10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Woman

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10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Woman
10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Woman.jpg
Screenshot from the video
Directed byRob Bliss
StarringShoshana Roberts
Distributed by Hollaback!
Release date
  • October 27, 2014 (2014-10-27)
Running time
1:54
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Woman is an October 2014 video created for Hollaback! by Rob Bliss Creative featuring 24-year-old actress Shoshana Roberts. The video shows Roberts walking through various neighborhoods of New York City, wearing jeans, a black crewneck T-shirt, with a hidden camera recording her from the front. The two-minute video includes selected footage from ten hours, showcasing what has been described as "catcalls" and street harassment of Roberts by men, reporting there were 108 such instances. The behaviors included people saying "hello" or "good morning", comments on Roberts' appearance, attempts to initiate conversation, angry remarks, and men following her for several minutes. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] As of September 2021, the video has received over 50 million views on YouTube. [6]

Contents

Production and goals

Roberts said she got involved with the video by responding to a Craigslist post by Rob Bliss a few months prior, and that although Rob Bliss told her that this was potentially a viral video, she was skeptical but was open to giving it a try. [2] [7] Rob Bliss himself shot the video by walking a few feet in front of Roberts with a GoPro camera in his backpack. [1] Bliss and Emily May (executive director and co-founder of Hollaback!, for whom the video was made) clarified in comments to The Washington Post that Roberts' dress choice (jeans and a T-shirt) was made so as to debunk the misconception that women only get harassed if they wear revealing clothing. Roberts also said that she experienced similar harassment every day on the streets of New York City as was shown in the video. [1] [2]

Reception

The video was hailed for providing visual proof of what many considered an important problem relating to the treatment of women in city streets. [1] [8]

Several commentators disputed the implicit characterization of many incidents in the video, such as people casually greeting Roberts, as harassment. [9] Others responded that, even though the words themselves may not seem like harassment, the social context, including that they were directed only at Roberts rather than at male passersby, made them harassment.[ citation needed ]

Another criticism was that the video was racially biased because it depicted black men harassing Roberts, who is Jewish, even though the video creator said that she was catcalled by people of all races. [10] [11] [12] Hollaback! responded to the criticism by noting that this video was only the first in a series of many videos that would document different forms of street harassment, and said it regretted any racial bias in the video. [12] [13] An analysis of the video documented that most of the scenes shown in the video were taken in neighborhoods with predominantly black and Hispanic populations, raising the question of whether the video was shot mostly in these locations, or whether harassment was more prevalent in these locations than in others. [14] [15]

The video was discussed on CNN by Amanda Seales and Steve Santagati in a segment hosted by Fredricka Whitfield, with Seales saying that men catcalling women is not complimentary and that women do not like being catcalled, while Santagati went on to defend men catcalling women, saying that women should take catcalling as a compliment and not abuse. [16] [17]

Some critics combined both angles of criticism, claiming that the comments that Roberts considered street harassment were so perceived by her (and by her audience) because of race and class differences between her and the men making the comments. [18] Others disputed the characterization of the video as racist. [19]

Roberts, the woman featured in the video, reported receiving death threats within days of the video being released, and said that she no longer felt safe. [20] [21] [22] [23] Roberts later filed a lawsuit against the video's producers. [24] However, the lawsuit was dismissed before going to trial. [25]

In 2015, Roberts was named as one of The Forward 50. [26]

Response videos

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Sieczkowski, Cavan (October 28, 2014). "Watch This Woman Receive 100 Catcalls While Walking Around For A Day". Huffington Post . Retrieved April 13, 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 Butler, Bethonie (October 29, 2014). "The story behind that '10 hours of walking in NYC' viral street harassment video". The Washington Post . Retrieved April 14, 2015.
  3. ↑ Alter, Charlotte (October 28, 2014). "Watch This Woman Get Harassed 108 Times While Walking in New York City". Time Magazine . Retrieved April 13, 2015.
  4. ↑ Grinberg, Emanuella (October 29, 2014). "What 10 hours of street harassment in NYC looks like". CNN . Retrieved April 13, 2015.
  5. ↑ Ryan, Andrew (29 October 2014). "Now Trending: Woman harassed more than 100 times walking streets of New York". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 18 June 2015.
  6. ↑ "10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Woman". Youtube. Rob Bliss Creative. 28 October 2014. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  7. ↑ Hoby, Hermione (December 17, 2014). "The woman in 10 Hours Walking in NYC: 'I got people wanting to slit my throat' The video exposing 10 hours of sexual harassment in New York in October has now had nearly 40m hits. But what was the impact on struggling actor Soshana Roberts?". The Guardian . Retrieved April 15, 2015.
  8. ↑ Kottke, Jason (October 29, 2014). "Ten hours of walking in NYC as a woman" . Retrieved April 13, 2015.
  9. ↑ "Catcall video reaction: Is 'hello' in the street sexual harassment?". The Christian Science Monitor . October 30, 2014.
  10. ↑ Rosin, Hanna (October 29, 2014). "The Problem With That Catcalling Video". Slate Magazine . Retrieved April 13, 2015.
  11. ↑ Automnia (October 28, 2014). "Why you shouldn't share that NYC catcalling video. The video, and its director, are not what they seem". Storify . Retrieved April 13, 2015.
  12. 1 2 "Video Calls Out Catcallers, But Cuts Out White Men". National Public Radio. November 1, 2014. Retrieved April 13, 2015.
  13. ↑ "Statement about recent street harassment PSA". Hollaback!. October 30, 2014. Retrieved April 13, 2015.
  14. ↑ Moore, Chris (October 29, 2014). "Does This Street Harassment Video Really Represent NYC?". Mass Appeal. Archived from the original on April 7, 2015. Retrieved April 13, 2015.
  15. ↑ "Turns Out That Catcalling Video Was Mostly Shot In Minority Neighborhoods". Liberty Viral. November 4, 2014. Archived from the original on 2014-11-24. Retrieved April 13, 2015.
  16. ↑ "That time CNN asked a 'bad boy' expert to give his thoughts on catcalling". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved 2022-04-23.
  17. ↑ "You Won't Believe This Man's Sexist Reaction to the Viral Catcalling Video: Watch Now!". E! Online. 2014-11-05. Retrieved 2022-04-23.
  18. ↑ "Uppity, White Liberal Upset About Being Catcalled By Minorities In NYC". Liberty Viral. October 29, 2014. Archived from the original on 2015-06-26. Retrieved April 13, 2015.
  19. ↑ Chok, Vera (October 30, 2014). "Harassment and freedom of speech" . Retrieved April 13, 2015. This video and the point it's drawing our attention to is not my idea of a liberal, racist, or neurotic video.
  20. ↑ "Woman In Street Harassment Video: 'I Do Not Feel Safe Right Now'". National Public Radio. November 1, 2014. Retrieved April 13, 2015.
  21. ↑ "Shoshana Roberts: Actress who highlighted street harassment receives rape threats online" . The Independent . October 29, 2014. Archived from the original on 2022-05-01. Retrieved April 13, 2015.
  22. ↑ McKinney, Kelsey (October 29, 2014). "The woman who made a video about catcalling is already getting rape threats". Vox.com . Retrieved April 13, 2015.
  23. ↑ North, Anna (October 30, 2014). "When Street Harassment Continues Online". The New York Times . Retrieved April 14, 2015.
  24. ↑ Burke, Kerry. "'Walking in NYC as a Woman' catcall video actress files suit". NY Daily News. Retrieved 2016-12-28.
  25. ↑ Roberts v. Bliss et al,, No. 15-CV-10167Document 62 (S.D.N.Y.2017)("The Defendants' motions to dismiss Plaintiffs Lanham Act claim are granted. Plaintiffs state law claims are dismissed without prejudice, and she has the option to replead them in the New York State courts. The Clerk of the Court is respectfully requested to close the motions pending at Docket Numbers 37 and 43 and close the case.").
  26. ↑ Eisner, Jane. "Forward 50 2015". Forward.com. Retrieved 2015-11-11.
  27. ↑ Mosbergen, Dominique (October 30, 2014). "This Is What 10 Hours Of Walking In NYC As A White Man Looks Like, According To Funny Or Die". Huffington Post . Retrieved April 13, 2015.
  28. ↑ "Watch 10 Hours of Princess Leia Walking in NYC". 11 November 2014.
  29. ↑ Dicker, Ron (November 3, 2014). "'10 Hours Of Walking Through NYC' As A Jewish Man Goes A Little Differently". Huffington Post . Retrieved April 14, 2015.
  30. ↑ "WATCH: What happens when a Jew walks in NYC for 10 hours? '10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Jew' shows comedian Scott Rogowsky being urged to daven, do a mitzvah and sniff an etrog". Haaretz . November 4, 2014. Retrieved April 14, 2015.
  31. ↑ Ghert-Zand, Renee (November 4, 2014). "10 hours of Chabad 'harassment' in NY. NY comedian Scott Rogowsky pokes fun at ultra-Orthodox group's outreach efforts on city streets". Times of Israel . Retrieved April 14, 2015.
  32. ↑ Schroeder, Audra (November 6, 2014). "Finally, the dangers of walking in Austin as a hipster are exposed". The Daily Dot . Retrieved April 14, 2015.
  33. ↑ Smith, Kevin (November 1, 2014). "Man Gets Harassed Over 30 Times In 3 Hours Walking In NYC (Video)". Elite Daily . Retrieved April 13, 2015.
  34. ↑ Wheaton, Oliver (November 1, 2014). "Video of a man getting catcalled in New York stirs up harassment debate". Metro . Retrieved April 13, 2015.
  35. ↑ ""Hot Male Model" Endures Sexual Harassment On The Streets Of New York". Instinct Magazine. November 3, 2014. Archived from the original on May 30, 2015. Retrieved April 13, 2015.
  36. ↑ Clifton, Derrick (November 4, 2014). "A Model Recreated That Catcalling Video in New Zealand — And the Difference Is Telling". Mic.com . Retrieved April 14, 2015.
  37. ↑ Kutner, Jenny (November 5, 2014). "New Zealand model re-creates viral catcalling video, does not get catcalled at all. The issue isn't "boys being boys." It's deep culturally embedded sexism". Salon . Retrieved April 14, 2015.
  38. ↑ Dicker, Ron. "New Zealand Tries Filming A Catcalling Video And Something Amazing Happens". Huffington Post .
  39. ↑ Taylor, Victoria (November 5, 2014). "SEE IT: 'Catcall' video recreated in New Zealand, gets different results. The New Zealand Herald filmed model Nicola Simpson walking around Auckland with a hidden camera to see how people reacted. The final product is worlds different from the viral video recorded in New York City". New York Daily News . Retrieved April 14, 2015.
  40. ↑ Ryall, Jenni (November 6, 2014). "A woman walked the streets of New Zealand and nothing happened". Mashable . Retrieved April 14, 2015.
  41. ↑ Mastracci, David (November 7, 2014). "The Trouble with Street Harassment videos, hijab or no hijab". The Islamic Monthly . Retrieved April 15, 2015.
  42. ↑ Devos, Siel (November 20, 2014). "UK: 10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Woman in Hijab". Stop Street Harassment . Retrieved April 15, 2015.
  43. ↑ "Watch: A woman walks around the streets of Mumbai for 10 hours to recreate the viral NYC video, doesn't get catcalled even once!". IBN Live. November 11, 2014. Archived from the original on November 13, 2014. Retrieved May 15, 2015.
  44. ↑ Murdoch, Archie (November 18, 2014). "Three Hours of Walking in NYC Dressed as a Gay Man". MassAppeal. Archived from the original on April 15, 2015. Retrieved April 14, 2015.
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