Hollaback! Vancouver launches new anti-street harassment campaign
Hollaback! Vancouver says the campaign aims to give people who have been harassed a voice
A new campaign by a Vancouver group is hoping to record the frequency of street harassment by using clickers and sketchbooks.
Hollaback! Vancouver site leader Stacey Forrester says street harassment — offensive comments or gestures, leers, cat calls— often doesn't get taken seriously and is rarely reported. The new two-week campaign, What's Your Number? aims to give people who have been harassed a voice.
"Women have been taught to put their head down and to carry on and that it's just a normal part of living in the city, and that's not true," Forrester told The Early Edition's Rick Cluff.
Street harassment against women came under scrutiny last fall when a video taken by Hollaback! in New York went viral. In the video, a woman walks around the city for 10 hours and appears to get harassed 108 times.
People who participate in the Vancouver campaign will be given clickers and a blank notebook, said Forrester.
Over the course of 24 hours, participants will click twice when they experience direct harassment, and once when they're indirectly impacted, such as when they witness a situation or avoid a certain block because they don't want to be harassed.
The participant will then note the number of clicks on the sketchbook, record their thoughts and feelings about their experience, and then pass on the items to another person interested in taking part.
The campaign begins on Sunday.
To hear the full interview, listen to the audio labelled: Vancouver group launches anti-street harassment campaign