Person walks for 10 hours in NYC, over 100 instances of harrassment videoed

[Deleted]

Article: http://gothamist.com/2014/10/28/woma...or_10_hour.php

Video:

So...

This person goes out and walks through NYC for 10 hours. Her friend walks a few paces ahead of her with a backpack on, and a camera hidden in the backpack which is constantly recording. Over 100 instances of street harassment took place, not including winks, whistles, etc.

I'm going to get the "Some of these aren't even harassment!" stuff out of the way right at the start. Yes, we all have different definitions of harassment. Some of you may not consider things like "smile, beautiful" or "Hey gorgeous" as harassment while other people would. I get that and no one is going to change anyone's mind on it, however there are a bunch of things in there that constitute street harassment by most people's definition. Also please try to consider that, even if you don't consider one person shouting "Hey sexy!" after you as you walk by to be harassment, or telling you to smile or whatever, these things don't happen in a vacuum. I think it's difficult to understand the cumulative impact of what's happening from the other person's perspective, because like, you just said one small thing and they "totally ignored me! how rude!" - but if you can't go out for an hour without 10 people trying to stop you in the street, it starts to add up, you know? One thing like "Hey beautiful" may not seem much like a big deal, but if two minutes ago someone else said "Somebody's acknowledging you for being beautiful—you should say thank you!" then what you've said takes on a different tone. Will talk a bit more about this in a moment.

Anyway, let's take a proper look at this. So, the article is pretty... Well, I realise that it's tackling male -> female street harassment, but it comes off a bit too much like "Men never understand this because they are always the ones doing the harassing!" which I don't really think is fair, women can be just as bad, although it probably happens with more frequency to women than from them (I'm sure there is evidence to support this but I'm just going to assume it's true and not bother checking - if someone wants to correct me on this, please do!) so in terms of this cumulative weight that the video, I feel, is trying to highlight, it's probably more relevant to this side of the discussion.

Now, this whole issue of the cumulative impact of harassment... Like I said earlier, it's important - I think, to realise that what you're saying isn't said in a vacuum. I mean, we are pretty aware of this in other aspects of our life, like, if you're at work and you go out on your lunch break to the shop down the road to get a sandwich. If someone from greenpeace stops you and tries to talk to you and you don't have time, you might be like "sorry I can't right now" and that's cool and we just sort of forget about it. On the other hand, if while you are out for your hour lunch break, 10 people (Taking 100+ people in 1 hours, divide that down to 10 people in 1 hour) tried to stop you to donate to charity, maybe one is greenpeace, one is friends of the earth, one is oxfam, one is guide dogs for the blind, one is british red cross, one is Médecins Sans Frontières, etc etc etc, almost anyone would start to get pissy about it. Now imagine that happened every day for 10 days straight. Even though none of them may be doing anything "over the line" it would still probably bother most people. But what if some of them DID do something that crossed the line. In the UK charity people aren't allowed to follow you for more than 2 or 3 steps, by law, I believe. What if one of them followed you for 5 minutes talking at you while you were totally silent, trying to get you to donate. The next one might do nothing wrong, but your view of them is going to be tainted by it. I think people sort of forget this when it comes to talking at other people in the street trying to flirt with them or attract their attention. I'm not sure if it's fair to hold someone in a bad light because of something someone else said a few minutes ago, but it's quite difficult to not be at least bothered by it, you know?

So, what do you think?

[Deleted]

So, what do you think?

I think this is a perfect example, and conclusive proof, why bitching about gamers being somehow exceptionally misogynist is completely ridiculous, vis a vis #GamerGate.

[Deleted]

In b4 MRA.

Couple of months ago there were those people in one of these threads saying 'saying smile to someone is friendly'. Get out of here champs.

[Nadiru]

Based upstanding gentlemen of African and Latino descent.

[moremana]

Flawed.

Its in a controlled environment. NYC, I mean cmon, its NY

[potis]

So, she is wearing incredibly tight clothing which every male and the females knows what it causes to a male and she isnt supposed to get any responses?

The whistling and verbal harassment is annoying yes but its USA so its not surprising and its pretty much what they do over there.

So what exactly is the point of the video ?

That males respond to yoga pants?

[Deleted]

Are "Have a nice evening" and "how are you this morning?" considered harassment? That's just being a decent human being

Don't be naive.

[Ryme]

Many aren't harassment, but I think this is a great video. As a male no one ever speaks to me on the street unless they're lost, so this was eye opening for me.

[Deleted]

Some approaches are far from gentleman like. Yet I find it more disturbing that you call this harassment.
Is it abnormal that people approach her? /close thread.

[Deleted]

Are "Have a nice evening" and "how are you this morning?" considered harassment? That's just being a decent human being

Well, like I said, that depends on your definitions. I feel like this is a good example because there's "something here for everyone". Also like I said, a lot can depend on context and other things that have been said. It might not be a big deal if it's the only one person who says that once on a day, but if it is directly after someone tries to stop you for something else considerably worse, it all just adds to the whole "PLEASE EVERYONE JUST LEAVE ME ALONE" feeling.

[Jaojin]

I think humans are basically animals and such displays are common in the animal kingdom (males trying to entice females to mate with attention getting displays). Say what you want about higher brain functions, when it comes down to it, every animal on this planet displays similar base instincts... and we (as a species) are no exception.

Do I condone harassment? No. Am I surprised or appalled by it? No.

[Kaykay]

Wow that is creepy :P i do not envy her having to put up with that.

When someone walks past you and does not respond to your "hey thar gurl!" you probably should take that as a sign of disinterest, and not stalk the poor thing

[Raunchy]

Stuff like this is never going to change, mind as well ignore it because its gonna be there if you want it or not.

[Deleted]

So, she is wearing incredibly tight clothing which every male knows what does to us and she isnt supposed to get any responses?

The whistling and verbal harassment is annoying yes but its USA so its not surprising and its pretty much what they do over there.

So what exactly is the point of the video ?

That males respond to yoga pants?

Why does tight clothing make it okay? And you do yoga in jeans and a tshirt?

[Kruncholyo]

Well, here's RadFem's answer:

http://witchwind.wordpress.com/2014/...ety-look-like/

(hint: to no one's surprise its "kill most of the men in the world)

In all seriousness, this video would be similar if a white guy walked through very nonwhite parts of Washington DC or Chicago or Baltimore, only there would be a real risk of assault & battery. It's not "MEN" or "MAN CULTURE" that's the problem, it's New York City low class culture that's the problem shown here.
#NotAllMen

[Deleted]

Some are patently absurd and definitely don't merit the term of harassment, others do, others go further; Note the guy who followed her.

It's an interesting video, in an "Interesting" city.

But the people on Gen-OT aren't the type to generally follow the mindset echoed by, shall we say, those fine upstanding citizens.

[Deleted]

Some approaches are far from gentleman like. Yet I find it more disturbing that you call this harassment.
Is it abnormal that people approach her? /close thread.

Why do you not feel that someone following you talking to you for 5 minutes trying to get your attention while you completley ignore them and keep walking head forward is not harassment?

[Masark]

every male knows what does to us

It deprives you of any residual traces of intellect and restraint?

[Delekii]

Without people (male or female) making romantic advances, the human race would cease to exist.

Some of them are clearly harassment, but simply showing interest is not. Unless someone is wearing a sign saying they are not interested, there is nothing wrong with trying - provided you don't push the point if the interest is not reciprocated.

[Masark]

Is it abnormal that people approach her?

Apparently not, which is the problem.