Yesterday while alighting from a car, an uncouth youth randomly told me I was sexy. While it’s true that I was wearing a particularly fierce lipstick, is this sort of street chatter really desirable? For some people, such behaviour can be an amusing flip to buoy one’s spirits, but for some, such conduct is intolerable. And sometimes, the conduct is much worse and it feels like nothing can be done about it.
Cue the good people at Hollaback!, a crowdsourcing project that allows women to share their stories online and provides a mobile phone to shine a light on the perpetrators. Following on from other initiatives to address abuse (like the women-only taxis in Mexico) Hollaback! seeks to raise public awareness and unite women in an online community.
On the site, women can share their stories of harassment so they feel less isolated as well as being able to SMS Hollaback! with or without a picture of the perpetrator or the location which can be posted on Hollaback!’s map. The site is run by volunteers and is currently looking for event planners, DJs and grant-writers to spread the word.
As for the men, there’s no word of a website to encourage women to harass them. Come on, ladies, do your bit!
Published on 6 July 2011 by Esmerelda Clark