This BBC article succinctly sums up the issue of street harassment, a type of harassment that can involve cat-calling, groping, lewd comments, verbal threats/coercion, and may escalate into violence. Every woman I know, including yours truly, has endured frequent street harassment wherever we go, not only while here at East Carolina University. Many men consider “complimenting” (i.e. honking/whistling/hissing at) a strange woman on the street to be fairly routine and flattering to her, but simply do not understand or worse, do not care that their behavior is threatening.
ihollaback.org is a website that encourages women to take pictures of street harassers with their mobile phones, or to act like they are using their phones to report/photograph these men. However, I worry that this act could bring about even more unwanted attention from street harassers, and even result in a violent attack against the woman who attempts to fight back in this manner. What do you think? Do you think that this is an effecting solution to combat street harassment, or do you advocate for the redesign of public transportation centers, as mentioned in the article? What else can be done to fight this blatant and threatening sexism?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/magazine-12771938?SThisFB
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