Girls’ Basketball Team Faces Down Harassment
The Los Angeles Times reports that Sacred Hearts High lacks a gymnasium. That means the basketball team at this L.A. Catholic School train on the streets and at a rec center. They face routine harassment running miles in the neighborhood. The girls need a gym and they definitely need the harassers to Stop It!
You can read the entire article here. Thank you to journalist Bill Plaschke for including this piece in the L.A. Times sports pages.
Young Voice on Male Gaze
“Most of all, I want to be able to walk around my neighborhood and school without its being assumed that I am looking for feedback on my figure. You know, it really shouldn’t be so complicated.”
Young blogging sensation, Tavi, reflects on the male gaze on her site dedicated to teenage girls, Rookie. Check out the full blog post here.
Street Harassment leads to “greater preoccupation with physical appearance and body shame”.
This article by Elizabeth Méndez Berry on the Latino Nation blog makes the links between street harassment and other serious societal issues and fears for women.
When 69 percent of women regularly are thinking about avoiding eye contact, it’s a serious problem.
“Street harassment is a serious issue because it’s the most visible symptom of a society that uses fear to control more than half of the population. Most women will experience some form of sex-based harassment on our streets. It has nothing to do with age, race, ethnicity, class, place or time.”
Check out Sorya Chemaly’s full article on HuffPost.
Serving up Unnecessary Compliments
Working as a waitress, especially when I’m cocktail serving, means I have to put up with a lot from people. It also means that all the assholes who I can be a bitch to on the street when they hit on me are allowed to flirt, stare, and even touch me on the job. I don’t work at a seedy restaurant…this place is right on the water and the area usually gets an upper-class clientele. There really isn’t that much I can do about it…I have to be nice. My managers can’t even do too much about it. They can’t really kick someone out for asking me for hugs constantly, or “shaking” my hand and holding onto it for way too long, or touching my lower back, or calling me “sweetie,” “angelface,” “doll,” “honey,” “beautiful.” It makes me hate working in the bar. It makes me hate having to go back and back to that table, bringing them more and more drinks which will then only make them hit on me harder and harder. I think one time another guy in the group apologized and told them to back off, but believe me, it never usually happens.
There was ONE time it crossed the line. It was during a downtown event, so we were busy and people were drinking. A guy kept asking my name over and over because he kept forgetting it. He touched my shoulders, my waist, my hair, my hands. Finally he and his friends closed out their tab, and he pats the tip book and says “There’s a nice big tip in there for you.” Then he hooked his arm around my neck, drew me in to him, and kissed me, almost on the mouth. I pulled away, taking my tip book with me, and went to the security guy we hired for the day to tell him that this guy was behaving badly. He told the manager, and they went and kicked the guy out. I felt guilty, because I didn’t mean to kick him out, I only meant to have him watched. I felt guilty because I felt like I overreacted and ruined his evening. But it had gotten to the point where, unless I absolutely had to walk by him, I was hiding in the server station so he wouldn’t see me and come over to talk to me.
I hate these douchebags who take advantage of my position and my job. I wish I could tell them all to fuck off, but I can’t. I have to be nice.
Parking Space
I’m from Northern California and I was visiting family who were on vacation in San Diego. My brother dropped us off and I was standing in the street saving him a parking space. A man pulled up in his car and backed into my body and into the space. I jumped out of the way and started screaming at him and pounding on his window and he yelled at me, “Don’t touch my car.” I took photos of his license plate and continued screaming at him and he stayed in his car like a coward.
Make Up Approval
I was in my car stopped at a light and decided to use that spare moment to refresh my lip gloss. As I’m checking it in my mirror, I see frantic waving out of the corner of my eye. I ignored it for a few seconds, and when it didn’t stop, finally looked over.
This guy in the van next to me waves again, points at me, and gives me a thumbs up, because apparently I need his approval while I apply makeup. I just stared at him blankly.
I put on lip gloss again this morning, dude, where were you then? How will I know if I’m doing it right?!
Serious Consequences
This article by Elizabeth Méndez Berry on the Latino Nation blog makes the links between street harassment and other serious societal issues and fears for women.
“This epidemic has serious consequences: University of Connecticut researchers found that “the experience of street harassment is directly related to greater preoccupation with physical appearance and body shame, and is indirectly related to heightened fears of rape.”
