Campaign steps up against street harrasment

Katie Finnegan-Clarke was walking to her local pub in Easton and, in the space of just 10 minutes, was verbally harassed by three different groups of men. “I don’t take crap,” she says vehemently, “but they were aggressive and I was badly shaken up”.

But instead of just shrugging it off as something that just happens she started talking about the abuse and harassment she had received. Speaking to her friends she realised that “this is like an epidemic but we have all learnt to ignore it and accept it”.

And the more she started to talk about it, the more she realised that collectively women had the opportunity to do something about street harassment.

Working with ihollaback, the international movement to end harassment, she helped set up BS5 Against Street Harassment. The group was born as an informal gathering of experiences of abuse in the area, ranging from cat calling and homophobia slurs to exposure and threats of rape. The group have run a series of events and have now organised their first workshop this weekend to tackle the issue of street harassment in BS5.

Although there is little data available, anecdotal evidence has highlighted the Bristol and Bath Railway Path as a particular hot spot. Celia Davis, from community action group Up Our Street, is one of the women helping to put on the workshop.

“I go running and have changed my route from the cycle path because every time I went on it some bloke would yell at me,” she says.

“We don’t really know what the extent of harassment is in Bristol so this is an invitation to talk about experiences and what can we do to tackle intimidation.”

Exactly. #BristolBathRailwayPath #STWTS http://t.co/eyRPn9HA6L pic.twitter.com/bS8npATZ63

— Emily Baughan (@Emily_Baughan) April 26, 2015

On a practical level the group have helped to campaign for the deep vegetation on the path to been cleared and supported posters distributed by the US based action group Stop Telling Women To Smile.

The group are also focusing long term on better lighting in the BS5 area, permanent anti-street harassment signs and ongoing upkeep of the cycle path.

But the group have also been active helping and encouraging women to report abuse and coming up with strategies to help them deal with abusers.

Kate Grant is one of the organisers of BS5 Against Street Harassment and says education as the key to addressing harassment. The group have come up with cards which they hand out to men who shout abuse which explains the impact of their actions. “Some are bemused, some are embarrassed and usually try to divert it with humour,” she explains.

“We ask them to consider how they would feel if someone was shouting at their mother or sister like that.”

“Personally I feel that street harassment happens because of a power imbalance in society,” say Celia.

“It feeds into gender inequality, education, changing perception and young men’s perception of women through internet pornography.”

However, as the organisers of the group point out, to limit the problem to one neighbourhood in east Bristol is to ignore the global problem which street harassment is. It’s estimated that more than 85% of women have suffered street harassment at some point in their life.

Campaigns like ihollaback and the Everyday Sexism project are trying to break the cycle of silence about the issue. “It’s important that people report to ihollaback who map and chart experiences,” says Kate.

“As more people become aware we can form responses and community resolutions.”

“It’s not a BS5 issue,” says Katie. “There is a strong community in BS5 and I felt it was doable. To tackle street harassment at a city level just felt overwhelming so I decided to focus on hot spots.”

Unsurprisingly pubs and clubs are other harassment hot spots. As part of the Good Night Out campaign Katie has worked with eight bars in Bristol to tackle harassment and she is looking to recruit more people to volunteer to train bar staff to handle harassment situations reported by women.

“I’m doing this for my 14-year-old self who was harassed by men hanging out of van driving down Cold Harbour Lane,” says Katie. “It was the first time that I felt unsafe and self-concious about how I looked.

“It’s an issue that has always been around but there will be more campaigns against street harassment; it’s going to happen and there is not a way of protecting women but this is a way of letting them know that it’s not just happening to them.”

The BS5 Stop Street Harassment workshop takes place on June 11 between 10am – 12pm at the Silai Centre.

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