Our Work

Awareness

At It’s Not A Compliment, we believe in the importance of breaking through the normalisation of street harassment as an everyday annoyance and igniting legal and institutional changes to stamp out this issue. To us, street harassment is not only harmful to the individual in the moment that it happens; its widespread trivialisation also opens the door for even worse things to take place in private spaces.

To learn about our past campaigns, click here.

For decades street harassment has been successfully dismissed as something trivial and harmless to the point where it has been normalised out of conversation in societies across the world. Every day we are told to simply brush it off and move on or to alter our behaviours to avoid it instead of expecting more from perpetrators. 

Street harassment, however, is not just an isolated problem. It is a manifestation of misogyny, sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, fatphobia and other forms of societal discrimination. At its most basic level, it is about respect. Because no one who truly views another person as deserving of respect would subject them to behaviours that reduce them to sexual objects, that make them feel fundamentally unsafe or places limits on their ability to exist freely in public spaces. 

Rather than focusing on the individual acts of perpetrators, we believe in the importance of creating a broader cultural change on the issue. It starts with raising awareness of street harassment as a problem that’s affecting a huge segment of our population and starting important community conversations on it. By doing that, we will be able to change the norms that have trivialised this form of harm and push others to take action against it.

BY SHARING STORIES

Facts about safety in public spaces have existed for a long time. But that hasn’t really helped create a significant change in attitudes on the issue (we wouldn’t be here otherwise). That’s why we think it’s important to share our stories. By doing so, we can offer those who have never experienced street harassment a chance to step into someone else’s shoes and give them a glimpse of what these incidents actually feel like. 

But most importantly, we share our stories so that those who have experienced similar things know that they are not alone. Our goal is to create a space where everyone can come to discuss their experiences without shame. One where we can break through the silence that has dominated on this issue and reclaim some of the power that these experiences have robbed us of. Our work seeks to showcase the universality of these experiences and remind all those who have been subjected to these behaviours that their anger, sadness and frustration is valid. That their experiences are valid. And that none of this should ever be seen as normal. 

THROUGH TARGETED SERIES

Street harassment is not an isolated problem. At It’s Not A Compliment, we work hard to highlight the ways in which it intersects with a range of other issues surrounding gender, race, disability, sexuality, safety and discrimination. Whether it’s delving into everyday experiences of harassment, exploring the concept of active bystanders or spotlighting the experiences of the LGBTQIA+ community - our work seeks to expand people’s understanding of street harassment and help our community work their way through complicated conversations on topics like consent, body positivity, bullying and gendered violence. 

THROUGH ARTIST COLLABORATIONS

What started out as two artists taking a leap of faith and collaborating with us has now grown to include more than twelve artists creating beautiful, thought-provoking art across a range of media platforms.

Why do we use art as a way of spotlighting street harassment? A considerable amount of existing statics proves that art increases civic engagement, ensures greater social tolerance and reduces disrespectful, demeaning behaviour. At It’s Not A Compliment, we ensure that every work of art is accompanied by the artist’s thoughts on the piece so that the audience can truly engage with the piece. We spend time with each artist discussing the key concepts they hope to highlight through their pieces and try work with emerging artists as much as possible in the hopes of bringing greater visibility to their work.

THROUGH COLLABORATIONS WITH OTHER NGOS

Street harassment is almost always linked to broader issues of injustice, discrimination, and violence. As such, we aim to form alliances with NGOs, both locally and internationally, who tackle these issues directly to allow people to come together and easily access the resources and knowledge they need to feel safe on the street. By working with a diverse range of organisations, we seek to ensure accurate representation of the diverse groups and communities that are affected by street harassment but are often overlooked or ignored when the topic is broached.