Different Perspectives on Street Harassment and Why It Happens

Every day as a woman, especially for those who walk through the streets of Philadelphia, can be verbal harassed. It is a typical phenomenon that women encounter whether they are walking alone or even dressing appropriately for the weather. Any words with no context can be taken offensively to anyone, particularly women and transgenders. Most of the harassment comes from a male that does not have any connections with them, which makes women even more uncomfortable. Anyone can be offenders of any situation but there are tons of studies that prove that the majority are men that are objectifying women by physically touching or/and verbally abusing them. In the article, “Street Harassment in Philly: Unsafe, Uncomfortable and Untracked”, written by Anna Orso, she wrote different important topics about the different types of harassment happening in Philadelphia. She warns the reader that it is a typical concern that they should be familiar with and how they should respond if they were the victim or a bystander. She also has various women describing their stories on the street harassment they dealt with. Orso may be correct in her argument that women are mostly being bothered every day in the city but the argument would have been stronger and would have readers thinking if she had also considered the different points of view of street harassment, including the suspect’s, official’s and lastly, transgender’s.

Observing from the point of view of the offender, there is not a lot of thought with the decision to harass someone. It can either be educated at a young age how to be disrespectful to women or it can be taught by their surroundings. One of the women in the article, Huxta, she explained that teaching young kids can eventually prevent harassment in the streets. Most children do not always listen to their parents and it is part of raising a child. Teaching them how to treat people with respect can be difficult specifically if the community is heavily involved in their lives. At some point, they are starting to distance themselves from their parents because they want to be with their peers, but having good or bad ones can affect them more with their ethics. Obviously, parents who have children want them to set a positive example for the community, but they really do not know what their minds are going through or what their next actions will be. In the article, it stated, “Beyond inspiring grassroots activism and aiming to better educate young people, there are few prescriptions for how to address street harassment in a comprehensive, meaningful way. But most women agree: It can’t be just them” (Orso 14). This means it is certainly difficult to advise young people about street harassment because they can either take that information and keep it in their heads or it can go over their heads. What women meant by “it can’t be just them” because they realized the environment plays a major role in their lives. Each child is raised differently from the type of community they are living in. There are two main communities most kids live in: suburban areas and urban areas. Living in an urban area, there are tons of outside activities happening, that it can create more people outside looking for victims or potential victims, without them even acknowledging what they are doing. To sum it up, Orso’s argument should have explained the environment the young kids are living in because not many people know what the streets of Philadelphia is like. There are different parts of Philadelphia that are considered good or bad. It can all depend on the community if they are willing to stop with the harassment and have a better environment for the kids to learn from it.

To go more in-depth, studies have shown that harassment happens in major cities more likely than in rural areas. Stephania Zeppenfelt is one of the women in the article that explained her story and the harassment she’s been through in the city. At the time when she was living in the city, she wore a ring that it might of helped with the harassment, even though she was not married at the time. Ever since she moved to a better neighborhood, she realized she did not need to wear the ring anymore because there were no male figures in the streets ready to harass her. The article stated, “She says the street harassment she experienced has dramatically subsided since she moved. But it’s led her to reflect on the harassment she experienced for years and the way she changed herself in order to avoid it” (Orso 3). It proves that where anyone lives can have a drastic effect on sexual harassment. There are so many people living in a city where there is poverty, drugs and people with mental issues, not that the suburbs do not have problems, but people living in close proximity seem to be more affected by harassment.

Viewing from an officer's point of view about this situation happening in Philadelphia, they can not really do much when any harassment is reported due to the constitution. There are many claims that women can put a restraining order for each male, but it happens every day and there could be different offenders as well. Studies have shown that “93 percent of more than 400 respondents said they have been harassed in the past year” (Orso 5), and every year those numbers will increase by a lot. It seems like it depends on the community if they want to help since the police can’t really do much but telling the suspect to stop. Since no one can get arrested from any verbal comment, the number of street harassment will probably increase more because they know that they will not get caught or get arrested for it. In the article, it stated, “Police walk a line of balancing fielding reports about offensive behavior and protecting the constitutional right to free speech. If there’s no violence, stalking or repetition involved in the harassment, it might not be actionable” (Orso 5). It means that officers can not arrest anyone if the freedom of speech is part of the constitution. It is their right to say anything to anyone without actually hurting them physically. Even though, they have the right to say rude comments, looking at the women’s point of view, do they have the right to feel unsafe when they are walking through a community?

It is not just women feeling unsafe walking in the streets, but there are tons of transgender people that dealt with harassment as well. Since 2015, people can now get married legally with the same sex, but most people are opposed to it because of religious or personal purposes. Harassment can emotionally affect the transgenders and can eventually turn into a violent situation. Marrison is one of the women in the article that talks about harassment and it is a very common concern for transgenders in Philadelphia. In the article, it stated, “The trauma is exacerbated, she (Marrison) said, because a high percentage of the trans community experiences gender dysphoria, ‘so the anxiety is high’”(Orso 8). It means that the provocation can affect so much for transgender or the LGBT community because they are probably scared to let the community know who they really are. They want to experience what feels right for them but getting harassed from it, their anxiety will boost more of what they are currently feeling. From their point of view, this harassment can be more brutal than it is for women. Not everyone accepts them and it is pretty unpleasant to recognize that. There are so many protests about it and sometimes it ends up with someone dying. It is something that transgenders do not want to feel unsafe and uncomfortable with people watching them disgusted. Also, another concept, it is true that people of different races and colors can experience street harassment more often than white women and many studies have shown that. Frequently, women of color generally do not know how to respond when they are getting harassed. Feminista Jones is a blogger that writes about black feminism and said, “They don’t think anybody would care. But harassment is not about attraction or desirability. It’s about exerting control over people whenever you can” (Orso 7). This means it is not all about catcalling women because they just want to give the attention they probably think women want but in reality, it is about power. Someone in power can take advantage of anyone and especially those who don't know how to respond to it. Orso has a very clear argument that women of color get bothered more but she should explained the different powers every person has. The article implies that white women have more power over male and it can not be true since the demographic in Philadelphia are majority black.

To sum it up, there are different perspectives on street harassment and why it happens to women and transgender people. Even though Anna Orso explained the different topics of street harassment, she needs to explain a different direction of the situation from the officers' point of view, the offender’s and the transgender’s. In today’s world, it seems like it is very common to harass someone really easily and can get away with it. The streets of Philadelphia should definitely improve teaching kids how to stop harassment because it will be a better community for the kids and especially for women. For the people who work in the city, they should at least give out lessons about street harassment because it is frequent that women can also get harassed during their work. Any improvement to help with the harassment can make Philadelphia a safer place to live and walk-in.

Work Cited

1. Orso, Anna. “Street Harassment in Philly: Unsafe, Uncomfortable and Untracked.” Billy Penn, Billy Penn, 31 July 2017, billypenn.com/2017/07/31/street-harassment-in-Philly-unsafe-uncomfortable-and-untracked/.