Any woman can tell you how infuriating it is to be walking down the street minding your own business, and suddenly guys start whistling, hissing and making kissing noises at you. What’s worse is when they softly mumble raunchy things under their breath. It pierces your skin and all you want to do is give them a right hook, but know it’s probably best for your safety to remain quiet and brush it off.
Well, good news! You don’t have to swallow that sword anymore. As much as you wish the new anti- sexual harassment device was a laser that somehow created a painful sensation in the harassers package area, it’s instead an mobile app that helps you blow the whistle on their actions.
As soon as the incident occurs, for 99 cents iPhone and Droid users can share what and where it happened, take a photo of the perpetrator and upload it to ihollaback.org.
It all started five years ago when Emily May of Brooklyn was fed up with being hollered at. Since then, more than 2,000 people have interacted with her blog, and now the new app has made it one step easier for women to let the world know that street harassment is not OK. May tells PIX 11, “The world needs to know that street harassment exists, that it’s scary and that’s its pervasive, and if we don’t come forward and start telling these stories, the world will never know and nothing will ever change.”
Hollaback! wants to grow its mission by expanding to other cities around the globe. Go to their website to help them reach their goal of $25,000 by Nov. 19. Donations will “provide them the training, community, and technology they need to get started.”