AASP Newsletter - December 2016

Emily A. Roper, PhD, Sam Houston State University, and Katherine M. Polasek, PhD, SUNY, Cortland

The term street harassment is unfamiliar to many people (If you are unfamiliar with street harassment, please see video of “woman walking 10 hours in New York City”); problems without names often remain invisible and as such are inadequately addressed. Despite the lack of public attention given to street harassment, most women (and some men) are acutely cognizant of its prevalence. According to Kearl (2010), street harassment is defined as “unwanted interactions in public spaces between strangers that are motivated by a person’s actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, or gender expression and make the harassee feel annoyed, uncomfortable, humiliated, or angry” (p. 5). There are a variety of types of street harassment including: honking/whistling, calling out phrases (e.g., “hey baby,” “mamacita”) – often referred to as catcalling, persistent requests for a name or telephone number, sexist comments (e.g., telling someone to smile), evaluative comments (e.g., “nice legs”), sexually explicit comments or demands, homophobic or transphobic slurs, vulgar gestures, following, flashing, or grabbing someone (Kearl, 2010; Stop Street Harassment, 2014). Street harassment also happens in a variety of public spaces including (but not limited to): on the street, in malls, theatres, parks, sporting arenas/facilities, and on public transportation. 

There are some who do not understand why street harassment is a problem, they may trivialize it as a joke, suggest it to be a compliment, or even imply that the individual being harassed deserves it. Yet, street harassment is a problem since it influences someone’s sense of safety in a public space and dictates where, when, and with whom someone can go (Kearl, 2010; Stop Street Harassment, 2014). Furthermore, it can also have an emotional and psychological toll on a person (Kearl, 2010; Stop Street Harassment, 2014).

Until recently, there has been little research that has specifically examined street harassment. The research that has been conducted has focused primarily on its prevalence in urban settings and on public transportation. In 2014, the organization Stop Street Harassment published a national study in which they surveyed 1,058 men and 982 women about the prevalence of street harassment and their experiences of it. The findings indicated that 65% of women experienced some form of street harassment in their lifetime, 57% of which was verbal harassment while 41% was physically aggressive harassment (23% sexual touching, 20% following, 14% flashing). For the men, 18% experienced verbal harassment while 16% was physically aggressive; men who self-identified as gay, bisexual, or transgender experienced harassment more than men who identified as heterosexual. The results indicated that street harassment happens multiple times for most people and begins at a young age (around 50% of harassed women and men experienced street harassment by age 17). Most harassed people were found to change their lives in some way as a result of the experience. Men were found to be overwhelmingly the harassers of both women and men, and it was also common to be harassed by two or more men (Stop Street Harassment, 2014).

To date, very little research has examined the experiences or prevalence of street harassment of women or men who train/exercise outdoors. Recently, Roper (in press) conducted a qualitative study examining the perceptions of fear and concerns for safety among female recreational runners. Of importance to this study was the emergence of the theme titled – Normalization of Street Harassment. Of the 20 participants interviewed, all 20 indicated that experiences of street harassment (e.g., honking and whistling, evaluative comments, vulgar gestures) were a regular occurrence. What was especially disturbing was the normalization of these occurrences by the participants – as if street harassment was an expectation of running outdoors as a woman.

In order to better understand exercisers’/athletes’ experiences of street harassment, we examined the experiences of street harassment among male and female Division III cross-country runners. Cross-country runners were purposefully selected as they run outdoors – typically in a variety of settings and generally for 50+ miles/week. Focus group interviews were conducted with 20 Division III male (10) and female (10) cross-country runners (18 Caucasian, 1 Hispanic, 1 African American). The female and male participants averaged 47.5 and 60 miles/week, respectively. All participants ran on the road as well as on trails. Focus group data were analyzed following procedures outlined by Strauss and Corbin (2013). The following five themes emerged from the focus groups: (a) experience of street harassment, (b) impact of street harassment, (c) conditions that influence perceived safety, (d) responses to street harassment, and (e) normalization of street harassment.

All of the participants indicated experiencing street harassment. Table 1 outlines the forms of street harassment the participants experienced while running. All participants described their harasser as male, typically college-aged and white, although there were times when the harasser was an older male (40+ years). Participants indicated experiencing the most harassment when running on the road, in comparison to trails, and often in areas surrounding campus and/or in lower SES areas.

Table 1. Experiences of Street Harassment

While both male and female participants experienced street harassment, it is important to note the clear distinction in the impact of being harassed on the male and female participants. For the female participants, experiencing street harassment produced fear for their safety, anger that they were unable to run without being harassed, embarrassment about the unwanted attention, and also cautiousness about potential implications of responding to a harasser. For male participants, experiencing street harassment was largely aggravating; the male participants did not fear for their personal safety. Instead, men discussed how incidents of street harassment typically impacted their mood (i.e., frustration, anger, etc.) and subsequently their workout. 

The participants described a variety of conditions that influenced their perceived safety. Running in the dark, in secluded, concealed trails, and in areas less familiar provoked the most concern for their safety. Such conditions were avoided in order to reduce the likelihood of experiencing street harassment. All of the female participants and some of the male participants indicated that their running apparel impacted the nature of street harassment experienced, and as a result, their choice in apparel. For female participants, running in a sports bra felt especially vulnerable and therefore, most chose to wear a t-shirt when running on the roads. For male cross country runners, the standard apparel is short, loose shorts. A significant amount of harassment centered on the male participants’ apparel, and the perception that they were not in alignment with stereotypically masculine, athletic apparel (e.g., long, baggy shorts). A majority of the male participants noted the frequency with which they were called “faggot” while out for a run. Similarly, almost all participants discussed how “run Forest run” was also a regular occurrence.

The female participants responded to harassers disproportionately less than the male participants. For females, fear of escalation keeps many women from responding to their harasser(s) (Roper, in press; Stop Street Harassment, 2014). The male participants responded mostly by engaging the harasser(s) (e.g., yelling back, flipping off) or choosing not to respond if they were reportedly “in the zone.”

The experience (and even expectation) of street harassment while exercising is problematic for several reasons. None of the female runners who participated in this study would go for a training run alone. The dependence on running in a group, with a coach, or male partner is unfair and illustrates the restriction to public spaces many women feel. While male participants perceived being harassed as a nuisance, experiencing harassment on a regular basis drastically impacted the women’s experiences while training for competition. Despite their experiences, a majority of the runners in our study did not see street harassment as a problem that could be solved. As such, most of the runners utilized an emotion-focused coping strategy to reduce or alleviate some of their anger, embarrassment, frustration, and/or fear. As sport psychology professionals, it is imperative that we consider the ways in which we can educate ourselves to the prevalence and experiences of street harassment among athletes (female and male) who train in public spaces. While the responsibility is on men to stop harassing women, strategies for ending street harassment include (a) empowering women to lead less fearful and restricted public lives by teaching them that street harassment is not their fault and equipping them with ideas of how to respond to harassers (e.g., tell harasser what the problem is, state the effect, and state what you want) (see Kearl (2010) for a detailed list of verbal responses); (b) educating men and engaging male allies; and (c) naming the problem, raising public awareness, and speaking out against it.

References

Kearl, H. (2010). Stop street harassment: Making public places safe and welcoming for women. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger.

Roper, E. A. (in press). Concerns for personal safety among female recreational runners. Women in Sport and Physical Activity Journal.

Stop Street Harassment. (2014). Unsafe and harassed in public space: A national street harassment report. Retrieved http://www.stopstreetharassment.org/our-work/nationalstudy/