Street Harassment: Current and Promising Avenues for Researchers and Activists

Research about street harassment indicates that the problem is far reaching in its effects and that most women and girls experience sexual harassment from men they do not know in public spaces. In recent years, an increasing number of activists, bloggers, and online media outlets have published pieces about street harassment, reflecting a growing and international anti-street harassment social movement. In this article, I discuss what scholars and activists tell us about street harassment, including prevalence, victims, harassers, responses and consequences, and theoretical explanations. I conclude with suggestions for further research, a call for more attention to the influence of overlapping inequalities, and an appeal to researchers to further explore this serious social problem.