Written submission from a member of the public (SPP0053)

I’m submitting this information because as a young women (1980s and 1990s) I know that I was altered by my experience of street harassment, I was fearful when on my own in the street (not just at night).  I felt the need to be constantly watchful.  I feared harassment could turn into physical or sexual assault and that if it did I wouldn’t get justice.  I believe this is still the case for young women today and that unless something is done to change it, nothing will ever change.  I also believe that repeated sexual harassment can be a factor in women internalising unhelpful stereotypes.

Summary in bullets

General

• Harassment is pervasive and happens very regularly to many women.
• Some men, and groups of men, seem to consider it acceptable and probably harass women every day for it to be such a regular occurance.
• It is not always intended to be malicious or aggressive but can lead to the target feeling vulnerable, exposed, unsafe and abused.
• The target always feels objectified.
• Sometimes harassment is aggressive, filthy, deliberately abusive and designed to shame women.
• Sometime if you ignore, answer back or politely reject the man’s comments you can be subjected to a torrent of vile abuse.  This can feel extremely threatening.
• I cannot count the number of times street harassment has happened to me, it is really regular.
• Comments are often sexual and about your personal appearance.
• Women are often taught to placate people and to not escalate situations, this can lead to serious under-reporting of this problem.
• The very real risk of attack looms large in the problem, this is the background fear in the mind of the woman when they are harassed.

Circumstances

• Some men in vans (alone or in a group) shout out to female pedestrians vulgar comments.
• Men in groups are more likely to exhibit this behaviour.
• Some men who’ve drunk alcohol will make vulgar comments to women.
• Some men harass waitresses and bar staff in a public way.
• Some men will deliberately sit or stand next to you on public transport in order to harass you.
• The more a woman is out in public, the more harassment will happen to you.  Therefore it predominantly happens to young women who walk and use public transport, although it can happen car-to-car in a traffic jam (this has happened to me).
• It happens more to young women and school girls than to older women.
• If a woman is on her own her she is more likely to be targeted than if she is in a group.  If she is in a mixed group, it is very unlikely to happen.

Locations

• Building sites, football crowds, crowds near busy pubs on match day, lone men outside pubs, men shouting things from cars or vans, on public transport and walking along the pavement.

A few examples from my own experience

• When walking along the pavement and coming face to face with a group of men, asking to pass them and no-one moving to make space for me.  Me needing to step into the road to pass them, while they made vulgar comments about my appearance.
• Walking along the pavement minding my own business when a men shouted out a vulgar comment of a sexual nature to me.
• At a traffic light in my car when the man in the car next to me was pointing to by car and gesturing for me to open my window, as I did so he subjected me to a vulgar description of what he wanted to do to me.
• My 11 year old daughter in her school uniform was shouted at in a vulgar way by a group of men in a car, which she found scary and confusing. 
• My 11 year old daughter was approached by a drunk man on her way home from school and was offered money for sex.
• As a younger woman I have been followed several times.
• I have been chased on one occasion.
• Numerous times men or groups of men have blocked my way deliberately.
• In the city centre I have been offered money for sex several times, even during the day on my way to work dressed in office clothes.
• I have had people come and sit next to me on the train / bus/ tram, thus blocking my exit, then proceed to harass me.
• A man deliberately ran into me whilst running for no reason apart from knowing he would get away with it.
• A friend reports that racial abuse when targeted to women often also has a sexual element to the slur.

Consequences

• Women can feel that they can’t have power in a public space, that they have no option but to accept this as part of the culture.  They have to put up with it.
• Many women believe there’s nothing you can do and they try to not dwell on it.
• It can ruin your day.
• If a women already has problems or difficulties in her life, the experiences of being targeted can make her feel worse. 
• Women can feel that have to operate by men’s rules in a public space.
• Street harassment is just one aspect of the incessant negative social experiences based on their gender that some women can have to deal with, these can have a significant effect on women’s mental health.  Women have higher rates of mental distress.
• As there is no clear and effective way to challenge this behaviour, it can feel like your power and self-determination have been taken from you.

My  recommendations

• Companies should be made to train their staff on how to speak to the public and to provide mechanisms for the public to report harassment. 
• A open-directory of the number of street harassment reports against employees from different companies, gives visibility on those who do well at training their staff in appropriate engagement with the public.
• Companies whose employees commit street harassment should be fined.
• There could be a duty on any public servant: police, doctor, school crossing patrol etc to challenge this behaviour when they see it.
• In USA, there is a lot of sharing of images of those men who do this type of harassment.  I wonder if it is an effective deterrent or if sites like this just become an echo chamber? https://www.ihollaback.org,

http://www.stopstreetharassment.org/2018/02/usa-breaking-news-street-harassment/

• In Quasi-public places - hospital, shopping centre, restaurant, pub - there must be a zero tolerance approach to harassment.  Employers who do not bar those who harass their staff or female members of the public should be guilty of an offense. This helps set the standard for society. 
• Furthermore quasi-public places - hospital, shopping centre, restaurant, pub should become safe spaces for a woman suffering harassment.  With initiatives such as ‘Ask for Angela’ http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/code-word-campaign-bad-dates-alert-bar-staff-a7371171.html

Expanded and incorporating all kinds of situation where a person might need help.

• Police need to understand that this is a type of social violence that is part of the ‘drip, drip’ effect that is very undermining for women and they need to take a holistic approach to understanding that it is part of a much bigger problem. 
• Schools should have a policy that schoolgirls should report to staff incidents. 
• Schools should give students strategies on how they can respond to these incidents.
• Men who do not harass should be encouraged to take it seriously and should be given examples of what they can do to support those targetted.

March 2018