Hollaback! Launches Apps To Map Street Harassment
A screen shot of Hollaback's app.
Here at Where Is Your Line?, we have addressed a connection between street harassment and sexual violence over and over again. The silence around gender-based violence is extreme in regards to street harassment, a pervasive and ignored form of violence against women and LGBTQ people that anyone who has ever left their homes can surely talk about. The only way to end it is to talk about it- and that is something we strive for at THE LINE Campaign through our submissions, stickers, and screenings.
On November 8th, Hollaback!, an organization leading the movement to end street harassment, announced in the New York Times the launch of their groundbreaking smartphone apps. The apps have the capability to track and map where and when harassment happens, in real time.
“Street harassment is a gateway crime. It is one of the most persistant and pervasive forms of gender-based violence, but it is rarely reported,” said Emily May, executive director of Hollaback!. It is also a fleeting crime, committed by strangers who too often disappear before action can be taken. With no recourse, harassers are free to keep harassing, leaving victims to believe that harassment is part of city life. Hollaback! doesn’t buy it. “We believe that taxes are the price you pay for living in the city, not street harassment,” said May.
When users sign into the iPhone app, they will be given choice to Hollaback! with or without a picture, describing the type of harassment: verbal, flashing, groping, assault, or other. A GPS mapping feature automatically tracks where the harassment is taking place, and maps it on iHollaback.org. The user gets an email entitled “You Hollaback’ed!” and is encouraged to tell the rest of her story when she is safely back at her computer. The iPhone app will pilot in the U.S., with plans to expand internationally and onto other smartphone platforms.
“The Hollaback! App creates a safe, action-oriented response to street harassment that will establish a powerful case for why street harassment simply is not OK,” said Hollaback! board member and co-founder, Samuel Carter. On Hollaback!’s blog, stories include verbal comments like the one from June 30, “I want to f*** the sh*t out of you” and stories of groping, like the one from May 27 where a women’s breast was grabbed by a man wearing a suit and a wedding ring.
The Hollaback! project was initially launched as a blog in 2005 by a group of young men and women. Encouraging folks experiencing street harassment to snap photos of the offenders, the blog then featured these photos and quickly became a popular site for sharing harassment experiences. May, one of the original Hollaback! co-founders, said, “When we walked on, we felt victimized; when we yelled at the guys, the situation escalated; and the police didn’t care. We wanted a response.” The concept has since expanded to seven sites internationally, including London and Buenos Aires. The iPhone app was built with generous donations from 356 individuals, mostly in the form of $10 or less. Hollaback! is now running another campaign to support its expansion into new cities. The campaign ends on November 19th and can be found on my.ihollaback.org.
The iPhone app can be downloaded here.
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