Online Article: Street Harassment Is a Public Health Problem: March 20, 2017

https://www.citylab.com/crime/2017/03/street-harassment-is-a-public-health-problem-the-case-of-mexico-city/520185/Street Harassment Is a Public Health Problem

Women who have been harassed may feel less trust in their community, with potential long-term impacts on mental health and well-being.

Lauren Ferreira Cardoso

March 20, 2017

“I actually don’t remember when I was first harassed on the street, but I do remember when I first experienced it as an abusive act: I was an adolescent traveling with my mom in a crowded underground wagon, where men could easily touch women without anyone noticing and with little possibility to prevent it.

This was the experience of Lucía Vázquez, a researcher in Mexico City, Mexico. Unfortunately, her story is not unique.

According to a multi-country poll by YouGov, Mexico City ranks first among 16 international cities surveyed for physical and verbal harassment on public transportation. Street harassment, a form of gender-based violence against women, can include any act or comment perpetrated in a public space that is unwanted and threatening, and is motivated by a person’s perceived sex or gender.

Violence against women in public spaces is not exclusive to Mexico City, of course. Experiences of street harassment—from being whistled at to being touched without consent—are reported each day on crowd-sourced websites like Hollaback and Safecity in dozens of other locations from New York and New Delhi, to Lawrence, Kansas and Lubbock, Texas.

There is still much to be learned about how harassment and feeling unsafe in public spaces affects the well-being of women and girls—a topic I focus on in my doctoral research at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy and Practice—but the global scale of these experiences is concerning. Studies documenting the prevalence of street harassment in more than 35 countries show it could have widespread health effects across the globe.

Street harassment in Mexico City

One of the latest studies on this issue aimed to understand the extent of street harassment and its impacts on women, girls and communities in Mexico City. All of the women in this study had previously screened positive for intimate partner violence, a prerequisite for inclusion in the parent study.

Paola Abril Campos, a doctoral student at the Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, is a native of Mexico City. She said in an interview for this article:

“Growing up, I learned to fake a phone call to my parents to feel safer and avoid harassment. I learned to wear not the clothes I wanted, but the clothes that made me feel ‘safe.’ I learned to take quick detours during my daily commute. And I learned to put up with the impotence I felt when harassed.”

Her experiences motivated her to conduct a study on street harassment that was published in January in Salud Pública de México, a journal published by Mexico’s National Institute of Public Health.

In this study, Campos and colleagues surveyed 952 women who were seeking health care in Mexico City’s community health clinics. More than 60 percent of the women, 62.8 percent, reported experiencing at least one form of street harassment in the past month alone. For one in four women, 26.8 percent, the abuse was physical.

The study found that the harassment, or fear of harassment, had negative impacts on the daily routines of these women. Nearly 70 percent reported some type of disruptions in their mobility, including missing, being late to or having to change jobs or schools. And yet, Campos said, “The costs and consequences of street harassment to women’s lives have remained invisible.”

The study also found that street harassment may diminish women’s sense of connectedness and trust in their community. Social isolation from one’s community can have long-term implications for well-being and can lead to chronic disease and poor mental health. Therefore, street harassment may contribute to these other public health concerns.

For the women in this study who were also victims of intimate partner violence, violence is a threat in both public and private. Jhumka Gupta, a global and community health professor at George Mason University and senior author of the study, stated: “Comprehensive interventions are needed to ensure women and girls’ safety both in public settings and in private spaces.”

Emerging solutions

There is some political will to address the issue in Mexico City. In conjunction with local authorities, UN Women has launched the program “Safe Cities and Safe Public Spaces for Women and Girls,” which is promoting women’s safety through, among other mechanisms, providing women-only buses throughout the city.

The city’s mayor, Miguel Ángel Mancera Espinosa, is also supporting an initiative that distributes whistles to women that they can use when someone harasses them. The idea is to “break the silence” and bring attention to harassers.

Street harassment is a common problem in the United States too. A recent nationally representative survey found that 65 percent of U.S. women have faced street harassment at some point in their lifetimes. These numbers may be rising.

The Southern Poverty Law Center reports that there has been a post-election uptick of harassment and intimidation of many marginalized groups, including women. However, in February a new bill aimed at preventing street harassment in Washington, D.C. was introduced to its city council. It seeks to “eradicate street harassment in the District of Columbia through education, awareness, data collection and culture change.” The bill is broad and inclusive in its definition of street harassment and comprehensive in its approach. Will other cities follow its lead?

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

 

Rally Against Street Harassment in New York: April 08, 2017

Anti-Street Harassment Rally in New York:

April 08, 2017. For Full Announcement please see:

https://nycprotests.com/nyc-protests/2017/4/8/2017-anti-street-harassment-rally

BLM Hypocrisy: Most Black “Christians” Violate Civil Rights of Sunni Muslim Black Americans-Protests Against Immigration Ban a Farce

The past few months various news outlets have reported BLM as part of a movement of protests Trump’s recent immigration ban. This ban temporarily prohibits the emigration of foreign nationals from heavily Muslim populated countries from entering the United States.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/index.html

https://m.mic.com/articles/167242/exclusive-black-lives-matter-releases-statement-on-trump-s-muslim-ban#.BM5R5Odop

Although this blog is primarily geared towards addressing sexual/street harassment by today’s Black males, I find it necessary to highlight the deceitful and manipulative hypocrisy of this group.

BLM is comprised of inner city-ghetto Black “Christians”. For decades Black “Christians” have lied on, falsely impugned the character of, attempted to break i n the homes of Sunni Muslim Black women to sexually assault them, sabotaged them on the job, sexually and street harassed Sunni Muslim Black Americans as well as other members of their race. About three years ago in Pennsylvania, it was reported that a Black “Christian” woman sexually assaulted a young (about 8 year old) Sunni Muslim black girl. She attended an Islamic private school and as usual, she waited for her mother to pick her up. Her mother, a Black woman who is also a Sunni Muslim, usually wears hijab, abaya and niqab.

Apparently the black “Christian” woman who raped the Muslim girl had been observing the school and found garments that resembled Islamic attire, including the face veil. This Black “Christian” female picked up the girl pretending to be her mother, sexually assaulted her, left her half naked in the snow and told some of er friends where the girl was so they could sexually assault her as well.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/philadelphia-woman-convicted-counts-rape-abduction-5-year-old-girl-article-1.1937598

The Muslim girl had the courage to confront the Black “Christian” female in court–to which the black female criminal retorted, “I am not a monster.” The Black “Christian” assailant made no apology nor displayed any remorse for the innocense she snatched from a Sunni Muslim Black little girl. This is the attitude the vast majority of Black “Christians” (both male and female) have towards Sunni Muslim Black Americans.

For decades, Black “Christians have bullied, lied preyed on using white mistrust of Sunni Muslims in the workplace for their advantage, accost, and street harassed members of their own race who are Sunni Muslims.

In the State of Maryland and other major metropolitan areas throughout the United States, they show their disdain by snorting and exaggerated clearing of their throats like pigs (whites in Maryland, especially in Howard and Anne Arundel counties do the same),  will literally walk in front of Sunni Muslim Black Americans while they properly wait in line and when confronted these black “Christians” will say that they didn’t ‘notice’ you in order to intimidate, disrespect and practice another form of apartheid against Sunni Muslim Black Americans.

Alas, I was ever-reminded of so many of today’s Black “Christians” being such phony hypocrites. For decades Black “Christians” have ostracized Sunni Muslims within their own families (embarassing them at family events totally disregarding situational awareness and speaking to them dismissively and yelling ‘Jesus is the only way’, ‘F*** Allah,’ ‘I hate you,’  ‘that long dress ain’t gonna save you,’ ‘you’re going to hell’ and ‘you need to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal saviour’ while others yell these offensive and blasphemous epithets at Muslim strangers or on the job while do daily errands and are minding their business (yet turn around and try “pick up” lines like the true sociopaths they really are) , whether third generation or recent converts, they (both male and female Black “Christians”–especially dark-skinned ones, who appear inherently more aggressive, mock Sunni Black women who are total strangers.  Oh and black “Christians” on the job get away with EVERYTHING especially if they attack, lie and threaten to ‘snatch that thing off her head,’ referring to a Muslim employee’s hijab or head covering.

These same people in Maryland (Prince George’s County, Baltimore County, Howard County, Anne Arundel County, and of course Baltimore, etc. and parts of Washington, D.C.) sabotage Sunni Muslim Black Americans in the workplace when the latter has more talent and a better work ethic than them, blaspheme the man they claim to revere with distorted and hateful yells of ‘Jesus’ at them like they are invoking a curse, confront and antagonize total strangers who are Sunni Muslims with barbaric screeches of ‘that long dress ain’t gonna save you,’ cut Sunni Muslims off or attempt to run them off the road on 295 S and Route 1 between Prince George’s and Howard County, 175, Snowden River Parkway (Howard County), poke them in the arm, grabbing them (white “Christian” females do the same) lie on Sunni Muslim Black Americans, Black “Christians” will tell a Sunni Black American who is of the same race as them to “go back to wherever the hell you came from” and “we don’t want you here”, intentionally put pork in Sunni Muslim customers’ food because they “it’s funny” with white managers who condone such behavior because they hate all minorities, are generally hateful towards Sunni Muslims, will literally come up to a Sunni Muslim woman and state “I hate you” even though they are total strangers, molest, accost, street harass and are basically domestic terrorists and violate Sunni Muslim Black Americans’ civil rights but in some distorted parallel universe they want to pretend that they have the golden mouthpiece to be the guardians of Muslims’ civil rights in the United States. Just more showboating hypocrisy from phony Black “Christians.’ They are the biggest abusers and antagonizers to members of their own race and truly are expert b.s. artists social rapists and progenitors of hatred towards Sunni Muslim Black Americans–let alone members of their own families

Even more recently, being aware that Sunni Muslim Black Americans were not impressed by their “diversion” and “distraction” rhetoric, BLM started including the term “Black Muslims” which is a code switch as the phrase is derogatory and refer to an inner city cult which has nothing to do with Sunni Muslim Black Americans who are members of the same race. This provides a two-fold bait and switch strategy for the discerning eye. ‘Black Muslims’ are known for their blind hatred and rhetoric against whites which is the same as the BLM modis operandi. By saying “Black Muslims and immigrant Muslims” in the same sentence– it is to alert Black “Christians” to still attack, street harass and accost Sunni Muslim Black Americans (it is 2017 and ignorant people still must learn that most Black Americans are Sunni Muslims and not ‘Black Muslims’) who fall into neither of those categories (denotationally).  Most Black Americans who are Muslim are Sunni Muslims–the same religion as most of the millions of Muslims around the world including the subject countries.

Thus, BLM provides a media image to be supportive of all Muslims when in fact they and most other Black “Christians” have and continue to molest, harass, disrespect, accost Sunni Muslim Black Americans–members of their own race.

Any reasonable person, religious or no religion at all that has an iota of intellect can only conclude that most of today’s Black “Christians” suffer not only from attachment disorder but also blatant dissociative disorder.

Black “Christians” continue to be the biggest hate mongers of Sunni Black American Muslims for DECADES. Do not believe they support Sunni Muslims whether Black American or immigrant, because 90% of them do not and never have.

Decent Blacks whether Sunni Muslim, Buddhist, a true follower of Jesus’s teachings or no religion at all need to speak up. Just because BLM is currently the loudest voice, doesn’t mean it is the representative voice of today’s Black Americans.

They’ve done worse to Sunni Muslim Black Americans for decades than a temporary ban has done to immigrants.  Yet, when a white man does some perceived wrong all of a sudden Black “Christians” become sentient beings only to seize the opportunity to display hypocritical self-righteous indignation. The hypocrisy is so palatable one can sense it an ocean away.