holla back nyc

this afternoon i heard heavy knocks all at once on my office door. i opened the door: four female college students, a tripod, and a video camera. the four students spoke at the same time, saying different things:

"we're doing a documentary, for a class, can we tape you?"

"it will only take a minute. it's for a com class. com 459!"

"it's about sexual harassment. about standing up to harassment. it'll take like 3 minutes."

"new york city. blogging. hollaback. have you ever been harassed?"

long story short: one of the students heard about holla back new york city, a web site that encourages new yorkers to take pictures of public sexual harassers. the four students were interviewing male and female members of the UW community. they would compile the interviews for a class project for com 459 ("writing for mass media"). smart project.

holla back nyc is pretty impressive. it's disturbing to witness the captured images of harassment in public places (subway, sidewalk, daytime, nighttime). at the same time, the process (take digital photos of harassment which are then posted to the blog) makes the invisible acts of daily harassment a bit more visible. their tagline rocks:

"Holla Back NYC empowers New Yorkers to Holla Back at street harassers. Whether you're commuting, lunching, partying, dancing, walking, chilling, drinking, or sunning, you have the right to feel safe, confident, and sexy, without being the object of some turd's fantasy. So stop walkin' on and Holla Back: Send us pics of street harassers!"

the students were interviewing people and asking if they thought something like holla back nyc could be and should be in seattle. apparently, all the females and most of the males interviewed said something similar should happen here in seattle. i'm sure it's needed so i hope it happens.