About

Hollaback! is a movement dedicated to ending street harassment using mobile technology. Street harassment is one of the most pervasive forms of social violence in this country, and one of the least legislated against. It is rarely reported, and is too often accepted as the ‘price you pay’ simply for being a woman, a person of color, an immigrant, dis/abled, a poor person, or lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer in this community and throughout the world.

We believe that everyone has a right to feel safe and confident and to move in the world without being objectified or targeted. We believe that street harassment is a gateway crime that normalizes gender, race, class, dis/ability, religious, and sexual orientation-based violence. However, while there is a clear legal framework to reproach harassment and abuse in the home, workplace, and schools, when it comes to the streets—all bets are off. This gap isn’t because street harassment hurts any less, it’s because there hasn’t been a solution. Until now.

The Hollaback! project makes patterns and instances of street harassment visible using mobile- and web-based technology, including our own mobile phone apps. By collecting the stories of people who have been harassed on the street because of their gender, race, class, dis/ability, religion or sexual orientation, Hollaback! is creating a crowd-sourced initiative to end street harassment and break the silence that has perpetuated this type of social violence.

The explosion of mobile technology has given us an unprecedented opportunity to end street harassment—and with it, the opportunity to take on one of the main sites of oppression and marginalization in our community. Our goal is to use the knowledge gained about where and when local street harassment happens in San Luis Obispo to facilitate community-wide efforts to end this type of violence.