Faculty and community leaders with Martha and Lorena Reyes, after delivering a faculty petition signed by hundreds to Greg Penner, a member of Hyatt's board of directors.

BY VICTORIA TRAVERS

Last Friday hundreds of men and women gathered in the streets of Johannesburg for the “Mini Skirt March” organized by the ANC Women’s League to condemn sexual violence in South Africa.

The march began in Johannesburg’s Central Business District at a taxi rank on Bree Street. 300 protesters turned up brandishing banners and kitted out in skirts and mini skirts of all varieties.

The march, the first of which took place in 2008, was organized in response to the sexual harassment of two young women as they stood in the Noord Street taxi rank last December. The pair were taunted by a group of men about their clothes, groped, snapped with the harassers’ cellphones and masturbated in front of. Both women were in attendance at the march.

Friday’s demonstration was supported by a number of prominent political figures, including South Africa’s Minister for Women, Children and People with Disabilities, Lulu Xingwana, as well as, several other activist groups.

The World Health Organization published a study last September, which revealed that 42 percent of South African women aged 13 to 23 have experienced sexual assault “during social outings.” This is also a country that deems “Corrective Rape” as a justifiable “cure” for “being a lesbian.”

Me and Shawna From Hollaback! Baltimore

BY EMILY MAY

Hey there supporters and revolutionaries! Check out this week’s news and updates from the world of Hollaback!

Out and about: International movement intern Natalie attended a Hunter College V-Day event in Manhattan to spread the Hollaback! gospel and today, international movement coordinator Veronica will take a trip to Columbia University to talk about the wonders of Hollaback! at their V-Day event.

Hollaback! around the world: Aisha Zakira and the rest of the Hollaback! Mumbai team spoke at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences last night in Mumbai, India. The team talked about the myths surrounding street harassment, bystander intervention and how to respond to street harassers. I also met with Shawna from Hollaback! Baltimore, who recently celebrated their one year anniversary with party Dance Your Panties On. So congratulations Hollaback! Baltimore!

In the press: I was featured in the New York Times, along with several other travel experts, this week giving handy travel tips to keen explorers. I told them:

“The mile-high club is only cool when it’s consensual… You’d be surprised at the number of people who think groping people in their sleep, masturbating under blankets or harassing fellow passengers is a good idea. And if you experience or witness any of these behaviors, don’t be afraid to tell the flight staff.” Read the full article here!

I was also a guest this week on the Tonya Hall Show, talking about social media and social change. Hollaback! Mexico had a shout out in online publication Kaja Negra and Hollaback! Chennai was featured in online publication Women’s Web, discussing the necessity of changing attitudes towards street harassment.

Join us: We need new board members! This is an exciting opportunity to be part of a new initiative, and to help lead the way as we explore new platforms for making social change in a networked world.

Thanks Hollaback! supporters for another fantastic week of fighting street harassment and keeping the revolution alive!

HOLLA and out!

Emily

BY VICTORIA TRAVERS

The TSA, the government body responsible for protecting the nation’s transportation systems to ensure safe travel, have received several complaints from women who claim to have been targeted by airport screeners to view their bodies.

According to online magazine Wired.com, Ellen Terrell, who travelled from Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport told CBS News that a female agent appeared to be singling out certain females on request from male agents in an adjacent room. Terrell was even directed through the scan a number of times because the picture was said to be “blurry.”

Following the third scan the TSA agent apparently became agitated telling her co-workers on her microphone:

“Guys, it is not blurry, I’m letting her go.”

Terrell told CBS that she felt “totally exposed” and was positive that their only motive for sending her through the scanner multiple times was to “have a nice look” at her body.

Another woman said that she felt “targeted by the TSA employee to go through the see-you-naked machine because” she is “a semi-attractive female.” While another said:

“The screener appeared to enjoy the process of picking someone rather than doing true random screening. I felt this was inappropriate. A woman behind me was also ‘randomly selected.’”

CBS contacted the TSA and this is the response that they received:

“All of our millimeter wave technology units including those in Dallas have been upgraded with additional privacy enhancements that no longer display passenger-specific images… To further ensure passenger privacy and anonymity, a privacy filter was applied to blur all images.”

Good job too! It seems like a no brainer to me that males would be allowed to view females in the “see me naked machine,” particularly as pat-downs are always performed by the same sex, the same policy should be put in place for the scanning agents. I am absolutely happy to endure the most extensive of airport security to ensure complete safety when travelling, however, it is truly staggering that there are degenerate creeps that would abuse not only the system, but would violate an individual’s fundamental human right to privacy. Terrorists are not in the habit of hiding weapons of mass destruction in their bras.

A 24-year-old rapist has escaped a prison sentence in Turkey while the only female judge was on leave on the grounds that the sex was consensual because the victim did not scream.

For two years, the woman, who is a mentally disabled widow and mother, was raped by her neighbor, who threatened to kill her and her 3 children when she said she did not want to have sex with him. It was only after discovering that the woman was 8 months pregnant, that he was arrested. Prosecutors were able to convict him based on the DNA evidence taken from the baby.

Without considering the woman’s mental state, the fact that her life was being threatened and that her children’s lives were being threatened, the court has relied on a rigid, outdated misconception on the definitions of rape. In a country where 45 percent of girls and women between the ages of 15 and 60 have experienced physical or sexual assault, it can be difficult to see how Turkey is making inroads for gender equality. Yet, despite the troubling statistics, the voices of Turkish women and girls continues to grow in the face of increasing inequality for women. Additionally, 78 members of Turkish Parliament elected last year were women. Since the lone female judge’s absence may have carried significant sway regarding the lack of justice the rape survivor received when the rapist was released early, it could have easily played out differently had more female judges been present.

It may still be an uphill battle ensuring women have adequate legal protections from rape, domestic violence and harassment, however, as more women continue to enter the workforce, run for public office and make up almost half of college students, Turkey’s legal system will gradually be forced to acknowledge the rights of women.

Chick-Fil-A, the American chicken restaurant has made quite a name for itself of late and it’s not for their chicken strips. Via the restaurant chain’s charity, WinShape, the organization has donated over $2 million to groups that promote anti-gay rhetoric, such as Focus On The Family, Exodus International and the Family Research Council.

Hillary Dworkoski has created a Change.org petition New York University: Stop Serving Anti-Gay Chick-Fil-A on Campus. Her petition letter reads as follows:

While Chick-fil-A denies having an “agenda against anyone,” an investigation by Equality Matters revealed that Chick-fil-A’s charitable arm, WinShape, donated nearly $2 million to anti-gay groups in 2009 alone. That $2 million supported groups such as Focus On The Family, Exodus International, and the Family Research Council.

And New York City’s only Chick-fil-A is located in a cafeteria in a New York University dorm.

NYU prides itself on being a diverse, open and inclusive campus community. Unfortunately, maintaining a contract with an anti-gay vendor like Chick-fil-A undermines what makes this university so great.

While the NYU Student Senators Council recently voted not to remove vendors for political reasons, they did retain that the school could remove vendors that violate human or labor rights. As Secretary Clinton recently announced, “gay rights are human rights, and human rights are gay rights.” As such, I respectfully request that NYU remove Chick-fil-A from campus.

By signing this change.org petition, you will help send a strong message to New York University, an institution which “prides itself on being a diverse, open and inclusive campus community,” that by keeping the chain they are doing the exact opposite of what they preach.