LONGORIA STANDS UP

Campaign battles street harassment

Seventy per cent of Canadian women experience street harassment before the age of 15, according to the Canadian Women's Association.

That number increases to 80 per cent when applied to women around the world, according to the international non-profit Hollaback!.

Defined by the non-profit organization Stop Street Harassment as “unwanted comments, gestures, and actions forced on a stranger in a public place without their consent” that is “directed at them because of their actual or perceived sex, gender, gender expression, or sexual orientation,” street harassment ranges from vocalization such as whistling and issuing of slurs, persistent advances and name calling, to physical touching, public masturbation and rape.

The sobering statistic related to the broad-reaching experience with this type of sexual harassment prompted actor, director and L'oréal Paris ambassador Eva Longoria to want to lend her voice to the cause to put a stop to it.

“I found that alarming and it was something that it didn't have a country or origin, it was like, everywhere — from any country, any ethnicity, any culture. We all experienced the same thing,” Longoria says. “I think people think women are a special-interest group — but we're not. We're half the world population. We're more than half the world's population, by the way.

“And so I think, gender equality, sexism, these are still part of the patriarchy. These are still systems that are firmly in place around the globe. And I think, because of those things, we continue to experience street harassment.”

Speaking over the phone from Los Angeles where she was about to board a flight to Mexico to resume filming of her CNN series Searching for Mexico, Longoria recounted one of her own experiences with street harassment when she skipped taking night classes in college because of the fear of being harassed on her way home.

“I was too scared to walk back to my apartment across the street from the college,” Longoria recalls. “I was like, well, I can't take an eight o'clock class because that means I get out at 10:30 p.m. Like, that's something men don't think about. And we always have to.

“There's just things women do automatically.”

That personal experience, combined with the overwhelming international statistics, prompted Longoria to eagerly agree to help L'oréal spread the word with its latest Stand Up campaign.

“I think it's super powerful for a company like L'oréal to take this on because they've always been about more than beauty products and hair colour,” Longoria says. “You know the slogan in itself, `Because you're worth it,' is a daily reminder. It is a mantra to make sure, when you walk out your door in the morning, you check your value . ...

“And I think this Stand Up training goes right along with that. That you are worth this effort for us to bring awareness to it.”

In the four-minute video, first released the week of April 3 in honour of the 12th-annual International Anti-street Harassment Week, Longoria outlines the Right To Be's 5Ds methodology. Comprised of Distract, Delegate, Document, Delay, and Direct, the training aims to empower both those experiencing street harassment, and those witnessing it.

“There's five different ways in which you can intervene,” Longoria says of the online training, which has seen more than 700,000 people take the course. “And, I think if people knew it, they would be able to interact and help stop it more.”

While the video, which Longoria refers to as a public service announcement against street harassment, employs an element of humour, Longoria pushes back at the idea of calling it comedy, preferring instead “witty and humorous” as the description.

“One of the things we wanted to do was make it entertaining enough for people to want to watch it and then learn something from it,” Longoria says. “The fact that somebody would not back off when you say, `Hey, buddy, back up. She doesn't want you there.' Like, that's not a funny situation, but you go, I can't believe that happened.

“So, we wanted to do a little bit of humour in it because some of these situations are truly unbelievable. You can't believe that this happens.”

When asked about the easiest element of the 5Ds to attempt, Longoria pointed to the one that is both non-confrontational — and will come as second nature to many.

“I think a big thing today is Document, which means if you see something happening, videotape it, take a photo,” Longoria says. “Where you can go wrong is when people post it. Documenting is for the victim . ... And I just think, in this day and age where we're all you know, recording something, to document and hand it to the victim is pretty powerful.”

Longoria also points to Delay, which sees a bystander check in with an individual following an instance of harassment to see if they're OK, as another “very powerful” option.

For Longoria, her go-to approach is to be more direct.

“I get right involved,” she says. “'Hey, back off, buddy. You heard her? She said no,' That's me. But I can understand how that's very intimidating to people who are nervous about intervening.”

She says the goal “is for everybody to take this training, so they know how to intervene when you see it happen. And, the more intervening that happens, the less it will happen.”