International Anti-Street Harassment Week 2020
This year, It's Not A Compliment took part in a week of online activism as part of International Anti-Street Harassment Week 2020. Started in 2011 by Stop Street Harassment, IASHW is all about amplifying and uniting the voices of organisations and campaigns from around the world in the fight for safer public spaces. This year's events marked 10 years of global activism and was the first time a Melbourne-based campaign took part through our involvement.
While we had originally planned to hold a number of meet-ups and events, the restrictions that were put in place as a result of COVID-19 meant that we had to go back to the drawing board to take all of our activism online. That didn't stop us from carrying out a number of activities during the week that shone a light on the issue of street harassment and expanded community understanding of exactly what street harassment is. Through these online events, we were able to have a number of enlightening conversations around street harassment that laid the foundation for us to think about what we'd like our streets to look like once restrictions were eased and start the process of defining what our new normal could be.
#thisisstreetharassment
Our main activity throughout the week centred around getting people of all genders and backgrounds to share their experiences of street harassment. By inviting people to write out their experiences on a piece of paper and sharing photos of themselves with their signs on social media, we were able to amplify a variety of perspectives on street harassment and the different forms it can take. People who hadn't personally experienced street harassment in the past were encouraged to take part by sharing an incident they had either witnessed or been an active bystander to, giving us a unique chance to discuss the important role that bystanders can play in the fight for street justice.
Interview with Jamila Rizvi
For Day 3 of IASHW, we had the pleasure of interviewing media powerhouse Jamila Rizvi. In the interview, the best-selling author, Chief Creative Officer of the Nine Network’s Future Women and one of Australia’s 100 Women of Influence shared her thoughts on street harassment, the importance of diversity in leadership and the role that story-telling can play in activism and social change.
Artist collaborations
For IASHW, we collaborated with two artists who brought their own unique perspective on the experience of being harassed in public spaces to our community. We kicked things off with Kady from @artsyfrenchie whose piece served as an important reminder that nothing a person chooses to wear or do is ever an invitation for comment.
@vootsak produced a piece that perfectly captured the often delayed realisation that comes from experiencing a form of harm that has become so normalised over the years. Here's what they had to say about their work:
“This collage tells the story of the awakening of the victim to the realisation that they had been assaulted, hence the burning of the image as if to signify that the event that had been deeply buried within her brain is resurfacing and revealing itself, taking her back to the event in which she had been harassed in the street. The realisation that you have been assaulted, or harassed, regardless of whether it was on the street or not is a hard trauma to live with and incredibly difficult and heart wrenching to move on from. This collage shows the effect an assault has on the victim; the loss of identity, the feeling of false betrayal, the blame we sometimes put on ourselves for something that was out of our control and was never our fault.”
Media
We had the incredible opportunity to be featured in a number of publications and radio shows in the lead up to and during IASHW to share more information about It's Not A Compliment and the online activism we had planned for the week. Check out our media section for more information on this.