Countless people have shared personal street harassment stories and the limited research suggests at least 80 percent of women experience street harassment, yet many people continue to downplay it’s seriousness.

They may say, “I don’t see it, so it must not be a problem,” or “You’re over-reacting, find something else to complain about,” or “With the way girls dress these days, what do you expect?” or “Stay home or put a bag over your head if you don’t like it,” or, “One person’s flirting is another person’s harassment.” (Seriously, these are things people say.)

A national study is critically needed then because until there are more data PROVING street harassment is a problem in the United States, few American politicians, community leaders, educators, or businesses will do anything about it.

Stop Street Harassment plans to undertake this study. Please donate to make the study possible. It will entail:

* 1,500 women and 500 men ages 18-30 taking a 15 minute online survey. The sample will be nationally representative and the respondents will be selected randomly through the postal system.

* Questions will focus on prevalence, type, impact on people’s lives, why people harass, and ideas for change. It will include questions about harassment based on gender-identity and sexual orientation.

* Stop Street Harassment plans to lead future studies focused on other age groups, as well as studies focused on specific geographic locations and races. This is simply a starting point.

PROCESS & PRICING:

* Writing Questions: Stop Street Harassment will write the survey questions. The advisory team comprised of Ph D-level sociologists, demographers, and political scientists and anti-street harassment activists will provide input. (Cost: $0)

* Surveying: The surveying firm GfK Custom Research LLC will conduct the actual survey and ensure that it is nationally representative. They will conduct a pre-survey of 30 people. SSH will be able to edit and adjust survey questions as necessary based on their responses before conducting the full survey of 2,000 people ages 18-30. (Cost Estimate: $47,000)

* Analyzing: SSH will work with social scientist consultants to analyze the data (Cost: $5,000)

* Report: SSH will release a short report with the study findings and recommendations. It will also include information from discussion groups SSH is facilitating this fall with under-represented groups, including Native American young adults, sex workers, and transgender individuals (Printing & Production Cost: $5,000).

Please donate!

WHY GFK CUSTOM RESEARCH LLC:

Last year, SSH founder and American Association of University Women Program Manager Holly Kearl co-authored a national study on sexual harassment in grades 7-12. Kearl and her co-author Dr. Catherine Hill wrote the survey questions, analyzed the data, and wrote the research report, but GfK Custom Research LLC, named Knowledge Networks at the time, conducted the survey. Because Knowledge Networks has sound surveying methods and extensive experience conducting surveys the AAUW study was featured in AP, New York Times, Washington Post, Education Week, NPR, and more. Knowledge Networks was easy to work with, professional, and prompt.

THANK YOU DONORS!

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