My name is Elena Marquez and I’ve decided to take action to address the current issues of street harassment. In my girl scout troop, we are currently working towards our Silver Award, when girl scouts take action on an issue they care about without fundraising. For me, I chose catcalling and street harassment. I was horrified that women and men all around the world are objectified through hurtful comments, actions and remarks. But even more alarming is the fact that this behavior is consistently recognized as “normal”. This has to stop- women and men of all ages should be able to walk down the street without fear and with confidence. 

I have spoke with Sophie Sandleberg, runner of @catcallsofnyc on instagram and how she took action about catcalling. Her account is her and many other people chalking their catcalling experiences. It draws light to the hidden remarks and experiences many women experience on the daily. Sophie mentioned that she started her account @catcallsofnyc when she was in college as an assignment. She remembers being catcalled and her account highlights just a small portion of catcalls in NYC.  She throws chalkback events where anyone can come to write their experiences and cover as much ground as possible. Lastly, I asked her how long it would take to completely stop catcalling. Her answer was another twenty years, but change is already being made. 

The aim of this project is to draw awareness to catcalling and speed those twenty years up. Many people still don’t know what catcalling is, or the effect it has on people around the world. It affects what people choose to wear, and their confidence. According to stopstreetharassment.org, 81% of women and 43% of men reported experiencing some form of sexual harassment and/or assault in their lifetime. Eighty-five percent of women in the United States experience street harassment before the age of 17, based off research by ILR and Hollaback! (https://www.ilr.cornell.edu). People need to know about this.  This project will contain multiple interviews of women with experience of catcalling. As a goal, I would love to speak to influencers and owners of sites such as stopstreetharassement.org and hollaback! A website will be created to share all of these interviews and discussions. Thank you.