Rae from GFN just posted a link to a BBC article, which I shamelessly stuck up on my own Facebook profile, too. It was about men abusing women in the street, and the Hollaback initiative that was set up for women who'd experienced this, to post on the website what happened and where, and also, if they like, to put a photo up of whoever did it.
This started in NYC but there's now a UK forum, too, you can find it here on blogspot, and similar ones are being set up in countries across the world. I think it's a really great idea, and even if you don't take a picture to upload, it's still nice to know that there are plenty of others out there experiencing the same thing as you, and it might help give you the courage to shout something back. The sisterhood of feminism, feel the love!
Some of the stories you read on the blog are quite scary - tales of women being followed by packs of men in cars; men following women in the street after their 'funny, sexy' comments were met with a grim BLANK; men sticking their hands up a woman's skirt in the street; people being groped on the train...
Some of the stories have a good ending, with the woman confronting the man and asking what the hell he thought he was doing, calling him a perv, or managing to take a photo of him, and these, at least, are quite uplifting and the theme there seems to be: as soon as you stand up for yourself and make a bit of noise the man becomes mortified, apolosgies and slinks off.
But the over-riding theme of these posts is fear. A woman being scared to continue the two blocks to her own flat after dropping off her friends; a woman being scared on the Tube after previously being assaulted; women feeling so embarrassed and angry that they just doesn't say anything.
The fear is, of course, totally justified. Whilst a lot of men, if confronted, look shame-faced and sidle off with their tail between their legs (no pun intended!), there are men who would become aggressive or even violent if a woman he'd just abused in the street dared shout something back.
While it's a good idea taking photos of men who shout at you or feel you up, imagine sticking your camera-phone in the face of an unknown man when you were on your own in the middle of Glasgow. Scary thought, isn't it? I wouldn't say that you shouldn't shout back, take a pic or even deliver a swift kick to the shins of anyone who degrades you like this in the street, but I would say 'know your enemy,' and watch out for your own safety above all else.
Recently when I was in the Tesco Express at Charing Cross, I bent over to get something off the bottom shelf, and stuck my be-jeaned bum in the air as I did so. Whilst I was bent over the security guard said to me, 'Alright hen, gonna give us a wee dance there?' And then walked on without a backwards glance. I was so shocked and taken aback that - yup, you guessed it - I didn't say anything back, much less take a photo.
But I'll tell you one thing, after reading these stories on HollabackUK...
I bloody well will next time!
Clara xx
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