I've been exploring the following websites for the past day or two and I wanted your reaction.
Try to discern the function of these websites, the importance of raising these issues, the arguments that these websites suggest, and any other issues of interest that you've discovered.
Move the Fuck Over Bro!
Fuck You Street Harassment
I believe the function for these websites are to get stories off peoples' chests. These posts are all anonymous, so people are free to share their experiences here with other people who may be just like them. Whether this is to get a traumatizing experience off their chest or to warn others, it provides a means to communicate what has happened to them.
ReplyDeleteThe argument that these two sites provide is that women are different from men. In the first link; the main complaint is that men sit and usually take up a lot more room because they have to leave space for their genitalia. While this,in my opinion, is indeed true, it is no necessary to take up two seats for your manhood. This is also one of my pet peeves, not just with guys, with anyone who takes up more than one seat when they see a plethora of people, with not enough seats.
The second link is solely towards women. While i can imagine men may get harassed in the street by women, the amount is nowhere near vice versa. It should raise awareness to what happens on the street, and maybe what people can look our for to protect themselves or help others.
I think I've come across the first website before. In my opinion the issue it brings up is actually really important– I've certainly noticed men taking up too much space on public transportation ALL THE TIME. I absolutely think it is an issue of unconscious entitlement (although when it gets to the point where someone points it out to you and you say "oh, but my junk needs the extra room" then, you know, you're just an asshole and, if I may say, either a liar or deluded).
ReplyDeleteI actually have a technique for dealing with this sort of thing when I'm sitting next to a guy on the subway: I take the pointiest object I have (writing implement, corner of a textbook, whatever), and rest it on my legs such that the pointy end is sticking off towards the guy taking up too much space, but it still looks like I'm just resting the object on my lap. Every time the train rocks, he gets jabbed in the leg. It's very effective.
As for the second website, this is similar to Hollaback, although Hollaback I think is much more about a kind of instantaneous story-sharing and incident-mapping. But it's sad, because although nothing as extreme as most of those posts describe has ever actually happened to me, the feelings these women describe are all incredibly familiar.
I think the first website was made not solely to share stories and post photographs of ridiculous men who feel entitled to more than one seat, I think it was also made to encourage women to start standing up (or rather, sitting down) for their right to equal amount of space. A lot of the time I feel bad when I sit down in a seat with two huge men on both sides because I feel rude for trying to squish into such a small space. After seeing this blog I realize that I am completely incorrect about feeling bad for doing so. What right do those men have to sitting down and taking up more than one seat? None. From now on I will make sure that I ask people to move over when they are taking up more than one seat.
ReplyDeleteThe second website serves as a safe haven for females to post their personal stories. Many females feel that they do not have a place to go to talk about what happened, whether they were raped or sexually harassed. This is because it is very hard to find the sexual predator afterwards, and many are also embarrassed. This website serves as an anonymous (or not) place where women can finally talk about what happened, how they felt and reacted, and receive positive feedback and comments. It also serves as a reminder that you aren’t alone in this struggle.
The function of these websites is to serve, as Colin and Othilla suggested, as safe and anonymous ways for women to share their experiences with street harassment and annoying leg-spreading men as well as to help them discover ways to combat those infringements on their rights. In addition, the websites let women know that they aren’t alone in their being harassed.
ReplyDeleteI’d like to react to the intentions of the first blog. It seems to antagonize men who happen to be more comfortable sitting in a certain manner. However, for the sake of playing devil’s advocate, I don’t believe all men who sit with their legs wide apart mean to degrade women or exert some sort of power. What I mean to say is that their preferred manner of sitting may not always be the result of a consciously misogynistic decision. I understand that if a man’s legs are so wide apart that other passengers (women or men!) cannot sit down, it can be annoying, but again, I don’t think he necessarily has sexist intentions—or that he’s doing it because he’s been subconsciously taught to demean women; he may just be rude or honestly comfortable. Furthermore, I will admit to having put my legs on the seat in front of me, or putting my bag on the seat next to mine if I happen to be in a particularly empty train car or bus. Perhaps that’s totally obnoxious of me, but if there aren’t people standing, I don’t see what the problem is with being comfortable. I mention this because in a lot of the pictures on the first blog, there seem to be lots of empty seats, or the man doesn’t seem to be in anyone’s way.
That being said, there is certainly a problem with harassment and that women are sharing stories to raise awareness about how disturbing and disgustingly commonplace it is, is both important and admirable.
The first website, I believe, serves the purpose of raising awareness about this bad habit of men to take up space when they are sitting down. It is actually quite common to such things in trains and buses, so I am not at all surprised when looking at the anonymous comments on the site. By letting women be free with their opinions about how men use room without really needing to, those who do look at the website will be aware of the harsh criticism that would be met with acting that way on public transportation. This serves as a sort of "heads up" to those who aren't really aware of the annoyance they cause other people when they posture their body and take up more room. I have seen my male friends also take up a lot of space or have their legs open quite often when we sit together on the train, but they are wholly unaware of their disturbance to other passengers.
ReplyDeleteI suppose the second website also serves the same purpose as the first one, with an added effect of being an outlet for victims of harassment. The number of people who actually go out and tell people about harassment, both emotional and physical, is astonishingly low compared to the number of people who are harassed. By posting up personal experiences on Tumblr anonymously, and receiving positive and empowering comments for readers, the victim's self-denial, self-blame, or lack of confidence could be eased. It is very important to raise these types of issues, and should be done on a greater scale. Harassment could potentially ruin someone's life, but it is often not reported, which only urges the harassers to continue. To not report harassment is, in the harassers sick mind, an indication of being ok with it. Harassment can escalate, reaching the boundaries of abuse and rape.
These two websites are important for fighting the spread of such problems in this anti-woman society. There should be more websites that do the same, both giving awareness to the masses and providing a relief for the victims.
The function of the first website is to serve as a means for people to anonymously express their opinions on men spreading their legs while riding public transportation. However, I don't really feel that this issue is an extremely big deal because people can always politely ask the person next to them to give you some space. I also agree with Kathryn when she says that a man's preferred manner of sitting may not always be the result of a consciously misogynistic decision. As a male myself, because it's comfortable, I tend to spread my legs while I sit, but I don't have any negative intentions. Besides the fact that it may be annoying and uncomfortable for the person next to me, I don't really see any other problems with this because if there was, he/she could always speak up.
ReplyDeleteThe function of the second website serves as way for girls to tell others who are similar to them about their case of harassment. This issue is pretty important to point out because females lose their privacy and are restricted in what they can do because there are men that constantly go after and harass them. With all this harassment, women are forced to be scared of what will happen to them. I feel that this is a great site because it provides women who have been harassed a place where they can share their experiences and receive support from others.