Ending Street Harassment

Street harassment will not end until men stop behaving inappropriately toward women they do not know in public spaces. Since most men who harass women do not think they are doing anything wrong—or they do not care that they are—and men who do not harass women tend to not know it occurs or else also do not think it is wrong, ending the behavior is challenging and will require a multi-layered, comprehensive approach.

The layers I propose (and address in the last four chapters of my forthcoming book Stop Street Harassment: Making Public Places Safe and Welcoming for Women - Aug. 2010) include:

1. Educating men to respect women and to intervene when they see other men harassing women .

2. Empowering women to respond to and/or report harassers.

3. Raising awareness that street harassment is a problem.

4. Engaging in anti-street harassment campaigns.

We also need to

• Rally around a common name for the problem (such as "street harassment") because problems without names tend to stay hidden;

• Encourage more academic research on the topic, particularly on why men harass, the role of race/class/sexual orientation/gender expression/disability/age in harassment encounters, the impact of harassment on women's lives, the ways harassment can vary by region, if there is a correlation between evidence of gender equity and the volume of street harassment in an area, and the most empowering and effective ways for ending street harassment; and

• Hold regional, national, and international anti-street harassment conferences to share stories, strategize on the issue, put the problem on the agenda of regional, national, and global leaders, and lead to changes like anti-street harassment ordinances and anti-public sexual harassment laws.

What are your ideas? Share them.