OUR WORK

POLICY AND ADVOCACY 

We believe in the importance of centring affected communities to develop research-backed solutions that take into consideration the wide variety of experiences of street harassment that exist in our society. For us, achieving street justice for all can only happen if we change community attitudes and norms surrounding street harassment and promote a model of collective responsibility for public safety.

Despite their stated goals of preventing the occurrence of street harassment, many of the laws to criminalise street harassment have proven to have limited utility in practice and have done little to change community attitudes. By focusing largely on penalising individual harassers rather than tackling the root causes of street harassment, these laws instead run the risk of over-criminalising already marginalised communities in addition to ignoring the role that the police sometimes play in subjecting vulnerable groups to violence. Recognising the overlap that exists between communities most vulnerable to street harassment and those who have potentially experienced structural violence at the hands of the criminal justice system, we believe in the importance of finding solutions to the problem that lie outside of the confines of this system. We support the development of community-led policies focused on prevention through education and cultural change rather than criminalisation. To us, the only way of achieving real lasting change on the issue is by transforming the social norms that make street harassment possible while developing interventions that can best support those who have been subjected to it.

Developing effective solutions that can best address the needs of the community requires data. This is why our first policy goal is to advocate for the implementation of a Victoria-wide survey on street harassment to collect more thorough and up-to-date data on the issue. This will allow us to get a better understanding of the problem across a wide variety of areas and communities, ensure that the eventual policies and interventions developed properly address the needs of all vulnerable groups while letting people who have been subjected to street harassment know that their experiences are being taken seriously. Earlier this year, we launched a state-wide research survey on the nature and impact of street harassment in Victoria, and the ramifications of COVID-19 in this space. This survey seeks to analyse the consequences of street harassment from an intersectional perspective, and pave the way for evidence-based policy reform that effectively resolves the issue.