Lawmakers probe street harassment of NYC women

Whistles, catcalls and lewd come-ons from strangers are all too familiar to New York City women, who say they are harassed multiple times a day as they walk down the street.

Now lawmakers are examining whether to do something to discourage it.

A City Council committee heard testimony yesterday from women who said men regularly follow them, yell at them and make them feel unsafe and uncomfortable.

Advocates told stories of preteens and teenagers being hounded by adult men outside city schools and pleaded for government to help. "This is not our way of not being able to take a compliment," said Nefertiti Martin, who testified at the hearing. "This is an issue of safety."

Street harassment of women is as old as cities themselves and is common around the world, but the pushback against it is a more recent movement. Volunteer activists in Cairo are planning to launch a website, Harrasmap, where women can instantly report cases of leering, groping and other sexual threats.

Soon, the group Hollaback, an organization formed five years ago to stand up to street harassment, will release a smart phone app allowing women everywhere to do the same. Hollaback told council members that women have left jobs, broken leases and skipped school all just to avoid incessant unwelcome advances from strange men they pass on their commutes.

Council members said they are in the early stages of exploring just what can be done. If there were to be legislation, a key issue would be enforcement, since the concept of no-harassment zones could encroach on First Amendment rights.

- AP