Please note. . .

Don't Be Silent DC has been inactive since March 2008 and has not been accepting entries since. If you are in the DC area and have a harassment story to share, please go to HollaBack DC. If you are outside the DC area and want to submit your story, go to Stop Street Harassment. Thank you.


As of 3/1/08, I will no longer be working on this blog. Please read this post for more details.

Thursday, June 21, 2007

City Paper Street Harassment Video



The City Paper also did a video chronicling street harassment. The harasser is in obvious denial of his ability to pick up women by trying to "holla" at them. A receiver of street harassment is interviewed as well, and you can tell she's the type who's not gonna be havin' it!

1 comment:

K said...

Miss D,

This is K who posted a couple of days ago. I'd like to apologize for making the assumption that you were white suburban woman who was a bit queasy about life in a (not-so)big city. It was unwarranted, and well, not right.

That being said, I read your commentary in this week's City Paper and I must say that it falls a bit flat. I understand that it troubles you that most of the cat callers are black, however, you blame it on Snoop Dogg and 50 Cent citing that "They don't learn how to treat women properly." That's the sort of mentality I'd expect from someone with the urban black community. Rap artists in music videos? What about everyday society? What about the education system? Employment hiring practices? Sexist ideals being broadcast through movies and television.

Simply blaming street harassment on rappers is pretty daft. How does that explain street harassment in Latin America or Southern Europe? What about absentee fathers? Mothers who don't punish their children accordingly?

Moreover, when it's classified as merely a "black thing," then your'e leaving out all the harassment that young white men do in bars in Adams Morgan, Dupont, Georgetown, etc.

This article comes off as nothing more than a lynching call. A black vs. white, "Old DC vs New DC" thing. Young women who are distressed but can only express anger. Men who are indifferent to 30 years of cultural progress in gender relations, yet claim they love their mothers and sisters and will beat your ass for looking at them in the wrong way....