This year, our streets have been unusually empty. We spent most of 2020 in some form or other of lockdown, only leaving the house when necessary. But even with pedestrian traffic dramatically reduced, street harassment hasn’t necessarily stopped or even slowed down. Rather, it has persisted, as harmful and as dehumanising as ever, and affected…
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Be sure to check Lip weekly for new instalments of Really Honest Postcards from Lyon, April Smallwood’s six part series on life as a young Australian expatriate in France. Dear Michelle, I’ve been cooking a lot of Filipino dishes lately – adobo and sinegang mostly; kare-kare oxtail stew is next, because it calls for peanut butter. Like a…
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Women are conditioned to live in fear. All over the world. Don’t walk on those streets, don’t wear those clothes, don’t be too intimidating, complex, complicated, loud, because men don’t like that. We live in patriarchal societies in which we pander to male preference. In Nairobi, men on the streets got to do what every…
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Last week, CNN aired what was meant to be a straightforward ten minute segment responding to a recently released anti catcalling video produced by Hollaback, which has now gone viral. With stand-up comedian Amanda Seales and ‘The MANual’ author Steven Santagati as guests, the network received much more discussion and attention than they had originally…
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Beware: they will strike when you least expect it. It doesn’t matter that you were minding your own business. Don’t even bother trying to avoid eye contact. And if you think you can make it into the safety of the nearest store before the attack begins, well, think again. You spot their gaze locking onto…
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Most women could say that they have been harassed on the street in one way or another in their lifetime. Whether that be in the form of unwanted verbal slurs, or eyes that tend to linger and follow you. I myself, just a couple of weeks ago, while walking my dog during the day in…
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Hey, baby, what’s your name? You’re looking fine. Show us your tits. Look at those legs. Look at that arse. Its ok, honey, there’s more of you to love. Street harassment. Something I’m sure the vast majority of females have experienced at one time or another in their lives. The most distinctive time I can…
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