Street Harassment Warrior, Holly Kearl

By Padmalatha Ravi on Monday, January 10, 2011 - 18:35

Holly Kearl was named the ‘Hero of 2010 for standing up to sexism’ by the Guardian. She is the author of what’s probably the only comprehensive book on Street Sexual harassment. She lives in Washington DC, works for American Association of University Women (AAUW) and is the national street harassment expert. Padmalatha Ravi caught up with spunky Holly in an email interview.

27-year-old Holly Kearl has been fighting against street harassment for the past four years through her website Stop Street Harassment and blog companion blog and her book ‘Stop Street Harassment: Making Public Places Safe and Welcoming for Women.’ She writes articles on the very subject for various publications and presents papers at conferences like the 3rd International Conference on Safety for Women: Building Inclusive Cites in Delhi, India.

What was the tipping point at which you decided to take on sexual harassment (SH)?

During the fall of 2006 I had to select a topic for my master’s thesis at George Washington University in Washington, DC. I had recently read about a new website called HollaBackNYC that encouraged women to share their stories about street harassment online. I had never heard the term street harassment before, but I immediately recognized it from my own life. In public places, men I do not know have honked and whistled at me hundreds of times, made sexually explicit comments, followed me, and one man even grabbed me sexually when I was on the street. In college, I experienced this type of harassment daily. I rarely talked about it though and hadn’t made the connection that this was a form of gender violence. Once I did, I decided to write my thesis on the topic, particularly how women were using websites like HollaBack NYC to deal with it and talk about it.

Your thesis was on how women are using Internet for combating SH. What were your learnings?

I had a few general findings. In a survey of 250 people, I found that most women had not heard of the term street harassment nor did they know about the websites. But I don’t think that’s unusual given how new the sites were and how, four years later, few people still know the term street harassment.

When I analyzed hundreds of stories on six websites, I found that women were very grateful to have a place to share their stories and to realize they weren’t alone in dealing with the harassment. There used to be two non-HollaBack websites that had resources and strategies for dealing with harassers. Those sites had many “success” stories, where women said they’d read the tips on the site and used them and got an apology from a harasser or otherwise felt empowered in how they responded to them. I also found that the websites, particularly the HollaBack sites, were great at raising public awareness about this problem. The HollaBack sites receive tons of media attention, bringing a rarely-discussed topic into the public arena.

You too have used Internet space for the same purpose, how effective has it been?

About a year after I turned in my thesis, I realized that the two sites with resources and tips weren’t around anymore, so I started www.stopstreetharassment.com to fill that gap and provide as many resources and tips as I could. I also started a companion blog for people anywhere in the world to share their stories because at the time, only some cities had HollaBack website but street harassment is a problem all over the world. My strategies page is one of the most visited and I’ve had emails from many people who have said they have helped them. I have heard from people that the stories help them feel less alone and give them a place to have a voice.

On January 12, I will be launching a new Male Allies series on my blog and once a week men will share their views and ideas around this issue to help engage other men in this important topic. My dad is a big ally and will write the first blog post. Already for the first two months I have men not only in the US but in India and Malaysia signed up and I hope to have more men from other countries participate.

Online activism is great, but it of course is limited and offline activism is important too. I’ve started doing some of this through community talks and participating in hearings on street harassment and look forward to doing more soon.

Common belief is that in a place like United States (developed countries) women have greater freedom and sexual harassment isn't a big issue. But from your work it s apparent that it is not true. Your comment.

It is true that in many ways, women in the United States and other areas like Canada and Europe can move through public spaces with greater freedom than women in other countries. There are no laws against it as there are in some countries and it’s socially acceptable. Male harassment and the threat of male attack, however, keep many women from feeling able to go in public at night and sometimes during the day if they are alone. This is definitely not talked about and it’s a hidden problem. If they experience lots of street harassment, it can cause women to change routes, change clothes, and even move neighborhoods or change jobs. That is not equality.

What do you think are the reasons for this kind of behaviour from men?

There isn’t enough research on this topic, unfortunately. In one of the only studies on the topic, conducted by Cheryl Benard and Edit Schlaffer who interviewed 60 men who harassed them, they found that only 15 percent of the men said they intentionally wanted to humiliate and anger women. Other reasons why men harass women include out of boredom, to show off for their friends. In reading a lot about masculinity (particularly in the USA), I found that men street harass to perform masculinity and to prove their masculinity to themselves, their friends, and the woman. They also may have internalized the cultural disrespect for women so much that they see nothing wrong with commenting on a woman’s body, touching her, or following her and even think they are being nice or complimentary. I certainly think that in countries that have more gender equity, you’re going to see less street harassment, compared to countries where there is a huge gap.

Tell us about your book, how did it come about? What has the response to the book been like?

When I was doing the research for my master’s thesis, I quickly realized how little had been written on the topic in articles or books. At the encouragement of my parents, I set out to write a book to help fill the gap. I was lucky, I had a book contract a few months after I submitted book proposals and my book came out a year after I signed the contract. I’ve received very positive feedback from a range of people: university professors, sexual assault and street harassment activists, and teenage readers. They have all found the book thorough but also accessible to a non-academic reader. One of the program managers for UNIFEM’s Safe Cities project quoted my book at an International Conference in November and when I spoke with her afterward, she had nothing but praise for my book. That meant a lot!

You were in Delhi at UNIFEM’s safe city event. What was your experience like?

Attending and presenting at the 3^rd International Conference on Women’s Safety: Building Inclusive Cities was a great experience. I met individuals from dozens of countries who are working on similar issues. It was amazing to meet women from the United Nations, Jagori, and Women in Cities International who are all working in such diverse areas and ways to make cities safer for women.

It was interesting to see some of the different contexts of the issue, such as women feeling unsafe walking to get water or use the public toilet in developing countries as opposed to women feeling unsafe going to the clubs in developed countries. And also interesting to see the similarities: all over the world women face harassment on their way to work or the markets and girls face it on their way to school. It was interesting and enlightening to hear from women with disabilities, immigrant women, refugee women, and slum dwellers about the specific concerns they face regarding safety.

I would have liked to see more men at the conference and more discussion about treating the root causes (like looking at what we can teach in schools to help change the socialization of children to think harassment is okay rather than only thinking about adding more street lamps to dark areas that make women feel unsafe).

I am still absorbing everything that I learned. And also what I saw during the four additional days I spent in India (my first trip). I was shocked by the lack of women in public spaces, on the buses, etc.

I would love to see the US start doing city safety audits the way many other cities around the world are, including the ones Jagori has been conducting in Delhi.

Do you have plans to expand your work to other countries, if yes, how?

I hope to make my website accessible in other languages in the next year or so. I also hope to do more international talks. I have made many great connections with activists in other countries and hope to strengthen those connections, make more, etc. I already highlight relevant news that happens around the world and will continue to do so.

What are your future plans?

In the short term, launch my ‘Male Allies’ section this month. I’m in conversation with a few web developers and hope to hire someone to take my website to the next level. I have several book talks coming up in the spring. Beyond that, I have a lot of ideas for activism and will have to see which ones I can pursue!

Please add anything else you might want to share with our readers.

Know that street harassment/eve teasing/sexual harassment is not your fault and that you can be part of the solution to end it. It’s your right to be in public without facing harassment and fearing assault and you can speak up, share your stories, help each other out.

Padmalatha Ravi, is Founder and Editor, Just Femme and Associate Editor, Citizenmatters.in