friend to refuse a second stop and he declined to answer, simply continued demanding I leave. (It was obvious to me that he didn’t want to argue ...

Ed. note: This is a guest post by Jeanann Verlee. Jeanann is an author, performance poet, editor, and former punk rocker based in New York City.

A few years ago, sharing a cab ...
By Maya Dusenbery • 9 years ago

Lose-lose situations in which misogyny always wins and sometimes kills

*Trigger warning*

There seems to be no shortage of advice for women about how best to deal with the constant barrage of harassment we’re expected to put up with for the privilege of existing in public spaces. Generally, it tends to fall into two categories: 1) ignore it or 2) very firmly and unambiguously make it known that it’s not welcome. Tellingly, despite being pretty much opposite approaches, both are supposed to ensure that you do nothing to “encourage” it.

A woman in Queens apparently tried the first tact. When an unknown man approached her in the lobby of a building and tried to talk to her, she ignored him. It was just after 5 AM, ...

*Trigger warning*

There seems to be no shortage of advice for women about how best to deal with the constant barrage of harassment we’re expected to put up with for the privilege of existing ...
By Maya Dusenbery • 9 years ago

The Daily Show’s Jessica Williams invites us into her “feminized atmosphere” of street harassment

“Sexism. Does it still exist? Many men say no. Jessica Williams explores….”

The Daily Show
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Williams has been all over the sexism beat lately, and it’s glorious.

“Sexism. Does it still exist? Many men say no. Jessica Williams explores….”

The Daily Show
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By Maya Dusenbery • 9 years ago

Flowchart of the Day: Should you catcall her?

Playboy, which recently rebranded its digital site with some SFW content, has a handy flowchart to help you answer this age-old question:

Read on to find out the one scenario in which it is A-okay to yell sexually suggestive comments at her in public.

Playboy, which recently rebranded its digital site with some SFW content, has a handy flowchart to help you answer this age-old question:

Read on to find out the one scenario in which it ...
By Maya Dusenbery • 9 years ago

Watch: The Smile Bitch Training Camp will teach you to smile like a lady

If constant reminders from random men on the street haven’t turned that frown upside yet, the Smile Bitch Training Camp may be right for you. As this promotional video from comedians Janelle James and Laura Prangley explains, this camp will “teach you how to smile like a lady” so that “guys never have to have their day ruined by seeing [your] unhappy face!”

If constant reminders from random men on the street haven’t turned that frown upside yet, the Smile Bitch Training Camp may be right for you. As this promotional video from comedians Janelle ...
By Maya Dusenbery • 9 years ago

Watch: Catcallers try to explain why they harass women

After a years of experiencing street harassment–and often confronting her catcallers–a Minneapolis woman named Lindsey came up with Cards Against Harassment–little cards that you can silently hand out to explain to harassers why getting unsolicited attention from random strangers whenever you step outside your house is not actually that fun. 

After a years of experiencing street harassment–and often confronting her catcallers–a Minneapolis woman named Lindsey came up with Cards Against Harassment–little cards that you can silently hand out to explain ...

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