Anti-harassment website comes to Ottawa

A controversial website that allows contributors to publicly shame men they say grope or make degrading comments to women has officially come to Ottawa.

The Hollaback website began six years ago in New York City as a response to sexual harassment and assault in public places.

Contributors post stories of their encounters and upload photos or videos from their mobile phones in an effort to out the alleged offenders, who are predominantly men.

Ottawa's Julie Lalonde started her own version of the website using an online blogging tool before officially joining the Hollaback network.

"The biggest point of iHollaback is to get people talking about it," said Lalonde. "Street harassment is so normalized, and women are so socialized to experience it."

Site not for compliments

She said the site is not intended to stop men from complimenting women on their looks, but rather to stamp out antisocial behaviour.

"Someone saying to me 'you look really lovely today' is a compliment and it's fine. But there is a difference between someone saying that to me on a bright sunny day in a public space downtown and someone saying that to me in an alleyway as I'm trying to cut through in the Byward Market," said Lalonde.

"I think good men know that," she said.

Lalonde said the local website is a response to aggressive behaviour she's seen in the city.

"Women are groped, people are publicly masturbating in front of them, exposing themselves. It's a huge array of things that is so entrenched and it's just not talked about," said Lalonde.

One recent example, she said, was a woman who was accosted as she walked by a downtown Ottawa strip club after getting off work last month. She ignored the harassment, Lalonde said, and she ended up being spat on.

Content moderated, not automatically posted

"We've seen a high concentration of street harassment in the Market, for example, and we've also seen a high concentration during the day, which I think a lot of people are sort of shocked to hear," she said.

One other Canadian region — Alberta — also has a Hollaback site, though unofficial websites based on the New York model also exist for all of Canada and the city of Toronto.

Critics of the websites in other cities have suggested harassment is better handled by police, and that posting photos from unknown contributors could open the door to false accusations and potential civil litigation.

But Lalonde said the site has been around since 2005 and hasn't resulted in people being slandered unfairly. She also pointed out that the content isn't posted automatically, as she moderates it.

"Anything that involves technology … is going to attract trolls and that sort of thing, but it hasn't happened yet," Lalonde said.

Ottawa police would not comment on the website.