User:Trinarojas1/sandbox

Introduction
Street harassment is a form of harassment, primarily sexual harassment that consists of unwanted comments, gestures, honking, wolf-whistlings, catcalling, exposure, following, persistent sexual advances, and touching by strangers in public areas such as streets, shopping malls, and public transportation. According to an article by the non-profit organization Stop Street Harassment, street harassment does not only include actions or comments that have a sexual connotation. Street harassment can include homophobic and transphobic slurs, and other hateful comments referencing race, religion, class, and disability. Harassment can also include persistent requests for someone's name, number, destination, or other personal information after the victim has already denied requests, as well as public masturbation and flashing. Stop Street Harassment states that someone could be harassed for multiple different reasons within the same instance of harassment. The practice of street harassment is rooted in power and control and is often a reflection of societal discrimination.According to some scholars, street harassment is defined as street “remarks” where the word harassment loses its connotation of violence, and it is considered to be blunt to recipients. According to the founder of the non-profit organization Stop Street Harassment, it can also consist of physically harmless behavior, such as "kissing noises" and "non-sexually explicit comments," to "more threatening behavior" like stalking, flashing, sexual assault, and rape.

Reported Cases
Recipients include people of all genders, but women are much more commonly victims of harassment by men. According to Harvard Law Review (1993), street harassment is considered harassment done primarily by male strangers to females in public places. In 2014, researchers from Cornell University and Hollaback! conducted the largest international cross-cultural study on street harassment. The data suggests that the majority of females have their first street harassment experience during puberty. According to Stop Street Harassment, “In a 2014, nationally representative survey of street harassment in the USA, half of harassed persons were harassed by age 17.” They also state that, “In an informal international online 2008 study of 811 women conducted by Stop Street Harassment, almost 1 in 4 women had experienced street harassment by age 12 (7th grade) and nearly 90% by age 19”.

Culture & Street Harassment
Cultural factors are flexible; therefore, different nationalities can have different reactions regarding street harassment. In much of South Asia, public sexual harassment of women is called "eve teasing". The Spanish term piropos most widely used in Mexico holds a similar effect. Studies show that what is considered street harassment is similar around the globe. Many perpetrators of these actions would not characterize them as harassment, though most recipients would. Hostile environments can be interpreted differently depending on cultural norms. Studies show that the US holds “discriminatory nature” views, whereas Europe holds “violation of individual dignity” meaning that the United States focus on the prejudice side of harassment and Europe focuses on the invasion of personal space. In a bigger picture, the US tends to emphasize social rules, and Europe highlights the ethical and moral elements of street harassment. Cross-Cultural research of sexual harassment puts individualist countries such as United States, Canada, Germany and Netherlands in comparison to collectivist countries such as Ecuador, Pakistan, Turkey, the Philippines, and Taiwan. As a result, individualist countries are more likely to be susceptible and offended to sexual harassment than collectivist countries. Brazilians see sexual tendencies as an innocent, friendly and harmless romantic behavior compared to how Americans view it as a form of aggression, hierarchy, and abuse. Harassment can also be disproportionately directed at those with what is perceived by passers-by as a non-typical gender identity or sexual orientation.

Taking photos of strangers without permission, as street photography and photojournalism practitioners do, is not considered street harassment.