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Street harassment: a daily reality
Hello everyone
I'm Rocío or Hellen
Both names are ok
I wanted to say a huge thank you to all people who
supported me
and who gave me such kind comments
in my other video, the first one I've made
about the reasons why I'm feminist
I thought I was going to be pretty criticized for that
and the only thing I was criticized about (in a nice way) was the audio
so, well, thank you
Well, the issue I'll talk about right now is called Street harassment
Street harassment is a type of *** assault
As everybody knows, *** harassment is something that, well, at least it should be forbidden
because it's illegal
For street harassment we understand:
any type of violence that happens in the streets
that can be, for instance,
a look
a gesture
being told something unpleasant (verbal harassment)
all that, about your body and without your consent.
If I'm walking on the streets,
I'm not asking for anyone to tell me
"Nice ***!" or stuff like that
I don't ask to anyone to *** in front of me
I don't ask anyone to look at me in a dirty way.
I don't even say "Hey, look at my ***"
or "comment on my ***"
That's why it's harassment
Unfortunately, street harassment is something really... well... it has always been naturalized
in our society
but nowadays, besides we can recognize it,
it still exists.
I believe personally, and hope not to be so wrong,
that street harassment comes from sexist violence
Men think that just because you're out on the streets
or just because you're a woman
he has the right to opine about your body.
I really don't know about the reasons why men do street harassment
but I can deduct them
by their behavior, body language and stuff that they say.
Men think that women like it
or that they feel complimented
or many times they think that they just don't care at all.
And we got the same thing in all types of harassment
The harasser does an aggression
Regardless it's verbal, physical or psychological
With the goal of receiving an answer,
of causing something in the person he's harassing.
I hope, if I'm a harasser, for my victim to feel bad,
or...
or at least that he listens to me
Just with that person listening to me I'm accomplishing the goal of my harassment
When a man harasses another woman in the streets,
he probably waits for her to answer him
Maybe he doesn't expect her to like what he's saying
That's the goal: for women to pay attention to men who harass them.
I believe most woman don't agree with street harassment
As I said, this is something that has to be forbidden
And regardless that some women actually like to be harassed in the streets
We don't like it
Just because we go out to the streets doesn't mean that our body is public too
And usually when a woman receives street harassment
she actually (in 90% cases) doesn't like it at all
We feel uncomfortable
Nobody wants to be harassed
I think no healthy person wants to receive harassment
of any type, on the streets, at school, at work, or whatever
Each day there are a lot of testimonies of street-harassed women
on their way to work, coming back home, or anywhere
and I haven't heard not even one time in my life
a single woman telling me that she likes it.
I think this way:
A woman with a healthy, properly developed self-steem
doesn't like to receive street harassment.
I think that our self-steem depends on how we see ourselves, not how other sees us.
With this video I'm not just trying to report something that affects only me
It also affects my friends, my mom, my family,
the women I know...
Each woman has the right to dress freely and makeup freely
and do their hair freely without anyone saying them anything.
I'm going to talk now about something that many people come out with
"But some women actually like to be harassed on the streets"
"Some women get their ego boosted."
"Then why is it wrong?"
My reply is:
I may like to be beated
I may like to be insulted
So that makes it less an aggression?
I may like to be insulted, but that doesn't mean insulting is OK
The same way I can be harassed on the streets and I can feel well about that
and that doesn't mean harassing is OK!!
This is so naturalized that some people even see it as a source of ego
If someone tells you that you look pretty, it's ok, you will feel pretty
But if someone tells you that you look ugly, then you will feel ugly
Your self-steem can't depend on anyone
That's why I don't find nice that a girl enjoys street harassment
I find it wrong wether your self-steem depends on a guy in the streets as on any person
If you're a woman
(or man, because there are also cases when the woman harasses and it's wrong too)
if you're a harassed woman, a harassed man, a harassed person
you have the right to ask for help.
You have the right to say STOP.
You have the right to put a limit and say no.
I don't deserve to be called this way.
I don't deserve that someone opines on my body and thinks he's right
I personally had two responses on this my whole life
When I was younger and I was street-harassed, I used to shut up
because I was scared of what the man could do and I didn't wanted to attract attention
and when I grew older I tried to insult back the people that harassed me
I'm not going to say that's any better
I stopped doing it because, if you have a fight with every single person who annoys you
you won't be able to stand it anymore.
Besides they call you disgusting things,
they're ***. You can't argue with ***.
What I do see a lot better, as an alternative,
is try to make them feel ashamed.
But as they don't have a sense of shame because they're harassing another person,
I think it's very embarrassing when you realize of your mistakes when they're REALLY wrong
and when you're a *** and hurt someone intentionally.
Answering them with something as simple as
"Your mom would be so proud of you"
or "you're such a good person for society"
Or something like that, it doesn't matter if it's complex
You can't take charge of other people's misbehavior
If someone is a *** and harasses you on the streets, don't take it personally.
It's society's fault
It's fault of the patriarchy and sexism
It's never your fault
It's not your fault for having a neckline
In a case of ***, it's never the victim's fault
The same way in a case of harassment, the fault is never of the person that is being harassed.
I thought it was important to do a video talking about this issue because I'm already done with it
And as I can't say all this when I'm harassed on the streets,
at least I wanted to make a video expressing it.
That's all, I send you a big hug
Oh, and before leaving I'm gonna show you guys my T-shirt
The idea came some day when I was walking on the streets
And a man in a motorbike yelled me "you've got a nice ***"
Literally.
I started to see some pictures on Internet and I liked some quotes
"I don't want to be brave on the streets, I want to be free."
"Harassing me doesn't make you more of a man."
A big cheer to all of you. Goodbye!
Thanks for watching!
-Are you listening? -Yeah, can't I? -Oh, Lord...