‘No Catcalling’ Street Signs Popping Up in New York to be Taken Down
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Feminist Apparel(NEW YORK) — The streets of New York and Philadelphia have been getting new street signs that look just like “No Parking” signs, but they’re sending a different message.
If you’re keeping your eyes peeled, you’ll notice the new signs say things like: “NO CATCALLING ANYTIME” and “NO CATCALL ZONE.”
However, the new signs are going to come down in New York City, a New York Department of Transportation spokesman told ABC News Thursday.
“While we understand the concept of this campaign, these signs were placed without permission,” the spokesman said. “DOT has not received any formal complaint about them but we are proceeding with their removal as we are made aware of the location(s) and/or come across them.”
The Philadelphia Streets Department did not immediately respond to ABC News’ requests for comment on the signs.
The “public street art” was being “sneakily” put up to raise awareness for International Anti-Street Harassment Week this week, said non-profit clothing company “Feminist Apparel.” The group added it started the project in collaboration with Philadelphia-based feminist group “Pussy Division.”
Over 50 signs were put up this past week, and the campaign had planned on planting a few more — at least one in each borough of New York City, Feminist Apparel told ABC News Thursday in a statement.
“Awareness-building and dialogue-creation surrounding feminist issues is at the core of our nonprofit’s mission,” the non-profit said, “and we just thought legitimate looking anti-catcalling street signs out on the streets where street harassment occurs would be a cool, visual way to capture people’s attention towards the issue.”
The group is also “looking into” expanding the project to other major cities after getting “a lot of requests,” Feminist Apparel’s production coordinator Alan Martofel told ABC News.
Non-contact unwanted sexual experiences, including street harassment, “are the most prevalent form of sexual violence for both men and women in the United States,” according to anti-street harassment group “Hollaback!” which cited a Center for disease Control and Prevention (CDC) survey.
Hollaback! Deputy Director Debjani Roy told ABC News affiliate WABC-TV the “NO CATCALLING” signs carry an important message.
“Street harassment is something that has been normalized over time, and when we talk about street harassment we’re talking about verbal harassment and catcalling, but also non-verbal gestures,” Roy said. “The signs are a very interesting way to approach the subject, public art is really important in raising awareness.”
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