KathleenYWOCLC
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Hollaback! is looking for young activists to takeover HollabackNYC!
Let me tell you a little about Hollaback!
I love the way I look and feel, and when I leave my apartment and move around NYC I walk with an air of confidence. However, my confidence gets chipped away at with the constant catcalls on the street when I'm walking an on public transportation. Well Hollaback! is a movement dedicated to ending street harassment using mobile technology. Street harassment is one of the most pervasive forms of gender-based violence and one of the least legislated against. Comments from “You’d look good on me” to groping, flashing and assault are a daily, global reality for women and LGBTQ individuals. But it is rarely reported, and it’s culturally accepted as ‘the price you pay’ for being a woman or for being gay. At Hollaback!, they don’t buy it.
Hollaback! believes that everyone has a right to feel safe and confident without being objectified. Sexual harassment is a gateway crime that creates a cultural environment that makes gender-based violence OK. There exists a clear legal framework to reproach sexual harassment and abuse in the home and at work, but when it comes to the streets—all bets are off. This gap isn’t because street harassment hurts any less, it’s because there hasn’t been a solution. Until now. The explosion of mobile technology has given us an unprecedented opportunity to end street harassment—and with it, the opportunity to take on one of the final new frontiers for women’s rights around the word.
By collecting women and LGBTQ folks’ stories and pictures in a safe and share-able way with our very own mobile phone applications, Hollaback! is creating a crowd-sourced initiative to end street harassment. Hollaback! breaks the silence that has perpetuated sexual violence internationally, asserts that any and all gender-based violence is unacceptable, and creates a world where we have an option—and, more importantly—a response.
Now for you NYC folks…..
Hollaback has decided it is time to pass the torch at the local level (NYC) and give 10 youth (ages 18-22) the opportunity to become the leaders of HollabackNYC. They seek a diverse group of youth from the different neighborhoods of NYC, who are committed to making social change. Youth who are eager to learn and are able to invest at least 10 hours a week to this process. The new leadership of HollabackNYC will receive training in social media, community organizing, policy/advocacy, and marketing. They will also become part of an international movement that will broaden their networks and aid their development as agents of social change.
Hollaback! is excited to be in this recruitment process and to move forward in solidifying youth leadership to continue to build the movement against street harassment. Help them create this pool of youth leaders and spread the news. Their recruitment flyer and their short application are available here for download: Info flyer and iHollabackApplication. If you need more information contact Claudia De la Cruz at claudia@ihollaback.org.
Spread the word…HollabackNYC is on the move!
