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Ultimately, to end street harassment, the onus is on men to stop harassing women, but achieving that will take time. In the short-term, it also is important to empower girls and women to lead less fearful and restricted public lives by teaching them that street harassment is not their fault, equipping them with a range of ideas for how they can deal with harassment, and, if they want, tactics they can use that could make the harasser think twice about harassing women again.
In general, most societies trivialize men’s harassment of women by dismissing it as a problem and by saying it is a woman’s fault due to her attractiveness, what she wore, or where she went. As a result, victim blaming, including self-blame, is rampant. If a woman thinks she is at fault, she may think it is something she has to put up with and, as a result, she may not speak about it or work to end it. She may tell other women it is complimentary or no big deal. She may believe it is her fault and change her appearance or habits or try to avoid being alone in places where she could be harassed.
One of the most important messages for girls and women, then, is that any street harassment they experience is not their fault, no matter what people may tell them. Women are not at fault because of what they wore, where they went, or what time of day or night they were in public, nor because they looked “too attractive” or “too vulnerable.” Men who harass are at fault. They are the ones acting inappropriately. They are the ones with the problem. Women should have the right to walk down the street or wait for a bus without being the target of unwanted sexual or sexist attention or the recipient of insults.
The messages that street harassment is not girls’ or women’s fault and is not something they must put up with are important ones that several groups that work with young women emphasize, including:
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HOTGIRLS (Helping Our Teen Girls in Real Life Situations) in Atlanta, Georgia
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Empowering girls and women to know assertive responses they can use against harassers and that they can report the harassers is important, too. Visit the responding to harassers and reporting harassers pages for information.
Here are some suggestions for what we all can do to help empower girls and women:
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Refraining from engaging in victim blaming, including self-blame. This includes wondering what the girl or woman was wearing when a man harassed or assaulted her, saying she shouldn’t have been out alone, and saying she should have responded a certain way. It also includes saying she was targeted for being “pretty” or for “looking too vulnerable.”
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Explaining to people who make victim blaming comments why such comments are inappropriate.
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Teaching girls or young women that men who harass or hurt them are the ones with the problem, not them.
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Brainstorming with girls and women a range of responses one can use against harassers, including thinking about the type of harassment one experiences the most and making a list of several possible responses one could have to them.
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Attending or encouraging girls and women to attend some kind of self defense class. While most people will not be assaulted by a stranger in public, knowing what to do if they are can lead to more confidence in public spaces. It can make women feel more able to hold harassers accountable for their actions because they will be less fearful of being physically hurt.
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My forthcoming book Stop Street Harassment: Making Public Places Safe and Welcoming for Women (August 2010) has more information on this topic.
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