We’re a finalist in Ashoka’s “She Will Innovate” Competition: Vote for us today!
Voting ends November 7th, and the top three winners receive $10,000 to support their work, which would allow us to continue our global and campus-wide expansions, bringing Hollaback! to more communities. Please help by voting today and spreading the word.
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“Less than .001% of global slavery victims are freed or rescued each year.” Learn what you can do to help, 10/18/12.
Join us for a screening of “Not My Life”, the first documentary film to depict the horrifying and dangerous practices of human trafficking and modern slavery on a global scale, and right here in our own United States. The film was a 2012 official selection in the 15th UNAFF (United Nations Association Film Festival), which was originally conceived to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
A few quotations from the film script:
“Of all the cruel and evil things human beings do to one another in the world today, nothing goes more to the heart of who we are as a human family than the trafficking and enslavement of our planet’s youth.”
“There are more than 190 countries in the world, and virtually all of them enslave children, women, and men within, or across, their borders.”
“Human trafficking is a 32 billion-dollar industry.”
The screening of “Not My Life” will be followed by a panel discussion about trafficking in Philadelphia with local experts:
- Hugh Organ, who has spent most of his professional career serving youth within the child welfare system in residential placement and in foster care programs. In 2000 he began his service at Covenant House Pennsylvania, the largest nonprofit shelter provider for runaway, homeless and trafficked youth in Philadelphia. Since 2005, he has served on the Philadelphia Anti-Trafficking Coalition providing both training, outreach services for the coalition, and shelter for trafficking victims. The coalition consists of 56 agencies working toge
- Stefanie Fritzges, of Homeland Security, currently assigned to the Human Smuggling and Trafficking group tasked with investigating the smuggling and trafficking of persons into and through the United States.
- Christina Stoltz, who has worked at international crisis centers, emergency shelters, and prisons throughout Russia and Central Asia, before starting her own business here in the United States. Her businesses Ploome and REQ. 1 focuses on advocacy and trauma recovery of survivors of human trafficking and other forms of gender-based violence.
If you can’t join us this Thursday, October 18 but still want to learn about the problem as it relates to both the United States and our global community, check out this four-page anti-human trafficking toolkit from UNICEF. If you want some (significantly) heavier reading on the subject in our Pennsylvania community, check out the Joint State Government Commission’s Report: “Human Trafficking in Pennsylvania: Policy Recommendations and Proposed Legislation“.
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TOMORROW 10/10/12, 6:30pm: Free Screening of “Boys and Men Healing” followed by Panel Discussion
Wednesday, October 10th 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Free Library of Philadelphia Parkway Central
Montgomery Auditorium
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Reservations appreciated. Please respond to Kathy Stepkowicz by email at
Katherine@philachildrensalliance.org or by telephone at 215-387-9500 x3811
The Screening of “Boys and Men Healing” will be followed by a Q&A Session with:
- Jim Struve, LCSW, Co-Chair, MaleSurvivor Weekends of Recovery
- Chris Anderson, Executive Director of MaleSurvivor
- Rhett Hackett, Survivor and Motivational Speaker
- Chris Kirchner, Executive Director of Philadelphia Children’s Alliance
There are 1,600 reports of child sexual abuse in Philadelphia each year. Philadelphia Children’s Alliance wants to bring healing and justice to all of these children. We can’t do what we do without caring and informed people like you. Please join us on October 10th to learn more about the issue of child sexual abuse and how it impacts boys and men.
Boys and Men Healing is a documentary about the impact that sexual abuse of boys has on both the individual and society, and the importance of healing and speaking out for male survivors to end the devastating effects.
The film portrays stories of three courageous non-offending men whose arduous healing helped them reclaim their lives while giving them a powerful voice to speak out and take bold action toward prevention for other boys.
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HollabackPHILLY presents: Not My Life: Film Screening and Panel Discussion on Human Trafficking in Philadelphia 10/18/12, 6:00pm
Doors open at 6, film begins promptly at 6:30, followed by a panel discussion with various local experts about the trafficking problem right here in Philadelphia.
The William Way Community Center
1315 Spruce St., Philadelphia, PA 19107
6 – 9 pm
Light refreshments will be provided.
Sex trafficking and labor trafficking are global issues, but they also happen right here in Philadelphia. Learn about how these problems affect our community, and what can be done about it.
The feature film will be “Not My Life”, an official selection in the 2012 United Nations Association Film Festival.
Panelists include Hugh Organ (Covenant House), Stefanie Fritzges (Homeland Security) and other local experts.
This event is sponsored by Pennsylvania State Senator Daylin Leach, sponsor of Senate Bill 338, requiring the Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline number to be displayed prominently in certain establishments and locations.
National Human Trafficking Hotline 1-888-373-7888
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Weds, 10/3 at 6pm, DA Seth Williams speaks on the State of Crime in Philadelphia at UPenn. Free to the public.
“Please join DA Seth Williams on October 3, at 6:00 pm at The University of Pennsylvania Law School as he addresses the State of Crime in Philadelphia. A light reception will follow. The event is FREE and all are welcome. ”
Click here to RSVP: https://www.law.upenn.edu/surveycreator/active/form744264638.cfm
Philadelphia, one of the 10 largest US cities, has no Federal support for anti-trafficking efforts.
It only takes two minutes to make the call and your phone call could be the one that finally tips the pot. To find out who your representative is, click here.
Questions?
Please contact Katherine Lewis of WOMEN’S WAY at 215-985-0333 ext. 233.
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Webinar – SPARKing Girls’ Activism and Social Change
SPARKing Girls’ Activism and Social Change
With Lyn Mikel Brown, EdD and Amy Castro Baker, MSW
Thursday, September 13, 2012
4-5:30 pm Eastern Time
$29.95
Register now!
Girls today are bombarded with sexualized media messages. People who work with girls may feel like they see these problems everywhere they turn – but what’s the solution?
Join us to learn how to engage girls in the solution through activism and social change. In this webinar, Lyn Mikel Brown, EdD and Amy Baker, MSW will critically examine popular ad campaigns and describe marketing strategies as she explores the cooptation of girl power and the sexualization of girls in media.
In this webinar, we will discuss the importance of engaging girls in creative forceful reactions to such media messages and offer tools and strategies to scaffold girls’ activism. Participants will learn about a series of free online activities called SPARKits that you can do with the teen girls in your life. Learn how girls involved in Hardy Girls’ online project, Powered by Girl, and the SPARK (Sexualization Protest: Action, Resistance, Knowledge) movement are generating alternative forms of media and coordinating actions online and on the ground to push back on sexism and sexualization. Participants will gain access to a series of free online activities that you can do with the teen girls in your life. This webinar is presented in collaboration with SPARK.
Register now! Your webinar registration includes participation in the live webinar, access to a recording of the webinar, and an invitation to join our online learning community.
Presenters:
Lyn Mikel Brown, EdD, is a mom, professor, and community activist. She is Professor of Education at Colby College in Waterville, Maine and co-creator of Hardy Girls Healthy Women. She has been an American Association of University Women Educational Foundation Scholar-in-Residence and a winner of a National Academy of Education Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship for her research on girls. She is a member of the APA’s Psychology of Women Executive Board and was a member of the APA’s Task Force on Adolescent Girls. She is the author of five books, including Meeting at the Crossroads: Women’s Psychology and Girls’ Development (co-authored with Carol Gilligan and also the 1992 New York Times Notable Book of the Year), and most recently Packaging Boyhood: Saving Our Sons From Superheroes, Slackers, and Other Media Stereotypes (co-authored with Sharon Lamb and Mark Tappan). Her curricular materials proactively address concerns about girlfighting in schools across the nation.
Amy Castro Baker, MSW is a Doctoral Candidate in Social Welfare at the CUNY Graduate Center/Hunter School of Social Work. She has more than 10 years of social work experience in low-income neighborhoods, schools, and housing services. Her dissertation, “Unmasking the Female Face of the Sub-Prime Crisis: Gender Disparity in Lending & Foreclosure,” explores gender, race, and class disparities in sub-prime lending and foreclosure. She is also a graduate level adjunct lecturer in social policy and research at New York University and Hunter College. Prior to her PhD work, she also created the “Parents As Leaders” leadership development program in West Philadelphia, worked with Women’s Campaign International in Namibia, and served as a social work research fellow at the Homeless Health Initiative of The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
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Local Screening of Miss Representation to help a girl scout get her Gold Award.
A local girl scout, YingYing Shang, reached out to us about a screening of Miss Representation that she is posting to achieve her gold award. She is a rising senior at Conestoga High School, blogger for “Spark”, and activist and writer for “Powered by Girl”. See the details for the screening below and spread the word to help her out, and support women and girls!
YingYing Shang’s summary of the film and why she selected it for her project:
“I am hosting a screening of the movie Miss Representation at Tredyffrin Public Library on August 3rd to promote girl leadership and gender equality. Miss Representation is the 2011 film by Jennifer Siebel Newsom that addresses the media’s constant sexualization of women and undermining of women’s real worth as leaders, leading to lower self esteem in girls, eating disorders, and depression. Miss Representation is applicable to girls of all ages—media objectification of women contributes to the obsession with having the perfect body, and even rape culture and street harassment.”
Screening information, Cross-posted from Tredyffrin Township Libraries.
Please join us for a viewing and discussion of the film
Miss Representation
DATE: Friday, August 3
TIME: 7 p.m.
LOCATION: Tredyffrin Public Library
Ying Ying Shang, a senior at Conestoga High School, vying for the Girls Scout’s highest and most prestigious award, will present the documentary film Miss Representation at Tredyffrin Public Library.
Shang is using her passion for feminism, objection to media misrepresentation of girls, and her belief “every girl deserves to believe in herself,” to attain the Girl Scout Gold Award, in which scouts who have reached a certain level of achievement, identify and investigate an issue, build a team, and educate and inspire others. The culmination project requires at least 10 hours of programming and 80 hours of service, specifically addressing a need in the immediate community.
“I’m passionate about teen and pre-teen girls and their self-esteem because my sister Melissa is 9-years-old and has Charcot-Marie-Tooth, a form of muscular dystrophy,” says Shang. “Today, my sister is the most confident person I know, but I’m terrified that once I go to college, and she goes to middle school, she will succumb to the media’s negative influence on the self-esteem of teen and preteen girls and become insecure about her body and especially her disability. I want all girls, healthy or not, to believe in themselves and their own self worth.”
Shang, a Girl Scout for seven years, is a Girl Advisor to the Board of Directors at Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania and is the first to be elected to a second term. She is the first Junior Delegate to Vision 2020, the national gender equality campaign that serves as advisor for her Gold Award project. Shang also acknowledges support from Liz Helminska, Katherine Dautrich, Ally Thomas, and Katelynn Taylor from Conestoga’s Gender Equality Club. Shang interned at the Office of Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown in Philadelphia City Hall last summer, where she developed an interest in government and media campaigns.
Shang is also a blogger for the media activism site Powered by Girl and an activist and writer for Spark, an activist movement that demands an end to the sexualization of women and girls in media.
“Because I identified media as one of the main culprits to loss of self-confidence in girls, I’m showing two screenings of Miss Representation at Tredyffrin Public Library,” Shang explains. “I also plan to launch an internet campaign where people write what they love and appreciate about themselves.”
Miss Representation, a 90-minute documentary written and directed by activist and former actress Jennifer Siebel Newsom, exposes how mainstream media contribute to the underrepresentation of women in positions of power and influence in America. The film challenges the media’s limited and often disparaging portrayals of women and girls, which make it difficult for women to achieve leadership positions and for the average woman to feel powerful.
The film includes startling facts and statistics along with stories from teenage girls and provocative interviews with politicians, journalists, entertainers, activists and academics, like Condoleezza Rice, Nancy Pelosi, Katie Couric, Rachel Maddow, Margaret Cho, Rosario Dawson and Gloria Steinem.
Newsom launched MissRepresentation.org, a call-to-action campaign that gives women and girls the tools to realize their full potential. Newsom served as Executive Producer of the 2012 Sundance Award-winning documentary The Invisible War, which exposes the epidemic of rape in the U.S. military. She is also the founder and CEO of Girls Club Entertainment, LLC, which develops and produces independent films that empower women.
Ying Ying Shang won 4th place in Pennsylvania’s Impromptu Speaking competition. She is on the Finance Committee of her Homeowner’s Association. She loves reading and writing, discussing religion with strangers on trains, smelling musty old books in libraries, and of course, empowering other girls.
“I love the camaraderie of Girl Scouts and being a sister to every scout,” says Shang.
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Stuff People Say to Teen Girls – Street Harassment Video
A few weeks ago, I hosted a workshop with Nuala Cabral as part of buildOn’s Alternative Spring Break here in Philadelphia. About a dozen high school aged students voluntary spent their time learning and speaking out about street harassment. At the end of the workshop, they made this film from their personal experiences with street harassment.
“Help us raise awareness. Talk about this. Do something.”
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Anti-Street Harassment Week 2012 Recap
Thank you to Nuala Cabral, FAANMail, and the group of dedicated activists for all their effort in pulling together Philly’s Anti-Street Harassment Week this year! Philadelphia had a lot of great events to highlight street harassment in our community: a self-defense class, a film screening, Permanent Wave Benefit for HollabackPHILLY, and the “Meet Us On The Streets” day of Activism on March 24.
March 24 we had two groups divided between 52nd and Market in West Philly, and Broad and Eerie in North Philly, where groups held up posters, chalked the sidewalk, and engaged in discussions with members of the community.
HollabackPHILLY site leader, Rochelle, was in the West Philly group where we had a lot of meaningful discussions with women and men. A highlight was when a man driving a car campaigning for Obama pulled over and lent us his sound system! He free styled on our behalf for a while before handing off the microphone to Nuala to lead us all in a little “Two step for Street Harassment”. The activists were dancing on the sidewalk with our signs, smiles on our faces, and were able to engage the people entering and exiting 52nd street station, as well as those waiting at the bus stop.
After a few hours at 52nd and Market, and Broad and Eerie – both teams met up at Broad and Lehigh for the final rally where we covered two street corners and a median holding up signs, passing out information, and engaging the community members walking by, exiting the subway entrances and waiting at the bus stops. We had an inspiring amount of support from male allies, who held signs, engaged their fellow men in discussions, and generally showed us their support.
Click here to view the full photo album. With such a successful Anti-Street Harassment Week 2012, we can’t wait to see what the rest of the year brings. Thank you so much for your support so far!
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