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Bed-Stuy Women's Group Fights Back Against Street Harassment
By
Lauren Evans
Published Apr 18, 2013
Modified Apr 18, 2013
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By
Lauren Evans
Published Apr 18, 2013
Modified Apr 18, 2013
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If you are a woman, there is a good chance that you have, at some point, endured leering men and their unsolicited comments about you/your shirt/your decision not to smile as you walk down the street. Too many women (most of us, probably) assume that this discomfort is a fact of life, a price we have to pay for the mistake of being born with a particular genital configuration. But a group of women in Bed-Stuy are fed up with the incessant catcalling, and they're trying to do something about it.
Last week, members of the Brooklyn Movement Center gathered in Fulton Park to write chalk-messages on the pavement, messages that expressed everything women usually keep to themselves when they're being cat-called: "Whistles are for dogs, not women," reads one, and "I am a girl, not a bxxxx." Some dispensed helpful advice: "Every time you harass a woman, think of your mom."
“I think sometimes the issue of street harassment gets reduced to catcalling,” BMC founder lead organizer Anthonine Pierre told the Daily News. “But it is so much broader than someone yelling, ‘Hey baby’ down the street.” According to an informal study by the group Stop Street Harassment, 75 percent of female respondents reported having been followed by a stranger in a public place. Nearly 57 percent reported being "touched or grabbed in a sexual way."
The Fulton Park take-back was part of "Anti-Street Harassment Week," an international movement that this year drew participants from 19 countries from around the world. But the group's message will hopefully linger on, even after the chalk washes away. This morning the Center published a list of reactions that the chalk party elicited from men, which ran the gamut from "Relax! It's just a compliment," to "Seriously. Women should smile. It makes the world a nicer place." [Editor's note: Fuck. Off.] The responses posted were measured and polite, offering for example, an explanation about what, exactly, is wrong with "just saying good morning.":
There is nothing wrong with saying “good morning”. Unfortunately, 5 minutes before you said good morning, another man commented on my ass… and 5 minutes before that another man followed me in his car, and last week, I said “good morning” to a man on my block and he followed up by commenting on my breast… also last month a man grabbed my butt as I walked to the train… etc. etc. etc. Try to understand that this is not about your attempt to be polite. Women are at war in these streets.
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Brooklyn Movement Center
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Lauren Evans
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