One woman recently took to the streets of New York in jeans and a t-shirt. For 10 hours she was filmed by a hidden camera in a backpack carried by a man in front of her. Her experience would then by condensed in to a 1:56 minute public service announcement on behalf of Hollaback, an anti-street-harassment group.
The project shows the unsettling truth of how some women are still perceived and treated in today’s society. Street harassment is still a very common activity for some men, and in the video you can see how they genuinely think they are complementing this woman by making unwelcomed advances.
Some comments made toward her were:
“God bless you, mami”
“Hey baby.”
“DAMN.”
“You don’t wanna talk?”
One man literally walked beside her for 4 minutes.
Hollaback states on their website, “Street harassment disproportionately impacts women, people of color, LGBTQ individuals, and young people. Although the degree to which Shoshana gets harassed is shocking, the reality is that the harassment that people of color and LGBTQ individuals face is oftentimes more severe and more likely to escalate into violence.”
The video has already received threats of rape and violence, and Hollaback is requesting help to police it.
Have you been the subject of street harassment? How do you handle it?
