A video of a woman receiving catcalls over a 10 hour period while she walked through New York City, receives over a million views in a day.
Campaign group Hollaback! teamed up with actress Shoshana B. Roberts and filmmaker Rob Bliss to film every instance of street harassment she received while she walked silently with two microphones in her hand.
Mr Bliss is said to have reached out to the group after being inspired by his girlfriend, “who gets street harassed all the time”.
To film the video, Mr Bliss outfitted a rucksack with a hidden camera, and walked around in front of the 24-year-old volunteer for ten hours.
In that time, the actress claimed to have received over a hundred instances of verbal street harassment “involving people of all backgrounds”.
One man was filmed following the actress for at least five minutes, while other men made catcalls and comments about her figure.
According to the campaign group, while filming Ms Roberts said: “I’m harassed when I smile and I’m harassed when I don’t. I’m harassed by white men, black men, Latino men. Not a day goes by when I don’t experience this.”
We don’t put up with harassment in schools, at work, or at home, so why should we on the street? https://t.co/hfHLNKUDCP
— Shoshana Roberts (@ShoshanaBinya) October 28, 2014
While reaction on social media users was largely positive, some questioned whether it could really be seen as street harassment.
This video should bring shame to all men. It’s quite disturbing. http://t.co/MR3wK7bbyT #harrasment #Hollaback
— Michael Murray (@mdjmurray) October 29, 2014
10hrs, u got < 2min of compliments. no catcalls. compliments from poor or ugly people = #StreetHarassment. get over yourself. #Hollaback
— oakie (@notoakie) October 29, 2014
Eye-opening video about street harassment — woman harangued more than 100 times in 10 hours #hollaback http://t.co/KM4q47o2tG
— Corey Hill (@NewsCHill) October 29, 2014
A similar video was produced in Belgium in 2012 by Sofie Peeters, who had moved to Brussels to study film.
Peeters’ film Femme de la Rue or ‘Woman of the Street’ incited Belgian interior minister Joëlle Milquet to act by making sexism both a civil and criminal offence in July 2013. It also inspired the Twitter hashtag #harcelementderue (street harassment).