Welcome to Our New Site

Featured

Posted on August 14, 2011 by chai

With two years and some months under our belt, we are growing up. Many of you told us that you wanted Holla Back DC! to be doing more–more trainings, more outreach, more ways to address to public sexual harassment and assault. We heard you. We worked with different activists, organizations, and community members to design a name that could be larger than a holla. We wanted something that addressed safety, community empowerment, and action.

Out came–

The problems of street harassment that Holla Back DC! faces are too big to be solved by a blog alone. DC needs an engaged community working on several levels to end street harassment. Holla Back DC! is expanding its community: the blog will be joined by sibling initiatives (like RightRides DC) under the umbrella of this new parent, Collective Action for Safe Spaces.

Over the next few weeks, we will be rolling out more information on our website. In the meantime:

Submit your experiences of public sexual harassment and assault
Volunteer for us. We are currently looking for two Social Media fellows.
And, of course, donate.

If you are new to our community, WELCOME! We hope that you join our discussion online and offline.

Info Session!

Posted on January 25, 2012 by admin

Have you been wanting get involved with Collective Action for Safe Spaces?
Then attend our first info session meetup on February 4th!

Where: Bread Brew (bonus: Bread and Brew is donating 10% of the proceeds to CASS!)
When: 3pm-4:30pm
What: Find out how you can get involved with us to make DC a safer place for all!

If you plan to attend, please RSVP to info@collectiveactiondc.org.

We look forward to meeting you!

PSAs

Posted on January 20, 2012 by admin

Through online activism, public advocacy and education, and community building, we work hard to make the streets of DC safe for everyone.

Tomorrow night, January 21st, local bands Miyazaki, Ra Ra Rasputin, and supergroup Volta Bureau will help us raise awareness and funds for some of our programming at an all-ages benefit concert at St. Stephens run by Positive Force. The bands have spoken out in a series of PSA videos for TVD, and we hope you join them in solidarity tomorrow night!

Volta Bureau

Ra Ra Rasputin

Miyazaki

Find out more about these incredible local bands on The Vinyl District!

A Playlist to Empower

Posted on January 18, 2012 by admin

Cross posted from The Vinyl District:

What if this post started with a comment on your outfit, or the shape of your body? What if it made a disparaging homophobic comment directed at you? This kind of harassment is a daily experience for a lot of people in the Washington, D.C. area, and Collective Action for Safe Spaces (CASS) is dedicated to empowering them to speak out against it.

Through online activism, public advocacy and education, and community building, we work hard to make the streets of DC safe for everyone.

On Saturday, January 21st, local bands Miyazaki, Ra Ra Rasputin, and supergroup Volta Bureau will help us raise awareness and funds for some of our programming at an all-ages benefit concert at St. Stephens run by Positive Force. The bands will be speaking out themselves this week in a series of videos at TVD, but first we have a playlist to remind you to empower yourself.

Fugazi – “Suggestion”

I’m not sure anything better has been written expressing the frustration, anger, and injustice tied up in public sexual harassment than this song. Why can’t everyone walk down the street without suffering the judgment of complete strangers? The lyrics remind us to overcome our reactionary ideas about gender, or else we only “play the roles that they assigned us.”

Sonic Youth – “Swimsuit Issue”

This one was suggested by Patrick Kigongo of Ra Ra Rasputin, who will be playing Saturday’s benefit show. It’s a noisy invective against the male gaze and exploitative gender roles that makes it hard not to want to smash the patriarchy.

Le Tigre - ”Hot Topic”

Not only is this one to play while getting ready to head out on the town, the song pays tribute to a raft of influential feminist artists, musicians, and writers. Band member Kathleen Hanna could easily be included in such a list. It also provides some of the best advice an activist can hear: “Don’t you stop.”

No Doubt – “I’m Just a Girl”

This may be an obvious choice, and I hate to be predictable, but I think that every girl who was old enough to operate a discman in the mid-’90s rocked out to this song and loved it. I recommend that anyone reading this now undertake my after-school ritual from almost every day of the beginning of sixth grade: close the door to your room, turn this up, and flail.

Diana Ross - ”I’m Coming Out”

With its bouncy beat, classic disco vocals, and catchy hook, this song would be a perfect way to forget the haters. Add an empowering message and it’s a shoe-in for this list. A world without harassment is one in which everyone is free to be their authentic selves, and Ms. Ross reminds us not to lose sight of that goal.

“What, you don’t hear me?”

Posted on January 17, 2012 by admin

I was going to meet my boyfriend after his rehearsal at a local studio close to my house. When I got there, however, he texted me to say the director had a bit more he wanted to run and he really wasn’t sure when they would be let out. As it was very cold, I decided to just go back home and he would meet me there later. As I was walking back along Pershing, I noticed a group of maybe four or five guys, at least a few years older than I, walking along the opposite side of the street.

I was cold, tired, a little disappointed, and just in no mood to really deal with anything. So when one of them started trying to get my attention, making “psstt” noises, I just ignored it and kept walking. They continued doing this and saying things like “what, you don’t hear me?” before I heard something land in the street a few inches behind me. Immediately they erupted into laughter and a chorus of, “shit, that was so close!”, and threw something else at me (neither hit). I heard one of them say, “you guys are fucking assholes.” Thanks. After that I think I lost my novelty and they let me walk home in angry, disturbed, resentful, pissed-off peace. I don’t think any good would have come from confronting these boys harassing me on the otherwise-empty street, but damn, I wish I had.

Submitted by L on 1/14

Location: Pershing Drive, Silver Spring

Time of harassment: Day Time (9:30A-3:30P)

Do you have a personal experience with gender-based public sexual harassment or assault you would like to submit? Just click here and fill out the online submission form. All submissions are posted anonymously unless you specify.

“I COULD, TOO.”

Posted on January 10, 2012 by admin

Walking down 14th one evening to meet friends, I passed a group of men headed in the opposite direction. I could feel them looking at me before crossing paths, and had already braced myself for an inappropriate comment. You know how you can tell when the way someone is looking at you is inappropriate and threatening before he even opens his mouth?

Anyway, as expected, one of the men did turn out to be a verbal harasser, and said “girl, i wanna taste that little ______.”

What I didn’t expect, was that one of the other men would intentionally bump into me. The verbal harassment, coupled with this physical touch, was really unsettling. To make matters worse, I was audibly and visually disgusted by both the comment and the contact, and the man who originally verbally harassed me appeared to be offended and became even more threatening by shouting back at me, “I could, too!”
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