International Anti-Street Harassment Week Recap

Guest post from Holly Kearl, the lead organizer of International Anti-Street Harassment Week.

Thousands of people worldwide collectively spoke out against street harassment during the first ever International Anti-Street Harassment Week in March. During the week, the Internet, the streets, and classrooms swelled with discussions, messages, stories, and reclamations of public spaces. It was powerful to see so many people talk about the issue at once, amplifying each other’s voices, and bringing global attention to the unwanted sexual harassment that occurs in public places between strangers.

1. Read the thank you and wrap-up blog post
2. See the list of events that took place
3. View nearly 300 photos from events worldwide
4. Watch videos of events and messages from participants
5. See the list of media coverage

12 of the Anti-Street Harassment Week Initiatives:

1. In Canada, Women in Cities International released a report called Tackling Gender Exclusion: Experiences from the Gender Inclusive Cities Programme.
2. In India, Breakthrough launched a bystander poster campaign against street harassment, and groups like Let’s Talk and Safe Delhi Campaign organized rallies and activities to advocate for safe public spaces.
3. In Belgium, women walked to areas where they’d been harassed and reclaimed the spaces with sidewalk chalk messages.
4. In Yemen, across three days there were a series of discussions and seminars on different aspects of the issue of street harassment.
5. Women and men in New York City, USA, created a short video about responses men can have to men who are street harassers. It was viewed 200,000 times in just one week.
6. In Germany, women addressed street harassment by handing out 2,000 “red cards” against sexism and “pink cards” against homophobia.
7. In Norway, B Safe created a translation of the Stop Street Harassment website in Norwegian
8. College students at a university called SZABIST in Karachi, Pakistan, created a video PSA about street harassment as part of a class project and then held a discussion on the topic during the week of activism.
9. Film screenings took place in Turkey, Croatia, Canada, and the USA

10. Rallies, marches, sidewalk chalking, art exhibits, mud art, and flyer-ing took place in many places across the USA, including Arizona, California, Illinois, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, and Washington, DC

11. Lots of activism and campaigning happened online. For example, the Women’s Media Center made their Wednesday Twitter #SheParty discussion about street harassment.

12. Hollaback, which is based in the USA and has chapters all over the world, launched a bystander “I’ve got your back” campaign.

Next year will be even bigger! I hope you can join in.