Who would happily commit suicide under islamic rule,even women would too!

What a suprise!

I’m glad you stressed the fact that we are all volunteers and NEED help and support rather than another cynical talker. More action and less yappin’ needed!

Both Holly Kearl and Emily May work their asses off for this movement, along with many other visionary men and women.

It is one thing to provide constructive criticism, but I am uncomfortable by your narrow-minded reading of the article. Obviously Alexandra is not trying to undermine the feminist cause, but instead is trying to open a dialogue about the most effective way to address an issue we are all disturbed by. Stomping your feet and shouting isn’t going to do anything unless it is organized, mobilized, and well thought-out which is what this article and this website is trying to move towards. We need to be able to have a conversation and acknowledge our own faults/how we can improve and redesign to most effectively and efficiently stand together and help the cause.

Regarding HollaBack’s position on declining to accept submissions by male readers, she writes:

“Gendered violence and disrespect can go both ways, but in as much as these isolated incidences derive from a larger problem, I cannot help but expect the perpetrator to more often be a man.

Yet May’s exclusion of men does not derive from empirical observations of harassment patterns, but damaging assumptions about the entire male sex.”

I couldn’t help but wonder if I had read this part correctly or if I was missing something. I reread the sentences. Nope; these two sentences really do blatantly contradict themselves. My high school English teacher would be having a fit with his red pen right about now. What is the HollaBackNYC blog, if not an empirical observation of harassment patterns, and what “movement” is Brodsky referring to elsewhere in the article if these hundreds of stories are “isolated incidences”? Breaking these sentences down further, the hypocrisy is painful.

Brodsky: I cannot help but expect the perpetrator to more often be a man.
Brodsky: May’s exclusion of men [from the site]…derives from damaging assumptions about the entire male sex.

Cough.

“Street harassment” is a relatively new term that brings slight pause to even well-educated and well-informed people in urban areas. It is a problem that only recently has been acknowledged and identified as such; this being the case, concrete social change is perhaps a decade away. Blogs like Stop Street Harassment, HollaBackNYC, and its sister sites around the world seek to illustrate, however tedious it may be, the hundreds and thousands of stories of women who otherwise would not speak out. A problem without a name can hardly realize its own solution. These blogs bridge the gap between silence and walking on, and speaking out and demanding social justice.

Brodsky hounds the anti-street harassment blogs on a lack of action and complains that the photos rarely result in arrests or convictions. I want to point out several key accomplishments to date, bearing in mind that HollaBackNYC, for example, only recently acquired its first full time employee in May of this year and operates entirely on in-kind donations and volunteers.

A. HollaBackNYC was founded after the arrest and conviction of a habitual subway flasher whose photo one New Yorker published on the front page of Metro NY.

B. Thirteen arrests were made during an undercover sting operation in which NYPD officers were subjected to flashing, groping, and sexual verbal assaults.

C. The organization helped found New Yorkers for Safe Transit and fought to incorporate anti-sexual harassment announcements and advertisements on NYC subways and buses, which have now become standard operating procedure.

Contradictions and structural discrepancies aside, I found Brodsky’s article to be unnecessarily disparaging of an organization that is still in its infancy, and distastefully disdainful of an individual. Whether Ms. Brodsky seeks to bolster the movement through constructive criticism or bolster her own portfolio, her argument leaves much to be desired. Movements do not happen overnight and HollaBack volunteers will be the first to admit that the organization has a long way to go. Discussion is just the beginning. But for a reputed journal that bills itself as “A Feminist Magazine,” I am quite surprised and frankly disappointed that a fellow activist sees it fit to belittle and wax critical of a blog that has helped serve as the catalyst for a worldwide discussion of gender based harassment, and can only wonder if these grievances are personal.

Poorly researched, factually incorrect, and just plain bad journalism. Yale? Really?

Guess Alexandra knew no one would be reading it anyway and slopped some stuff together willy nilly. It shows.

As I said, I wouldn’t have started my work without them and what wasn’t included in the article was how I see many strengths in the HB model, such as how it is a great way to empower people to share their stories as a method for dealing with an unempowering experience like street harassment, a place to educate the public about the forms street harassment takes, and a site that generates sorely needed media attention for the anti-street harassment movement.

I did start my site because I thought HB didn’t have as many resources as were needed to help women or have information on what bystanders can do or what male allies can do. And I know people can look at my site and find limitations. We are volunteering our time and energy to the movement and do what we can. Anyone who has advice or suggestions, please share it! The anti-street harassment movement needs all the help and support we can get!

As others have said in the comments, there are many ways to give constructive criticism without making personal attacks and I think there were some unfair ones made on Emily in this article. Especially in singling her out when she is one of 6 or 7 co-founders and is now part of a team of people who volunteer time to do HB’s work.

These sites remind us that street harassment is pervasive and threatening (and not flattering). That is fits into the spectrum of culturally accepted gender based violence. That it isn’t about what what you wear or how you dress. That we have a right to walk down the street and feel safe. As we continue to talk about these ideas, we are building tools to further discussion and understanding.

Ultimately, I don’t think that it is about putting a piece of paper in front of legislators and telling them to do something about it. (Though that sure is a good idea!) It is about creating aware and engaged communities that act **together** to stop excusing and promoting a culture of power abuse. When someone confronts a street harasser it changes the culture. When they share their stories it lets others know that they aren’t alone. It may inspire someone else reading it to shake off the shame that we are taught to take on when someone makes a comment. (How dare we leave the house, right!? What did we expect?). It may inspire them to demand respect from the harasser. It might help a bystander find the courage to step in and support someone they see being abused. And finally, it might even be enough to cause a street harasser to think twice about cat-calling.

If we aren’t going to start with sharing our stories, where are we going to start?

Hollaback’s stance is clear — the FAQs state the Hollaback accepts posts from women and LGBTQ individuals. And yet, Alexandra says the the site doesn’t accept posts from “men.” Am I not a man too? Or how about Michael, a bisexual man, who posted a story to Hollaback (the one that Brodsky says she couldn’t find) about being harassed by his male neighbor: http://hollabacknyc.blogspot.com/2009/12/bisexual-men-get-harassed-too.html Is he not a man either?

Furthermore, pitting two feminists against each other in the press is the oldest trick in the book. For Bill O’Reilly at least. But in a feminist magazine? Talk about a “much needed safe space.” If we can’t support each other, what’s the point? This publication should be about recognizing broads, not tearing them down.