Happy Anti-Street Harassment Day

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This Sunday marks the first annual international Anti-Street Harassment day.

In my experience the majority of street harassment has been directed towards women. I think everyone has an idea in their own mind as to what kinds of clothing reveal too much. Just like anyone else I have seen my share of women who dress too scantily for my taste. Even so I do not believe this gives me the freedom to dehumanize another woman by insisting in my mind or out loud that she is a "whore" or something of the like.

Additionally, a scantily clad woman should not prompt heterosexual men to think that they have every right to whoop and hollar and make crude comments.

Through my search for information on Anti-Street Harassment Day I came across an article written by Hugo Schwyzer. I am very familiar with Schwyzer's work and I am always interested in what he has to say whether I agree with him or not.

In his recent Jezebel article Spring is No Excuse for Street Harassment, Schywzer says,

"It's a huge mistake to blame women's revealing clothing –- or women's bodies — for public sexual harassment. The problem is a tenacious and ugly myth about male sexuality, one that tells us that average men simply can't be expected to restrain their eyes, their words, or even their actions when faced with the reality of a woman's bare skin. Because of that belief in male weakness, we outsource their missing self-control to women. And so this myth pushes women to police each other, slut-shaming or mocking those girls who are showing 'too much'."

Men have been whistling at me since I was a teen and I don't necessarily think it's because they think I am such a rare beauty. I believe that a female walking by is often thought of as an opportunity for some men to present themselves as powerful and in control.

I remember when I was a teenager I would think to myself, "do guys really think this works on girls?" My female friends were always in agreement. I'm not sure how old I was when I came to the realization that many men verbally harassed women because they felt that that is what men are supposed to do. It's a way of proclaiming their sense of being male to the world. Unfortunately men have the wrong idea of what it is to be male. Despite that I am not male I think this is a fair assessment. Patriarchy insists that men prove themselves to women and other men. Street harassment is just one of the many ways in which some men choose to do this. It's not only sickening it is quite sad. What an enormous pressure that men have subjected themselves to.

For more information on Anti-Street Harassment go to
http://streetharassment.wordpress.com



http://stopstreetharassment.com