Street harassment: Video shows woman being catcalled 100 times in 10 hours

by Lauren O'Neil Posted: October 29, 2014 3:06 PM Last Updated: October 29, 2014 3:13 PM

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View the story "Street harassment: Woman's hidden camera records 100 cat calls in 10 hours" on StorifyStreet harassment: Woman's hidden camera records 100 cat calls in 10 hourstStorified by CBC News Community· Wed, Oct 29 2014 19:06:36 CbcThe ongoing street harassment debate has reached a fever pitch in recent months, as more and more women speak out publicly against those who catcall, harass, grope, assault and stalk them in city spaces.

Leading the charge since 2011 has been Hollaback, a non-profit organization dedicated to ending street harassment by empowering women to document, map and share photos of those who harass them, using their mobile phones.

With chapters in more than 79 cities worldwide (including Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, Halifax and Sudbury), the organization has solicited thousands of stories from people who've experienced what, for many women, is a daily occurrence.

Yet nothing quite gets the point across like actual footage of street harassment taking place.

The video below, released by Hollaback yesterday, shows the actual extent of the harassment some young women face.

This shocking two-minute hidden camera clip, cut down from a full 10 hours of walking through New York City, shows one actress being repeatedly harassed on the street over the course of a single day:10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a WomanKJcGMO_UiqUQl8s7J9l7zwThe producers of the video, which was filmed with a camera hidden director Rob Bliss's backpack while he walked ahead of actress Shoshana Roberts, estimate that Roberts received about 100 cat calls during her silent walk through New York.

"It’s important to keep in mind that is this video only captures verbal harassment, and Rob and Shoshana can attest to the harassment overall falling evenly along race and class lines," wrote Hollaback on its blog. "While filming, Shoshana noted, 'I’m harassed when I smile and I’m harassed when I don’t. I’m harassed by white men, black men, latino men. Not a day goes by when I don’t experience this.'" "10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Woman" has been circulating widely online over the past 24 hours, racking up more than six million YouTube views, tens of thousands of comments and a healthy dose of attention from mainstream media outlets.

Many on Twitter are once again sharing their own stories of street harassment in response to the video and the reactions it's sparked.Worst street harassment I've experienced in US was in Boston when a man was "insulted" that I didn't want to give him my phone number.HSoulEaterI've stopped guys I know from catcalling out of my vehicle while I was driving. Here is why... http://t.co/CYQAEPVpZEChris Moniz@thom_wong @rgay Toronto is the worst place I've lived for street harassment. Its near constant.danielleLook, I'm sensitive to what we now call street harassment. They had to MOVE MY BUS STOP when I was 12 because men.tressie mcStory??? It's every day! RT @WSJNY: Have you experienced street harassment in New York City? Tell us your story. http://t.co/kqyVe4BV6VNicole LWhile others are busy defending the message the video is trying to send against those (including many commenters on Reddit and YouTube) who continue to insist that street harassment should be received as a "compliment" or that it's "flattering."Instead of bemoaning that women should be grateful for street harassment, maybe listen to every woman on earth that we don't like it.Katie NotopoulosI don't understand how anyone thinks it's a compliment when men catcall/harass women on the street. Is the reason we exist is to be pretty?Jen MillerHoly cow, someone needs to write a good Street Harassment FAQ for all the guys complaining that "good morning" is not harassment.John SiracusaBECAUSE SHE DOESN'T WANT IT. RT:"it says 100 instances of street harassment. Over half of em were just hello ma'am.How is that harassment"Jessica R. WilliamsThis lady posted the street harassment vid on Facebook & this guy said that "unattractive women would love the attention y'all complain abt"J I ΛWomen #onhere complaining abt street harassment. Men #onhere saying it doesn't exist. La di da.DonnaleeHilarious that men are realizing via that video that street harassment is real. Let's make viral videos of us receiving our paychecks next.Rega JhaWhen men try to tell women what is and isn't street harassment. http://t.co/bquMDtNkiKDirty ThirtyThe video has also sparked a wider conversation about class, race and catcalling.Have a problem with the way that @iHollaback centers a white woman in their new video, while mostly men of color catcall (or say hello) herAura Bogado@iHollaBack wont talk about safety of WOC in a city growing increasingly unsafe from the sexual harrasment of gentrifying& tourist white menShaadiThis slick ass racism... using street harassment to center white womanhood and stigmatize Black and latino men... i can't even.SERGIOYou know what's hard? Saying and logically believing that "race/culture has nothing to do with street harassment" when I experiencetrill milleHollerback! claims street harassment isn't culturally specific, BUT I see only one white guy in the video Shoshana Roberts posted yesterday.Deepa Bhandaruwomen of color let's make videos of what it's like walking thru crowds of drunk white guys at sporting events/st Patrick's day/frat eventsAyesha A. Siddiqi@pushinghoops @alexmolotkow this is unnecessarily divisive. Street harassment is not about race,it's about men appropriating women's bodies~*~Debates aside, many were horrified when Hollaback announced Wednesday that the actress featured in their film was starting to receive rape threats in response to the video — some of which were screencapped by Vox.The subject of our PSA is starting to get rape threats on the comments. Can you help by reporting them? http://t.co/NMYCFd9YOmHollaback!While Hollaback deputy director Debjani Roy told AM New York that inappropriate comments are being deleted as community members report them to YouTube, the video's comment thread remains peppered with misogynistic insults against Roberts.

"You b****es need to learn how to get a compliment, this is not harassment!" wrote one commented shortly before this article was published. "You b****es like attention everyone knows that, you can answer every guy and tell him you not interestend and stuff... but you b****es choose to be arrogant and not respond, then you get insulted for being an arrogant b****, DAMN what you expect."

"Give me a break," wrote another commenter. "Her t*** and a** are practically ripping out of those tight clothes... No one in the video has tighter clothes than her. You play with fire you'll get burned"

"If a man says hello to a woman on the street is harassment now... Wow better watch out for ignorant b*tches like her now," wrote another "Whats this world come to, That man walking for FIVE WHOLE MINUTES, on a SIDEWALK was most likely only going that way, they went off you after you decided to be an ignorant c**t and not say morning or whatever back."The comments on that street harassment video do a really bad job of arguing harassment isn't a problem. http://t.co/9r1UJ47lYtSophie NovackThe youtube comments on the catcall video are horrifically predictable...Aaron Stewart-Ahnoh noooo i accidentally read some of the youtube comments on the street harassment video and now i'm moving to the moonginger b. spookywitz"The rape threats indicate that we are hitting a nerve," said Hollaback director Emily May to AMNY. "We want to do more than just hit a nerve though, we want New Yorkers to realize -- once and for all -- that street harassment isn't OK, and that as a city we refuse to tolerate it," she said.

What are your thoughts on the video and on street harassment? Weigh in below with your own stories and opinions.

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