This 4:15 minute video features women recounting instances of sexual harassment and battery by strangers. It’s a wake up call for the kinds of treatment that women routinely receive just by virtue of daring to be in public spaces.
Made by Laura Bates for the The Everyday Sexism Project. Thanks to Mytch for the tip.
Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
Comments 15
Jennifer — August 4, 2013
I grew up reading Stories for Free Children in Ms Magazine in the 70s.
I would have thought other readers of the magazine would have had children who read them too, and maybe their parents read Ms the contents as well.
Then I read stuff like this, and I start to believe I was the only one.
In 2013 this stuff shouldn't be happening.
Parents should be raising girls with voices, and boys with respect, and everyone should have the courage to stand up when it happens in front of them.
Tom Megginson — August 4, 2013
Some transit systems are more proactive about this. My client, York Region Transit, is one of them: http://changemarketing.ca/2012/06/18/yrt-takes-rider-protection-personally-in-our-latest-transit-campaign/
Tusconian — August 4, 2013
But how would that type of thing have helped your sister? Or anyone who was experiencing purely verbal, or physical but not obvious, harassment? This is why the whole "what women should do to avoid rape and harassment" meme is so useless. If you "put someone on the ground with a missing eyeball" for saying something to you, asking you to get into a car, and more than likely, touching you in a nonviolent way, you will (in most cases, rightly) be arrested and tried for assault or battery. "Your honor, I just complimented her appearance and asked her on a date, and then she kicked me in the nuts and ripped my eye out." Yeah, "it was a potential threat" probably wouldn't cut it there. And it assumes that all people are physically capable of taking on all other people with the right training. What happens when a 5 foot nothing 100 pound woman with training encounters a 6 foot 3 300 pound linebacker? Or a man who has been training in martial arts for years himself? I'm a small woman with a less than stellar back due to injuries. No matter how much I train, most men over, say, 5 foot 7 and 150 pounds could overpower me easily unless they're 80 years old or not paying attention. I live in Arizona. Like hell am I wearing any kind of jacket, much less a "stun jacket" every day of my life. And it's unreasonable to expect of every woman in ANY climate. Wouldn't it be a lot easier to expect men to keep themselves just a little bit in check, and you know, not troll the beach looking for 13 year old girlfriends?
Though you sound like the type of guy who hears about rape or domestic abuse cases and says "if that was MY sister the courts would never get to him because I'd beat him to a pulp." And for all of the violently devoted brothers, fathers, boyfriends, and friends you see on the internet, you never seem to hear on the news about them....
Guest — August 28, 2013
Village Idiot, I'm a woman who has been involved in jujitsu for the last 4-5 years off and on, and I agree with you. Before I learned how to defend myself, I would have thought much like others on this site, that a smaller woman would have no chance against nearly any male attacker. But now I know better, and I wish other women did too. Most women are socialized to "fight" attacks with words rather than actions. In some cases, words are not enough. When it's time to stop using words and start acting you should know that you have as much a chance to win as any attacker. Most people, male or female, are not trained to fight, so if you have any training at all, you will have a somewhat relative advantage already. A woman who fights back will probably be a less desirable target because she's willing to give the attacker hell.