Street Harassment and A Funny Way to Deliver the Message

Shoshana Roberts 
(Source: news.com.au)

Remember the blogpost I did entitled, "The Way Women are Treated by Men in Sweet TnT"? In that post I spoke about the negative way some Trinidadian men approach women in our country and in return, received many responses from Trinidadian women who said they could relate to the issues raised. Well this is a follow up to that post. I recently came across a video of a woman who, in an attempt to raise awareness for this issue, walked 10 hours through the streets of New York as a social experiment. With a hidden camera on the back of a man who walked in front of her, recording every moment of the daunting 10 hours, the results were overwhelming, far reaching and ongoing.

The director of the video was a man by the name of Rob Bliss and the woman who agreed to be the bait for this much needed exposé was Shoshana Roberts. I found out that in America, the issue is termed "Street Harassment" and has been the source of public conflict for some time. But that conflict reached its climax when Rob Bliss and his team released the video of Shoshana to raise awareness that would hopefully put an end to    street harassment.

The video seen above shows Shoshana walking through the streets of New York as several men try to get her attention with unwanted responses ranging from a simple "hello" and "smile" to men following her and asking for her number. Men so bent on getting her attention that when they said something to her and they didn't receive a  response from her they began asking her if the reason she didn't talk back to them was because they were ugly. The video depressed me so much that I knew I had to address it. This is an issue so profoundly disturbing because it infringes on a person's right to walk the streets in peace without being bombarded. It's kind of like being ambushed by a swarm of bees or mosquitoes. But these aren't unruly insects, these are men, people who have no regard for a person's right to privacy, and no respect for women or themselves. Shoshana herself agreed to be in the video because she has been a victim of this many, many times.

I used to respond when I was younger but when I realized my level of comfort while walking the streets ebbing away I knew something was up. If you are saying hello to one random person then you should say it to all.  Why not say hello to every single person you see. Old men, young children, the homeless, businessmen in their shinny suits ... EVERYONE! But no. You single out one person who is attractive to you and then, whether she likes it or not, you make sure she sees, or hears you. If she exercises her free will to not respond, then something is wrong with her.

The video is linked to a movement to end street harassment called "Hollaback!" You can learn more about the video here and more about Hollaback here.The director of the whole experiment said it was exhausting to be around and to watch as guy after guy targeted Shoshana. The worst part of this for me was observing the comments of the men who viewed the video. It has been reported that after featuring in the video Shoshana recieved rape threats. Here is a small indication of what men think of the video. After featuring a snap shot of the video on my facebook page to promote the post, I received this unwelcome comment from a fellow facebooker.

In addition to these comments were the video parodies that mimics the original in a bid to make it sound as if women are making a big deal about nothing. I really laughed at this one.

Here is the best responce to the video above.

So to all the parodies I have some video responses of my own. Check out these videos. The first is a link to "The Daily Show" where he addresses the topic of street harassment using one of his associates - Jessica in a segment called "Jessica's Feminized Atmosphere". Click here to view. (Wait a few seconds for the commercial to finish) The second video below is aptly named smile and hails from a youtube channel entitled "The Get Go".

These videos made me laugh so hard! Anyway, after all the hollaballoo, let us remember that at the base of this subject matter is the issue of human dignity and respect. The women who support the street harassment movement are ordinary women. They love to be complimented and told they are beautiful, but compliments have their place and time. Let's learn to respect and honor each other as we go through this journey called life.

The Way Women are Treated by Men in Sweet TnT

As a young woman born and raised on the twin Island of Trinidad and Tobago, I must say that I love my country. I am a patriot to the bone. In the words of calypsonian David Rudder, "Sweet, sweet Tnt, oh how ah love up meh country!"To me it is the best place in the world to live. Having said this, there are a few things that annoy me about Trinidad. I will only address one at this time and that is the way women are treated by men in Trinidad.

Please don't get me wrong. I love Trinidadian men! In fact I have more male friends here than female friends and for me good friends are extremely hard to find so it's saying a lot. Let me further clarify that the situations I am about to address are not pointing to all Trinidadian men. There are many respectable,
humble and great men whom I look up to
and admire. Now that I've made that
abundantly clear, let me get into what annoys me:

1. The demand that you must greet them when you pass them on the street.

          It is the worst thing for me to be walking down the street with my thoughts on the activities of my 

          day and pass a man only to hear 'Goodmorning' said to me in a very demanding tone.

          First off, it should be my choice whether I wish to say 'goodmorning' to you. If I choose not to

          say it, this shouldn't be taken as an offence. Even if you do take offence keep it to yourself. Don't  

          demand that I say it even when I am well on my way. Case in point, I was on my way to class

          one afternoon and I observed a couple passing a middle-aged man sitting on the ledge of a wall.
          They walked by him without even so much as a glance. He said nothing. When it was my turn

          however, the moment I passed him I heard a very loud and fierce tone of voice directed at me

          telling me good evening. I rolled by eyes and kept walking. It was a tone of voice that said to me, 

          "How dare you pass me without saying anything. You must acknowledge my presence!"

Again, please understand, I am a mannerly person. I greet people when I see the appropriateness of the circumstance. For instance, I walk into an establishment like a community clinic, I greet my fellow patients. I approach the teller of a bank and I greet him/her with goodmorning. A child in school uniform passes me on the street and respectfully says "Good day", I respond. I shouldn't be subjected to saying goodmorning when it isn't called for just because you demand it of me! Cah-PEESH? If it had been a male pedestrian passing him, would he be so forthright to make sure he was greeted by him? If this only happened to me once or twice I wouldn't mention it but it happens to me all the time.

     2. They demand your attention even when you are quite some distance away.

         This one is a little less aggressive but annoying all the same. Once again you may as a woman be
         walking on your way to work or to an important appointment or engagement when you may hear
         a voice calling out to you, "DARLIN'... DARLIN!" The urgency of the call compels you
         reluctantly to look. When you do, you see a male stranger nodding his head your way, "GOOD
         MORNING!" he yells across two lanes of traffic across a wide, noisy road. Do I know this
         person? You ask yourself confused. Nope! With a steups you continue on your way unnerved at
         the 8 seconds you wasted wondering if you knew him. It is most annoying especially when you
         foresee the unpleasant scene of walking through a group of men gathered on a street corner for
         whatever reason. You cross the street to avoid them only to have them call out to you from the
         other side of the street, "Good morning!"

My dear brothers, my countrymen, you are not doing yourselves any favours when you act this way. This behaviour is NOT mannerly. In fact it is the opposite. Imagine I am a man walking past you. Will you demand that he tells you 'Good morning'? No you won't. Then don't demand it of me. It shines a bad light on you and on other men who are more respectful of women and of themselves. If a woman says nothing to you when she makes her way through the streets of TnT let it go. You don't have to succumb to desperate acts to secure the attention of every woman who catches your eye. Apart from bringing a bad reputation upon yourself, you are also walking into sexual harassment territory. Speaking of sexual harassment, this brings me to my 3rd and final point of how men treat women in Trinidad and Tobago.


      3. Cat calls can become abusive...literally.

          Sooting, cat calling and lame pic up lines has become the norm within Trini culture.
          We have become so used to it as women that we have ceased to see it for what it really is - sexual
          harassment. Sooting - that loud hissing sound that men use to get a woman's attention. When
          she looks, it is considered some kind of conquest. Most times the sooting is followed by words
          describing what the woman looks like in most explicit terms. "The Adventures of Alias" - a
          youtuber - does an excellent job of explaining what these pick up line may sound like in the
          video below:

        Now that we've been thoroughly entertained by Mr. Alias, let's return to the matter on a serious
        note. I have been the victim of this scenario too many times. I will give you the most harrowing
        experience of them all and let you judge for yourself. I was on my way to church one Wednesday
        evening when I heard someone shout out "RAS... GOOD AFTERNOON RAS". I was the only
        person on that street at that particular time so I was sure that he was referring to me and yet I
        refused to turn around. I could hear the rumble of the car engine as the man slowed his vehicle
        to a stop allowing it to idle in the street as he awaited my response. I kept on walking without the
        slightest hint of acknowledgement. He called out to me again with the same "AFTERNOON
        RAS!" I Kept my head straight and kept on walking. 'That isn't my name' I mumbled softly to
        myself. He kept on calling and I kept on walking. Finally in a fit of rage I heard him utter an
        expletive, "F***ING RASTA" before zooming off wildly in his vehicle.

This was totally unbelievable to me. If I had not experienced it I would not have believed that someone would go through such lengths to get attention. I don't say these things to put our countrymen in a bad light but rather to bring awareness for their benefit. Women of TnT, is it just me or is this also your experience as a woman living in Trinidad and Tobago? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.