Enough is Enough: End Street Harassment Today
By Zahra Khozema, storyteller for RU Student Life.
After my co-worker and friend wrote a piece about Slut Shaming on Halloween, I was inspired to finally speak my mind; something I should have done a long, long time ago. This is sadly a reality more than half the population at Ryerson can relate to on different levels.
It is already dangerous enough to be in the population centre of Toronto where subways and alleys make me want to keep a key between my fingers at all times, but in a place dedicated to education, it’s sad to think we still do not feel as safe as they possibly could.
Just last week I was walking from the SCC to the POD building in broad daylight and was followed by a man who insisted that I “become his girlfriend.” I was adamant in stressing I was not interested and said “bye” to walk away from the forced conversation. When he kept following me, I succumbed to the level of telling him I already had a boyfriend, something I said purely for security reasons. After hearing that, he said “bye”, yet asked again for my number anyways. I was going to go study alone but took a detour to my friend’s place because I did not feel safe enough even after he had left.
It’s sad to think this man could not take no for an answer until he was challenged by a (perceived) male authority, rather than my own. This shows that the pursuer doesn’t respect me as a person but only respects the potential man in my life. Similarly, the common plea to “imagine if that was your mom, your wife, your sister” is not accurate. Is it not possible that a woman be judged as a human first without the attachment of another male relationship consolidating her authority?
Another time, recently, I was walking past the engineering building looking down at my phone to send a text. My heart almost fell out of my chest when a group of guys surrounded me and started hissing cat calls. I gripped my phone tight and tried to go around them. When I got to the end of the street and looked back, they were still standing there… staring.
Now, some people might say something along the lines of “You should be flattered that boys are willing to give you their time and attention.”
Umm… EXCUSE ME?! Did I ask them for this ‘attention’ that almost made me drop and crack my phone, let alone that made me feel uncomfortable and unsafe? And since when did this ‘attention’ become my only goal in life? Being cat-called (also known as street harassment) is not a compliment nor is it cute - it’s creepy and objectifying. Sure, compliments are nice to hear, maybe sometimes they brighten one’s day, but not in the manner in which it makes one feel intensely uncomfortable or unsafe, ever.
This harassment does not only take place in person. Harassment, like bullying, also finds it’s colours in cyberland. Pages like ‘Spotted at Ryerson’ and ‘Ryerseen’ are brutal perpetrators of such behaviour. So what if it’s anonymous? It still doesn’t change the fact that the girl you think is pretty is being compared to “DNA helicase” because someone wants to “unzip her genes.” Even if it is just a cute shout out to a fine looking stranger, the comments escalate it to a point I don’t even want to read anymore.
So many of my girlfriends have faced the same problem and I find it extremely problematic that in a place where we come to learn and be professional, this kind of conduct is still carried on. Every other day there are security alerts in our emails, if you care to read them, about harassment of students on campus. Take this one for example: Someone was caught taking pictures in the men’s washroom. This just goes to show that harassment not only occurs towards women, but also men at our university. So, if you were thinking “why should I care?” — think again.
Oh and if you even dare to ask me what I was wearing that day I got cat-called: it was cold so I had 6 warm and dark layers on… not that it matters in the first place, in any way. The root of the issue is respect — my existence does not invite you into my space.
For more information, check out two great organizations working to combat street harassment and everyday sexism: Hollaback and The Everyday Sexism Project. We’re asking you to share your experiences with street harassment and you can join the conversation using #EndSH. Browse through our photo album of stories from Ryerson students and staff making their call to #EndSH.
