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Document the facts - share your experience of street harassment
 
 
UPCOMING EVENTS | PAST EVENTS | ONGOING ACTIONS
 
PAST EVENTS:   2003   2002   2001   2000

SHP AT LADYFEST*EAST: FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 20TH

SHP conducted a workshop.

COUNTER HARASSMENT PARTY: JULY 12 + 19, 2002

The SHP organized another Counter Harassment Party. The group met in Washington Square Park and broke off into groups from there.

SHP AT NOMAS CONFERENCE (NYACK, NY): WEEKEND OF JUNE 7-9

The SHP participated in a three-day conference of the National Organization for Men Against Sexism at the Stony Point Conference Center in Nyack, NY.

SHP MARKS TWO-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF CENTRAL PARK ATTACKS: SATURDAY, JUNE 8TH, NOON

The Street Harassment Project joined forces with NOW-NYC and other activist groups at a rally/press conference on Saturday, June 8 in Central Park to remember and renew our outrage at the sexist lack of response by the police to sexual attacks on 56 women by groups of men on June 11, 2000, as well as our anger at the harassment that women face each day.


SHP COUNTER HARASSMENT PARTY: MAY 11, 2002


The men pictured on this page picked the wrong women to harass!

On May 11th, 2002 the Street Harassment Project held it's second annual "Rights of Spring" event. Last year we held a rally to mark the first day of spring and the beginning of warmer weather when the level of street harassment rises with the temperature.

This year we decided to expand on a concept we had come up with earlier, which is a 'counter harassment party.' The basic premise is that a woman is usually alone and isolated when attacked by a street harasser but if she had a group of women there to support her then she could give the harasser a taste of his own medicine. We believe that if this practice spread among women we could make a real dent in street harassment in general because it would no longer be a rewarding activity for harassers.

We started early with a teach-in at Bluestockings Bookstore. Twenty-three women attended in all. First we shared our stories of street harassment and then went on to tell our "fantasy" version of what we would like to do when confronted by a street harasser. We then wrote down the various tactics that women came up with and divided up into three teams. Some were more comfortable with a more educational approach while others were for all-out confrontation. One group headed to the Union Square area, another to the West Village and the other to Chelsea. There were two hours to do the actual counter harassment, then we met back to report our experiences. They varied from mild to very in-your-face! Some women reported that a real sense of trust and bonding developed within their group as they supported each other in confronting harassers. All the women expressed a sense of power and a desire to see more of these actions!

Upon several women's suggestions we plan to hold these "walks" or "parties" in the different bouroughs and expand it beyond Manhattan.


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An article about the May 11th event can be read online at www.nyc.indymedia.org.

Unfortunately there's been some negative response to the article. While we are dismayed at the sexism on Indymedia, a leftist news site, we will not be deterred or turned back- we will continue to organize women to fight sexism. We urge you to take a moment to read about us, and also read our Open Letter in response to the mixed reactions on Indymedia.