A Letter from Emily and Sam To all our supporters --

It is with great excitement that we present to you Hollaback!’s first annual State of the Streets Report. This is an occasion for us to reflect upon the remarkable journey that our organization has taken since we launched our first blog in 2005, and it is an opportunity for us to look ahead and think strategically about how to continue along our phenomenal and progressive trajectory.

As co-founders, we have witnessed the organization expand and strengthen in every possible way. We see Hollaback! at the center of the movement against street harassment, and an essential locus for discussion, debate, and collective action.

But Hollaback! also represents the frontier of --a leading edge that is being pulled along by the demand of young people around the world who envision a more safe and just society. We believe Hollaback!’s role is to serve as stewards of this energy and demand, channeling the enthusiasm, volunteerism, and dedication of our thousands of volunteers into productive, meaningful social change.

We hope that each of you continue to support this remarkable organization in every way you can, and we look forward to our collective future of a world without street harassment.

Sincerely, Emily May, Executive Director Samuel Carter, President, Board of Directors Introduction

Hollaback! is an international movement dedicated to ending street harassment. Powered by activists around the world, our mission is to make public spaces safer for girls, women, and LGBTQ individuals. Despite the fact that comments from “You’d look good on me” to groping, flashing or assault, are a daily, global reality for women and LGBTQ individuals, they are rarely reported, and are culturally accepted as ‘the price you pay’ for being a woman, gay, or appearing different.

Studies show that up to 99% of women experience harassment at some point in their lives [Kearl, 2010]. When harassment occurs, individuals must choose between ignoring it and feeling victimized or responding directly – and risking personal safety. Using iHollaback.org, more than 3,000 girls and women between the ages of 7 and 78 have submitted information about their street harassment experiences. Samantha, a 16 year old who witnessed public masturbation wrote, “I’ve been thinking about it, trying to forget about it because I don’t want this to ruin my life. I keep saying to myself, ‘it didn’t happen, it didn’t happen’; however, as I type this I’m beginning to realize, ‘yes, it really did.’” Many of those who share their stories on the Had such an app been available when I was visiting Morocco, I could have uploaded a picture of the Marrakech shopkeeper and told the whole world about how he’d touched my merchandise. By pressing a few buttons on my cellphone, I could have shared my story, warned other women, received support from others who’ve experienced something similar, and at the same time helped gather data on the incidence of street harassment, which is hardly ever reported to the authorities. ALISON STEIN WELLNER IN HER WASHINGTON POST ARTICLE (1/7/2011)

Hollaback! site indicate the long-term impacts of harassment, including turning down networking opportunities, missing out on classes, and even changing jobs or moving because they feel unsafe.

At Hollaback!, we believe that everyone has a right to feel safe and confident without being objectified. Sexual harassment is the gateway crime that thrives in a culture where gender-based violence is accepted as the norm. There is a clear legal framework to reproach sexual harassment in the home or at work, but when it comes to the streets – all bets are off. This gap persists, not because street harassment hurts any less on the streets, but because until now, there hasn’t been a solution. The explosion of mobile technology has given us an unprecedented opportunity to end street harassment, and with it, the chance to take on one of the final frontiers for women’s rights around the world. Our History

Hollaback! started as a conversation among youth – four women and three men – in 2005. As the women told story after story of harassment, the men became increasingly concerned. Samuel Carter, who is now Hollaback!’s board chair, said quite simply, “you live in a different city than we do.” Collectively, they resolved to change that. Around the same time, a woman named Thao Nguyen bravely stood up to her harasser – an older, upper middle class raw-foods restaurant owner – who terrified her by masturbating across from her on the subway. She photographed him and presented the evidence to the police. When the police ignored her, she posted the photo on Flickr. Eventually the photo appeared on the front page of the New York Daily News, where it incited a city-wide conversation about street harassment. The youth who were to become the founders of Hollaback!, inspired by Thao’s story, decided to apply her model to all forms of harassment and to document these experiences on a public blog.

Over the ensuing five years, interest inHollaback! grew. Within months of Hollaback!’s 2005 launch we started to receive posts not only from outside , but from outside the United States as well. Some of our allies suggested that Hollaback! become the “Craigslist of street harassment” posting stories from around the world. However, we knew that although street harassment is a global issue, the power of our project lies, initially, in local leadership. So we designed a 25-page start-up packet with the hope that by sharing the experiences that had contributed to Hollaback!’s success in New York, we could help other activists. However, as a team of part-time volunteers, Hollaback! had neither the time nor the resources to develop methods for providing – or receiving – the long- term support needed to sustain and grow the movement.

In May 2010, Emily May, one of the original seven youth, became the organi- zation’s first Executive Director with the idea of growing the movement internationally. Under her leadership, what began as a simple idea – a blog to collect women’s and LGBTQ individuals’ stories of street harassment – began to grow into an international movement. In October of that year Hollaback! incorporated as a New York based non-profit, was granted 501(c)(3) status, and began to witness a tremendous surge in interest in its work along with a rapid expansion in social, political, and cultural capital for the broader movement that is crucial to ending street harassment globally.

When we hollaback we inspire many other oppressed people whom we may never meet. But in so doing, we put them on notice: if we can hollaback, what’s your excuse? So when we hollaback we must be as loud as possible LT. DAN CHOI ACTIVIST, IRAQ VETERAN How Hollaback! Works

At the core of our model lies the belief that movements start with people telling their stories – and they succeed with people taking action. Before the Internet age, there was only one mic, one podium, one speaker. But now, thanks to the proliferation of blogging and social media, it is no longer the loudest, wealthiest and most powerful who rule the airwaves: anyone with access to their local library’s internet portal can have a voice. At Hollaback!, we leverage technology to bring voice to an issue that historically has been silenced, and to build leadership within this movement to break the silence.

We work with women, girls, and LGBTQ individuals to document in words and pictures, and to literally indicate on a map, where they experienced harassment in public spaces. Doing this provides a forum for individuals to share their experiences and brings attention to this long-ignored issue.

Hollaback! is putting the holler back in feminism – and it’s about time.

KATHA POLLITT FEMINIST POET, ESSAYIST AND CRITIC Hollaback! is making it clear that street harassment should not be tolerated or accepted. Hollaback!’s efforts empower women and the LGBT community by giving us a voice using technology and social media outlets that provide a safe space where we can share out stories, educate and support one another.

GLENNDA TESTONE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE NYC LGBT CENTER

Inspire international leadership: Much of Hollaback!’s power lies in its scalability. To scale effectively, we train young women and LGBTQ leaders throughout the world to use their skills to build a grassroots movement focused on ending street harassment. We train in the application of technology as we also work to ensure that their actions are strategic and high-impact.

Shift public opinion:Our broad-based campaign is designed to reach the public at large by inspiring individuals to take action. We provide educational workshops to schools, universities, and community groups, and engage citizens through traditional and social media.

Engage elected officials:We present collected and mapped data to elected officials and policymakers in areas experiencing high incidences of street harassment and engage legislators to work with our trained leaders to address street harassment in their communities. Our Impact to Date

Broken the silence. More than 3,000 people have told their stories of harassment through our iPhone app, Droid app, and website, and over two million people have visited our website.

Inspired youth leadership. What started as a New York City-based initiative has spread to, as of December 2011, 45 cities in 16 countries and 9 different languages with more sites to be added soon. Our 150 site leaders are young and diverse: 75% are under 30, 50% are under 25, 44% are LGBTQ and 33% are people of color.

Shifted public opinion. In total, Hollaback! received more than 500 media inquiries including the New York Times, the BBC, Washington Post, and NPR. In addition to this, we have 4,000 Twitter followers and 20,000 Facebook fans. When our site leader in was threatened with by a prominent journalist because of her work with Hollaback!, 3,500 people from 75 countries signed an online petition to get him fired. Our efforts resulted in both Fiat and Lacoste pulling their advertising from the magazine, a public apology from the journalist and the editor, and ultimately the forced resignation of the journalist. Frankly, I love Hollaback! I am thankful for a place where I can go to not only report a case of street harassment--especially since once too many times the police, the people we’re supposed to report such crimes, are actively engaging in sexual harassment and violence themselves--but to be connected to people who validate a victim’s feelings of “it’s not just me” and “I didn’t deserve that treatment.” Hollaback!, in essence, is that expression of solidarity with people who’ve suffered from street harassment. But I’d expect nothing less from a website--and a worldwide form of activism--started by Emily May.

ANDREA PLAID SEXUAL CORRESPONDENT, RACIALICIOUS, FOUNDER, COALITION TO SUPPORT SEXUAL VIOLENCE VICTIMS AND SURVIVORS

Engaged elected officials: On Oct. 28, 2010 the New York City Council held the first-ever in the world hearing on street harassment.Hollaback! coordinated a standing room only group of women and LGBTQ individuals and subsequently fielded more than 200 media queries. This inspired local legislators in New York City to make a $28,500 investment in Hollaback! enabling us to develop the infrastructure needed to report street harassment incidents to NYC’s 311 information system – truly establishing a powerful nonprofit and government partnership. Hollaback! has given us a way to stand up for ourselves and let everyone know that we will walk down the streets, take the subway, and enjoy our cities without fear of intimidation. It’s something I wish had been around when I was a young woman trying to navigate the street harassment that was prevalent in New York City and it’s something I am thrilled is there now. Thank you Hollaback! for reminding us that we do have the power!

DORI MAYNARD MAYNARD INSTITUTE

In recognition of our early success, Hollaback! has received a number of awards and accolades. The organization was named a finalist inthe Ashoka “Revelation to Action” competition and in May of this year, Hollaback!’s Executive Director, Emily May was named one of Women’s eNews “21 leaders for the 21st Century,” In addition, Hollaback’s May received the “40 under 40” award from the New Leadership Council, and the organization was selected as a Top 10 finalist for the Young Nonprofit Leaders of the Year “Classy” awards. The organization has also been named an Ashoka “ChangemakHER” joining such social change makers as Melinda Gates and Fran Drescher. Further, when feminist icon Gloria Steinem was asked, “What women today inspire you and make you feel that the movement continues?” Steinem responded: “Emily May of Hollaback! who has empowered women in the street, literally” [HBO live chat, 8/16/11]. Emily May repeatedly emphasized the common misconception that street harassment is “the price women pay for living in New York City. But we’re not buying it. Taxes are the price we pay for living in this city.” May provided the audience with this chuckle, but her message remained extremely sincere. “Street harassment is poised to be the next big women’s issue of this decade…It is a gateway crime, creating a culture in our city that makes other forms of okay. GOTHAMIST 10/28/2010

Hollaback! is taking awareness to a new level in helping to create a platform where people can talk about this worldwide. HOLLY KEARL AUTHOR OF “STOP STREET HARASSMENT: MAKING PUBLIC PLACES SAFE AND WELCOMING FOR WOMEN” (NYTIMES ARTICLE 2/28/11) Training

Over the past year Hollaback! has trained over 150 leaders in 45 cities, 16 countries, and 9 different languages to be leaders in their communities, and in the global movement to end street harassment. All of these site leaders approached us (none were recruited) and we were pleased to find that people who traditionally have the least access to traditional power were the most eager to bring Hollaback! home. Our site leaders are: • 75% under the age of 30; • 50% under the age of 25; • 44% LGBTQ; and, • 33% people of color.

Before Hollaback! became a nonprofit we scaled the model using only a 25 page start up packet. In May of 2010 when Hollaback! transitioned to a nonproft we identified that since 2005, 20Hollaback! sites had launched, but only three remained active. Based on interviews with site leaders of both active and inactive sites, we found that by only providing a start up packet we missed key opportunities to build a cohesive community, provide necessary training and technical assistance, and show the world that we were a united global front against street harassment. As a result of our findings, we developed a new model that maintained the major strength of our original model – local leadership and autonomy – while filling the gaps left by the old model. Starting in January 2011, newHollaback! leaders take part in an extended launch process, which incorporates shared planning and training activities over a period of three months including technology, media, and social media training. As they prepare to launch a Hollaback! blog, new local leaders develop their strategic plans, build community with each other, receive technical assistance from Hollaback!’s mothership, and reach out to local community partners and media outlets. To celebrate their launch, our sites host in-person launch events to build support on the ground.

Once launched, site leaders remain active participants in the Hollaback! community, taking part in ongoing efforts to shape the organization’s direction and to develop shared resources as they work to establish their blogs into meaningful resources in their communities. In recent months, international Hollaback! leaders have: collaborated to translate Hollaback!’s website into eight languages; developed a shared anti-discrimination policy and values statement; taken part in several shared news stories, including a feature in The Guardian (UK); and used both blogs and social media, such as Twitter and Facebook to cross-promote numerous events, media coverage, and blog posts. In addition, our site leaders receive monthly trainings in everything from to blogging, managing volunteers, and holding events. Hollaback! is the future of online feminist organizing. It demonstrates how one simple idea - fighting street harassment using technology - can turn into a global movement when the right leadership, innovation and support comes together. What makes Hollaback! so important - and impressive - is not only that it’s fighting a much-needed battle over women’s safety and autonomy, but that it also stays on the cutting edge of organizing to do that work. JESSICA VALENTI FOUNDER OF FEMINISTING AUTHOR FULL FRONTAL FEMINISM AND THREE OTHER BOOKS.

Our leadership training does more than simply tell youth how to lead – it gives them a real platform from which to do it. It is a unique opportunity for youth to practice their leadership skills in a forum where the opportunities for success are tremendous and include things like obtaining international media attention, leading public discussions, and working with community members and legislators to develop responses to street harassment. Our site leaders bring Hollaback! to life in their own communities through grassroots organizing, and bring hope to women and LGBTQ individuals who experience street harassment daily. Czech Republic Israel United Kingdom US, cont... Buenos Aires Birmingham Des Moines, IA France London El Paso, TX Canada Mexico D.F. Germany Manchester Houston,TX Alberta Querétaro Berlin West Yorkshire Lawrence, KS Ottawa Dusseldorf New Zealand Minneapolis,MN Montreal Wellington United States New York City Winnipeg, BC Honduras Atlanta, GA Palo Alto, CA Tegucigalpa Turkey Baltimore, MD Philadelphia, PA Istanbul Boston, MS Portland, OR India Cal Poly in San Portland, ME Chandigarh Luis Obispo, CA Puerto Rico ●Bogota Chennai Chicago, IL Richmond, VA Delhi Croatia Columbia, MO SoCal Mumbai Training

To highlight their success we wanted to provide you with a snapshot of the impact that 13 of our sites have had already – despite having “gone live” less than a year ago: LONDON Hollaback! London was started by 23-year-old Julia Gray in early 2010. After meetingHollaback! co-founder Emily May in New York some three years earlier, Julia partnered with her friend, Bryony Beynon, to start Hollaback! London as a response to the harassment they faced in their country’s capitol. The London site has been featured in newspaper articles and blogs includ- ing The Guardian, The Observer, and Stylist Magazine. Even some media outlets that are considered rather lowbrow and sexist covered Holla- Community Partners include the back! London. Clearly, Hollaback!

ASH Campaign and Rape Crisis London. London is causing quite the stir. Julia L-R Rosie Swash, Bryony Beynon, Julia and Bryony each spoke at “Enabling Gray at Reclaim the Night 2010 Women” this past spring as a part of International Women’s Day events. The site leaders have also organized informal, town-hall style, mass meetings for the public to come and talk about the ills of street harassment and what can be done. The pair collaborated with men and women in their community on the production of more than 100 copies of a magazine, Langdon Olgar. Finally, the London site has been working alongside Vicky Simister, founder of a buddy campaign entitled ASH (Anti-Street Harassment Campaign), to have Oona King, London mayoral candidate in 2012, write street harassment into official policy. In the future, the site will continue organizing at the grassroots level through small publications, posters, stickers, and events that involve the public.

Twitter Followers: 418 Facebook Fans: 400

ISRAEL “One report doesn’t reflect anything, but all of them together are voices. Different voices. It doesn’t matter who’s behind the words, but just that there is a dangerous phenomenon that someone has to pay attention to.” After her own experience with street harassment as a student in the site leader of Hollaback! Israel decided to take a stand. Learning of Hollaback! through the Web led her to start what she initially imagined would be a short-lived project. She was wrong. To her surprise, the site was welcomed warmly and immediately and began garnering attention in the community. Council Members from , Israel’s second largest city, approached Hollaback! Israel about the creating and conducting of a public survey regarding street harassment. This survey will collect information from approximately 500 women across the city, with the results made public on the Web. Hollaback! Israel has also worked with the Jerusalem Rape Crisis Center in an effort to better serve survivors of sexual harassment in public spaces. The site has assumed responsibility for starting the conversation around street harassment in Jerusalem, and has granted several recent interviews to bloggers writing to men about the consequences of street harassment and how we can prevent it. In the future, the site plans to update its website so visitors can view it in English, Russian, and Arabic in addition to Hebrew.

Twitter Followers: 182 Facebook Fans: 523

ALBERTA “It’s been amazing, I’ve worked with so many fascinating people from different facets of life, plus I feel more confident in standing up to street harassment.”

Lauren Alston learned about Hollaback! from a friend in Boston, MA. As part of a course that Lauren took at the Univer- sity of Alberta, Canada, Lauren was motivated to start her own Hollaback! Since launching her site, Lauren has made presentations about street harassment and Hollaback! as part of the University of Alberta’s Week. She has also spoken with the Dean of Students, Dr. Frank Robinson, about raising awareness of harassment in public places on campus. Hollaback! Alberta was featured in a short documentary on street harassment created by a Monroe University student. The Alberta site also participated in the Edmonton SlutWalk, during which Lauren was interviewed by I-News 880. The creative corner feature of the Hollaback! Alberta blog was inspired by an author from Montreal, Quebec – two provinces away. The creative corner provides individuals with another outlet, namely art and media, to express the way street harassment makes them feel.

Twitter followers: 119 Facebook fans: 125

BERLIN In September 2010, future site leader Julia Brilling, came across Hollaback! London in the blogosphere and contacted the administrators of the site. After being referred to original co-founder Emily May, and recruiting a friend, Claudia Johann, to help her, Julia started Hollaback! Berlin. Despite the fact that there was previously no word for street harassment in German, Hollaback! Berlin has done much to encourage conversation and create discourse. While working on their respective Master’s Theses, Julia and Claudia made time to develop and run a workshop on how street harassment works in relation to race, class, ableism, and heteronormativity, focusing on the fact that this is not a one-dimensional problem. The workshop strives to raise awareness of marginalization and the privileges some people have at the expense of others. The workshop also covers the varied, intersecting and overlapping parts of peoples’ identities. The site was involved in organizing a recent SlutWalk and has also been featured in several magazines and online articles. Julia and Claudia are planning to hold a second, more comprehensive workshop on the intersectionality of identities that play out in public space.

Twitter Followers: 171 Facebook Likes: 147 DES MOINES Honduras “I met Emily, and I just loved the idea. I was thinking, this is just great because this is a way to use technology and take advantage of Facebook activism.”

When Andrea met Emily May, she was attending a “human rights advocates program” at Columbia University. She immediately recognized that there was a need for a Hollaback! in Honduras. Being an activist is difficult in general, but Andrea is an activist in a country with a tumultuous political climate. Her ability to look at a situation from every angle has allowed Hollaback! Honduras to flourish even in the face of oppression. While other feminist organizations were complaining about the conservative media’s use of their marches as a way to downplay the horrific violence going on in Honduras, Andrea refused to lose sight of her goals. Her response to statements like, “we cannot go to the walk, we cannot march beside the conservatives that have repressed and killed a part of the movement,” was simply, “well we have to go, this is something that affects us all... and if we are thinking of making or changing the system in our country, we also have to start by changing us.” Andrea has received a great deal of press attention for her efforts and plans on partnering with the local University to start conversations about harassment on campus.

Twitter Followers: 79 Facebook Fans: 617 Czech “There is something you can do, I’m telling you exactly what it is that you can do, it’s a simple premise, but what it can change is immense.”

New York native, Gail Whitmore, decided to launch Hollaback! Czech in the fall of 2010. Coincidentally, just three weeks before the infamous Nicola Briggs incident. Nearly a decade earlier, Gail had moved to Prague and once she learned about Hollaback! decided that Prague could benefit from its own site. As the first site in Eastern Europe, Hollaback! Czech has become somewhat of a bi-lingual pioneer in the fight against street harassment. The site was shown in Cooler Magazine, giving advice to young girls about dealing with street harassment. In addition, it has been featured on a host of different high profile and personal blogs. In April, the site held a work- shop for anti-street harassment day. In a country where street harassment is a taboo topic, Gail managed to successfully organize a showing of the film “Warzone,” and host a discussion with Czech natives on the topic. Hollaback Czech! is currently working with enforcement to make Prague’s first Pride Parade a reality. The site’s participa- tion in this landmark event will let marchers know that there is somewhere they can turn if they are harassed because of their gender or sexual orientation.

Twitter Followers: 201 Facebook Fans: 99 Portland Hollaback! PDX was started by Joe LeBlanc and Katie Carter. Joe was looking for a way to combat the various grey areas of street harassment leading up to hate violence and bias crimes that he was battling as the Coordinator for Q Patrol PDX, Portland’s first LGBTQ community driven foot patrol. Katie was trying to find an empowering way to respond productively to the street harassment that so many women, LGBTQ, and gender non-conforming folks face everyday. Together they have put on film screenings and supported other community partners in their efforts with SlutWalk PDX and Take/Bike Back the Night. They have collaborated with Bradley Angle, Portland’s only domestic violence center accepting victims of any gender, which also houses a specific LGBTQ program. This collaboration led to a film screening of “Where is Your Line?” discussing the topics of boundaries and consent. In November, Joe also presented at the Grace Hopper Women in Tech conference and the Roots of Change sexual violence prevention conference in Portland. In the future the site will continue organizing at the grassroots level, collaborating with any Portland organiza- tions battling street harassment and hate violence against women and LGBTQ identified individuals.

Facebook Fans: 212 Twitter: 82

Jaclyn Friedman, Chad Sniffen, Joe LeBlanc, Emily May, and Jessica Valenti Houston “Running a Hollaback! site has been great so far, it’s pretty much changed my outlook on a lot of things, and it’s changed my life, I can say that for sure.”

Hollaback! Houston was born when Ricki’s friend Meredith had a scary experience with street harassment, and she asked for Ricki’s help in running the site. Ricki didn’t hesitate, and since then these two women have been working hard to raise awareness in their home town. It has been challenging because the “feminist community in Houston is very scattered,” but Ricki and Meredith have been able to connect with other feminist organizations through Twitter and Facebook. Hollaback! Houston participated in Houston’s SlutWalk, and are in the process of setting up an art show focusing on sexual harassment themes. They are looking to create a more cohesive and cooperative feminist community in Houston.

Facebook Fans: 104 Twitter: 239

Right: Birmingham, Des Moines Chandigarh, Wellington, West Yorkshire Istanbul, Richmond

France “When you start a website, you’re behind your computer so you don’t talk to people directly or face to face, but we have to show that we are human behind our computers, that at the other end of the virtual world there are real people.”

Anna first heard aboutHollaback! when she was living in New York and researching feminist organizations there. When she returned to France, she emailed Emily, and started her own site. Anna currently runs Hollaback! France solo, but she has been working on making connections with other feminist leaders in her area. Since the launch of her site, Anna has seen a shift in the kinds of stories that she receives. At first, the stories were mostly about events that had happened in the past, but now she is getting ones that are more current, and increasingly severe. This has motivated her to continue to reach out, and to make Hollaback! France more than just a website.

Twitter Followers: 66 Facebook Fans: 56 Croatia “Why did I start a Hollaback? It was just one of those ideas that you hear and say, ‘wow, that’s it!’”

Barbara learned about the Hollaback! movement from one of her favorite feminist newspapers. Her full-time job does not have a lot to do with activism, and she was excited that running Hollaback! was something she could do in her free time. In Croatia, democracy is a relatively new phenomenon. Consequently, doing advocacy work there requires some ingenuity. Barbara’s main goal is to get her audience to open up and tell their stories. “People sometimes...won’t stand up for somebody else’s cause. Only if it’s really really important to them, and even then sometimes they will just be silent or they will say it to their friends but not out loud.” Despite the cultural challenges that they are facing, Barbara and her teammates have big plans. They have already written an article that was picked up by a mainstream news source, and they are creating a survey that will allow them to collect data on street harassment in Croatia. Their goal is to scale the survey across the Hollaback! network, giving Hollaback! an ability to compare street harassment across cultures.

Twitter Followers: 14 Facebook Fans: 153 Baltimore “I didn’t have any money to donate or anything like that, but the website said that you could start your own chapter, and it was an instant lightning bolt, like this is what I have to do. It wasn’t even a decision, it was like I have to do this, I have to contribute in this way. This issue is so important to me, I have to be involved.”

Shawna Potter felt an instantaneous connec- tion to the Hollaback! revolution. From the very beginning Hollaback! Baltimore has been making moves. The first event Shawna organized was the launch party for her site, a rock show at an art gallery. Since then, she has continued to organize successful events, including an Anti-hate Prom and the Baltimore SlutWalk. Shawna is all about cultivating relationships within her community and figuring out how those relationships can be mutually beneficial. “I’m getting involved with other organizations, helping them meet some goals, and just playing that very business savvy or political angle of, ‘let me scratch your back for a while, and maybe at some point you can scratch mine.’” Through the use of this strategy, she is determined to find creative ways to raise money forHollaback! Baltimore and to recruit more volunteers.

Facebook Fans: 363 Twitter Followers: 160 Delhi “As a history student we actually engaged with how gendered and discriminatory public spaces are, and how subtly this malaise seeps into society, it was an eye opener. As you talk to other people, and hear about their experiences, you change your perspective. Safety and the right to participate in public life is a right not a luxury.”

When Anandi received a forwarded email from the Hollaback! Mumbai site, she knew that Delhi needed a site of it’s own and she launched Hollaback! Delhi in April 2011. She identifies Delhi as, “perhaps the most unsafe city for women,” and she felt that there was no outlet for women to talk about their experiences. “The main problem is that eve-teasing [street harassment] and sexual harassment are usually borne silently and that perpetuates the violence and eventually makes it acceptable.” To promote their site as a safe space for women, and to encourage submissions, Anandi and her team are organizing film screenings and partnering with local NGOs.

Facebook Fans: 124 Twitter Followers: 98 Buenos Aires “I think what I was hoping for and what really did happen was the coherence of the people running the different Hollaback!s around the world...it is surprising because it doesn’t happen very often, that was really good in itself.”

Inti Maria became interested in starting Hollaback! Buenos Aires while spending a summer in London. Before any progress could be made, she had to start a discourse about the language surrounding street harassment. She found it challenging to, “get people to use hiro which means street harassment [in Spanish], and isn’t used as a phrase at all. People say piropos instead which means compliment.” The Buenos Aires group received much press attention, and finally, people started talking about the meaning of street harassment. To bring attention to the issue on the streets, the group did ‘mudstenciling,’ an environmentally friendly and completely washable form of street art. In addition, Inti and her team created a survey to collect people’s experiences with street harassment. The stories that she compiled left Inti with the desire to improve sex education for the young people of Buenos Aires.

Facebook Fans: 752 Twitter Followers: 278 Querétaro, México “We need to dare to think of a world without violence. But first, we must realize all the tiny unconscious details that we take care of to protect ourselves. We have to change the conformity of being harassed. And to do so, we must criticize these practices aloud to build the structural channels that support the change. We need to participate and commit to this ideal. Hollaback! is a great platform to make it happen”- María Elena

Linda Salas, Joaquín Salas, and María Elena Meza brought Hollaback! to Querétaro because they wanted to see some changes. Used to living in an incredibly macho culture, in which you are forced to learn to foresee how you have to dress before leaving home, or to evaluate which streets are safe before walking out; they wanted to make a stand against the normalization and naturalization of the violence toward women and LGBT folks. These leaders have developed the workshop ‘Respetémonos’ (respect us), with a high school curricula, to promote safe cities for all people; free of harassment. In the last two months, 600 young people have taken part in Respeté- monos. More than 15 publications have done stories on the effort, ranging from mass media publications in local and national press to radio and television. Building on top of the platform they have constructed, and thanks to their academic background in social sciences, the Hollaback! Querétaro site leaders are doing research on street harassment in their community. In the upcoming months they are publishing the results of a survey, in a specific population, where 500 people have participated.

Twitter Followers: 31 Facebook Fans: 52 Case study: Buenos Aires

On Saturday, March 6, 2011 the Hollaback! listserve received a shocking email from Inti Maria, the leader of the Buenos Aires site. The email read, “”I’d like to see her to tell her I would break her asshole with my cock.’ This is what a journalist wrote about me today. His magazine changed it in their print version, but he made a point of including his original version on his blog.” The changed version wasn’t much better. It read, “break her argument with my cock.”

What made this threat even more serious was the fact that it came from a the prominent and influential journalist and professor Juan Terranova, from his powerful platform at the magazine and blog. Emily and Inti Maria knew that they had to take action, but were unsure how to proceed. Hollaback!’s leadership style is unique in the sense that it is premised on the power of individual activists who are committed to bringing the movement to end street harassment home. None of the site leaders have funding or on-the-ground infrastructure. It makes for a self-sufficient movement, but can also make it difficult to act quickly when dangerous situations arise.

After some deliberation, Emily came to the conclusion that applying Hollaback!’s core value known as the, “I’ve got your back” principle, would lead our response. Hollaback! needed to show Inti Maria that we had her back, and also show all of site leaders that if this happened to them, we would have their backs too. The response needed to set a precedent that Hollaback! takes violent threats and actions seriously. Emily and Inti Maria got to work starting a petition, on change.org in Spanish, with the English translation under it. Many chipped in – lead blogger Violet wrote the draft, Gaby of Hollaback! Atrevete Mexico City translated it, and all of the site leaders united to promote it through blogs, Facebook, and Twitter. This collective effort got the word out far and wide. Ultimately, more than 3,500 people from 75 countries signed on in support. Even after this display of solidarity and support, Juan Terranova, and his employer, the magazine El Guardian, wouldn’t budge. So Hollaback! got creative. Inti Maria, Violet, and Gaby worked with an amazing team at change.org to target the magazine’s two main advertisers. They organized another petition that put pressure on Fiat and Lacoste to pull their advertising. This second petition was signed by over 1,700 people. In a historic and precedent-setting move among Argentinean media, both companies pulled their advertis- ing and publicly announced their disapproval of Terranova’s threat. Lacoste wrote, “our brand has suffered from being associated to comments we disapprove of.” A public apology was issued by both Juan Terranova and El Guardian, and Terranova’s column was cancelled at the request of the magazine’s main stakeholder.

When I asked Inti Maria what here first reaction to the situation was, she said, “If I’m being honest, my first reaction was...“ugh, let’s ignore it”. I didn’t like it but my general response to such things is not to give those people the time of day – the less you engage the better in my experience. However, when I posted the news on the listserve, Emily was furious and really supportive and reached out to me. It was her idea to start a petition and to get the guy fired. I felt overwhelmed by the response from the Hollaback! network, and felt encouraged to go forward with it. I have had so many situations of abuse in the past that I suppose my most typical reaction has been to ignore it in order to prevent further damage, but it was a novel way for me to think about it, to get them back. I know that this is the idea behind Hollaback!, but for some reason it hadn’t quite seeped through the fabric of my being until that moment. There’s a term for that here, called ‘learned helplessness’, where you learn that doing nothing is the ‘safest’ option, where often it just isn’t... And it leads to more and more helplessnes. It’s great to remember how to take the bull by the horns and fight the bullies.”

So yes, Hollaback! was victorious, but the message of this story is more than that. This is a story of what happens, when people band together to do the right thing. It is a story of what it means to have the backs of people you have never met in person. It is a story of incredible teamwork by a group of remarkable and motivated individuals. And it is a story of how we can successfully use new technologies and social media to connect across the globe to effectively advocate for change.

Inti Maria wrote, “The other day I made a comparison to a friend between Hollaback! and a bee hive. I said I felt like a bee because we are organized, strong, active and when we get mad — we act together. He said, “you are a strong bee,” haha. But the point is I feel strong because we are all strong together. Right now it feels like we’re taking down the bear of institutionalized misogynism in the media!”

Our Next Steps

At Hollaback!, we envision a world where men can say “good morning” and there is not a shadow of a doubt in the mind of the recipient that it’s genuine, not sexual; a world where every- one has the right to feel safe and confident when they walk down the street. Our ten year goal is to have succeeded in building a world where the babies of today will grow up never having to experience the street harassment endemic in earlier generations. To reach this goal, we will continue to work quickly and thoughtfully to grow and strengthen the groundswell created during our first year and build the movement that will end street harassment.

Hollaback! is facilitating this generation’s Anita Hill moment. They combine the latest of online innovation with the best of old-fashioned feminist organizing and roll it all into one lean and mean organization. Truly inspiring leadership is the cherry on top. COURTNEY E. MARTIN EDITOR AT FEMINISTING & AUTHOR OF FIVE BOOKS In 2012 we plan to:

• Launch 50 additional sites with local leaders around the world who have received Hollaback! training. This will bring our total sites to 100. Each site receives a comprehensive orientation, and is further strengthened by monthly trainings and hands-on technical assistance.

• Update our iPhone and Droid apps in New York City so that users have the option to submit their report to NYC’s 311 information system. When this happens, New York City will be the first city government in the world to document when and where street harassment happens.

• Pilot a college initiative in response to growing reports of campus harassment.This effort combines a one-month campus harassment storytelling initiative with the power of our blogging platform, allowing students to share their stories safely and anonymously.

• Launch the “I’ve Got Your Back” campaign,I'VE GOTa project designed to engage I'VE GOT YOUR bystanders to provide real-time relief toYOUR people who BACKare harassed, and to celebrate when they do by depicting BACK bystander efforts with green dots on ihollaback.org.

I'VE

GOT I'VE GOT YOUR BACK YOUR BACK Resources

Received FY July 2010 - June 2011: Ms. Foundation for Women $15,000 Instructional Telecommunications Foundation $32,000 Barnard Center for Research on Women $1,000 Individual donors $53,000 New York City Council $28,500 Open Meadows Foundation: $1,400

Our budget for fiscal year 2011-2012 is $150,000 and supports two full time staff with benefits.Hollaback! recieves $400,000 per year of pro-bono support each year, and if we calculated our site leaders into the organization’s budget, our annual budget would top $5 million.

Hollaback! is more than organization, it’s a movement – and it’s moving. The world is becoming safer, women wiser and hopefully harrassers less tolerable. When in doubt think: What would Hollaback! do? AMY RICHARDS CO-AUTHOR OF MANIFESTA AND CO-FOUNDER OF SOAPBOX Our pro-bono team includes: Jill Dimond, Lead Developer, is a Ph.D. student at Georgia Tech University. Jill coordinates most new technology for Hollaback!, including the develop- ment of our apps and back end database, and performs most necessary technology maintenance. She manages a team of pro-bono development assistants including Josephine Hall (one of our site leaders in New Zealand) and Kevin Finity.

Clara Flikstein, Marketing Strategist, is a partner and communications planning director at MindShare advertising firm. She oversees the brand strategy and a team of pro-bono volunteers including Domenique Osborne (copywriter), Kristen Meloche (art director), and Liz Entin (marketing strategy associate).

Victoria Fitzgerald, Master Writer, is a freelance journalist. She oversees our blogging strategy and blogging team which includes Voilet Kittappa, Annie Boggs, Alex Alston, Rebecca Katherine Hirsh, and Sara Sugar. She is also supported by Meg Cannistra and Kimberly May who are responsible for approving stories and moderating blog comments.

Rochelle Keyhan, pro-bono legal advisor and the director of Hollaback! Philly. She oversees our legal needs and protections and is supported by our pro-bono team at Morrison and Foerster (www.mofo.com). Our fundraising team includes Sally Mandler, a retired radical librarian who provides grant writing support, and Amalia Sirica, who helps execute our individual giving and event strategy. Board Members Kathleen Adams, Founder of Momma’s Hip Hop Kitchen Evan Bailyn, founder of FirstPageSage, author of “Outsmarting Google,” and SEO expert Cathy Brooks, Founder and Raconteur of “Other Than That” Samuel Carter, Assistant Director of the Institute for Public Knowledge at NYU, Publisher of Overflow magazine, and HollabackNYC.com co-founder David Garza, Executive Director at Henry Street Settlement Rochelle Keyhan, pro-bono legal advisor and the director of Hollaback! Philly Sally Newman, Legal Fellow at Communities for a Better Environment and longtime Hollaback! contributor Thao Nguyen, Web Producer at MTV and inspiration for Hollaback! Melissa Pierce, producer of the film “Life in Propetual Beta,” owner of “The Optomist Lens” and “Anywhere Admin” and organizer of the “Pitch Conference” Allison Sesso, Deputy Executive Director of the Human Services Council Peter Shankman, founder of HARO (Help a Reporter Out), author of “Can We Do That?!?” and social media expert Chad Sniffen, Prevention Services Coordinator, California Coalition Against Rebekah Spicuglia, Communications Director, Applied Research Center/ColorLines Nina Springle, Writer and activist in Australia Hollaback! brilliantly turns the big, world-changing idea of ending street harassment into the only thing that can make it happen: the power of individual women’s action GLORIA FELDT ACTIVIST & AUTHOR OF NO EXCUSES: 9 WAYS WOMEN CAN CHANGE HOW WE THINK ABOUT POWER & THREE OTHER BOOKS.

Thanks to Emily May’s visionary and innovative leadership, Hollaback! has raised international awareness of street harassment in new and exciting ways. Hollaback! has reignited and redefined the public conversation on sexual harassment for a new generation. Hollaback! has created an strong international community founded on the assertion that sexual harassment exists, is a problem, and is a problem we can solve—together.

JAMIA WILSON WOMEN’S MEDIA CENTER