New online campaign reminds us that street harassment isn't a rite of passage. It's a public health

New online campaign reminds us that street harassment isn't a rite of passage. It's a public health concern.

Biking down the street or riding the bus in Los Angeles, Candice Cho isn't doing anything particularly unusual — stranger things happen on the streets of Hollywood every day. And yet her existence as an Asian woman is enough for many to unleash swarms of verbal, often racist abuse. "Hey Mulan!" one man shouted at her while biking. "Konnichiwa! Tokyo!" another yelled at her repeatedly as she waited 30 minutes for public transportation.

Such experiences are unfortunately common for many women, especially women of color, and also deeply relevant to Cho's work. She's the managing director of policy and counsel at AAPI Equity Alliance, a Los Angeles–based coalition of AAPI community organizations campaigning for equitable policy and services for community members across the country.

Cho's story is just one representation of a diverse array of tales shared through the #SaferPlace social media campaign, a new effort by advocates to document the frequent harassment that women, people of color, and LGBT and gender nonconforming people face in public spaces. As May is Asian and Pacific Islander (API) Heritage Month, the social media effort adds a sense of heightened, nuanced awareness of the intersectional public safety issues faced by members of these diverse communities.

"Street harassment may not be violent, but it's still traumatic. It still impacts how safe we feel, our mental health, how free we feel to move and to care for ourselves and our loved ones. These different facets of hate need to be treated seriously," Cho said.

The campaign is making a larger case for re-contextualizing street harassment as a public health issue, similar to the way our understanding of common tobacco use or car seatbelts evolved over time as public safety concerns regulated by the government, the organizers explained. Yamuna Hopwood is the communications manager for Chinese for Affirmative Action, a progressive advocacy group championing immigrant rights, language diversity, and racial and social justice advocacy. She's helping lead the social campaign. "We kicked off the campaign with a simple question," she says. "We were asking, 'What would a safer, more accessible place mean, for you?' And not just AAPI individuals, but everyone — Black and brown folks, LGBTQIA folks, disabled folks, anyone who struggles with street harassment or the fear of street harassment." Hundreds of people responded with their experience, fears, and hopes for safer public spaces under the #SaferPlace hashtag across social media.

https://mashable.com/article/safer-place-campaign-stop-aapi-hate-california-street-harassment
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This is actually important to all WOMEN as well.