Anti-Street Harassment Organisation Asks, “What Could Make Our Public Spaces Safer for All?”
Grassroots anti-street harassment organisation It’s Not A Compliment (INAC) is launching a new campaign in the fight for street justice.
Titled ‘Our Public Spaces’, the campaign asks community members to use the hashtag to share stories, experiences and other information related to street harassment. Online storytelling, supported by poster installations around the City of Melbourne, will aim to highlight the diverse stories of street harassment as experienced by different communities.
Through the campaign, INAC will foreground everyone’s right to move freely through public spaces and generate new imaginations of how we can make them safer for one another.
The ‘Our Public Spaces’ poster, designed by INAC volunteer Angela McGinness
“Street harassment affects us all”, says INAC campaigner, Anya Saravanan, who is leading the campaign. “We want to centre communities often left out of conversations about street harassment, and listen to their lived experiences to build solidarity and tackle this problem head-on.”
The campaign buildings on our findings from A Snapshot of Street Harassment Experiences in Victoria, a research report launched earlier this year. The report highlighted that street harassment affects people from a range of backgrounds, and can be discriminatory based on ethnicity, sexuality and ability as well as gender. Such incidents have been all too common over the past 18 months, with COVID-19 driving a sharp increase in racist harassment.
“We all experience life differently, and a lot of it is out of our control, like gender, race, sexuality and wealth”, says INAC volunteer Caitlin James, also leading the campaign. “These things all affect the way we experience street harassment as well.
“So when discussing solutions and ways to combat an issue like street harassment, it’s imperative to include the voices of all who are affected. This includes people of colour, trans and gender diverse people, sex workers, people who have experienced homelessness, and those with disabilities.”
The campaign will run from 21 to 27 October 2021, and builds on almost two years of advocacy which has seen INAC establish itself as a leading grassroots voice for street justice in Australia.
About It’s Not A Compliment:
It’s Not A Compliment is a Melbourne-based grassroots organisation fighting for the rights of all individuals to enjoy public spaces free of the fear of harassment. Our work involves sharing stories on the harms of street harassment, developing educational resources and advocating for more policy action from our government.
Available for interview:
Anya Saravanan (campaigner) and Caitlin James (copywriter), who are leading the campaign.
Angela McGinness, who designed the poster.
Aakanksha Manjunath (executive director) is also available.
Media contact:
Mark Yin
0430277180