A video designed to raise awareness of the harassment that women receive on the streets every day has shown that, unfortunately, sexism is alive and well.
Walking the streets of New York every day for the average woman is an ordeal, at least if this video is anything to go by. The public service announcement shows an actress going about her daily business, and receiving an unending amount of unwanted attention from men.
Shoshana B. Roberts is the actress in question, who walked around New York City for 10 hours wearing a crew neck t-shirt and a pair of jeans, and she recorded the video for Hollaback, an organisation that aims to raise awareness about how common a problem this is. From people simply shouting "damn!" at her, to others following her around for several minutes, it's a worrying portrayal of the extent to which this harassment takes place on a daily basis.
As if the catcalling and strangers following her wasn't bad enough, it was then the turn of the mindless internet keyboard warriors to get involved, as they started issuing threats of rape to Roberts in the comments below the video on YouTube. Hollaback appealed for people to help in flagging and reporting the comments and those who made them, and thankfully the majority have been reported.
Emily May, director of Hollaback said that "the rape threats indicate that we are hitting a nerve, [but] we want to do more than just hit a nerve though, we want New Yorkers to realize - once and for all - that street harassment isn't OK, and that as a city we refuse to tolerate it".
Via newsday.com
