Join us for Community Night!

Buffalo Wild Wings

4345 Merle Hay Road

(515) 270-9464

Two chances! Sunday 5/19 and Sunday 5/26

20% of sales* will benefit Hollaback! Des Moines

*excludes alcohol and promotional items

Hollaback! wants to work with you—as a leader of our community—to hold street harassers accountable. One way to get involved is by supporting the work we do with a donation. (I know you already want to stop reading here, but please continue!)

As a volunteer organization, we ourselves foot all costs of travel and materials that it takes to sustain a movement. As we are a small grassroots organization, it doesn’t take much; we work out of our homes and local coffee shops (shout-out to good ole Mars Cafe!), and we basically only need access to the Internet to exist. BUT! To build a real revolution takes more — real on-the-ground activism and a little cash. We do a pretty good job our pooling creative resources to keep costs low, but we’re currently limited by financial constraints and are asking for your support. Your support sustains the movement to end street harassment, and a little goes a long way. Here is what every donation creates right here in our community:

• WORKSHOPS. In the past two years, we have delivered six dynamic workshops for community partners throughout Des Moines, Altoona, Grinnell, and Ames. Donations would allow us to travel farther, travel more often, and thus provide support to the entire state of Iowa through these presentations—particularly in rural communities where LGBT folks are so often isolated. In addition, this summer Site Director Becca Lee is traveling to the first-ever HOLLA: REVOLUTION conference and retreat in New York City, July 25-29, to meet with Hollaback! leaders from around the world. Your generous support lessens the personal burden on our volunteers to finance these important collaborations!
• TABLING. Part of our work includes disseminating information and resources at community events. Since 2011, we have held booths at three large events – Drake University presents The Vagina Monologues, the Iowa Pride Network Pride Conference, and Take Back the Night. We have made many contacts through these booths, but as of now, we are limited to events that do not charge us a tabling fee. Donations allow us to book tables at more events — including Capital City Pride, June 8-9 – and also to produce more signage, resource materials, and giveaways for those booths: pins, buttons, wristbands, shirts, pamphlets, etc.
• ACTIVIST EVENTS. We also host our own events, which have thus far included happy hour, a dance party, flash mob, and chalk walk. We always ask local businesses to host us free of charge, and we use our creativity to keep costs as low as possible—but we’d always like to do a bit more! Your generous donations let us do more for YOU! Think film screenings, rallies, lobby days…the possibilities are endless!
• PUBLIC CAMPAIGNS. Our sister site in Philadelphia, PA recently raised enough money to launch a Public Service Campaign on their transit authority AND to produce an anti-harassment comic book. In Des Moines, we don’t yet have a campaign underway — but we could! Every donation brings us one step closer to putting anti-harassment ads on our DART buses and throughout the city.

We hope you will consider lending your support to make our streets and public spaces safe for all people. Donations can be made through our online platform. Note: To make sure your donation goes specifically to the work we do in Des Moines, please write Des Moines in the dedication field. Thank you so much for all you do!

April 7-13 is the second annual International Anti-Street Harassment Week, and to mark the occasion, we are holding a CHALK WALK!

Chalk walks are a super easy, inexpensive way to rally our Des Moines community to take a stance against street harassment. All it takes is some sidewalk chalk, anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours of your time, and some great energy!

WHAT IS A CHALK WALK?

Chalk Walk is your way to Hollaback!, your chance to turn the tables. Chalk Walk is us reclaiming the street, proclaiming our freedom, healing ourselves, and telling the the world, “I have the right to be here. To be me. To walk wherever, whenever, however I please.” We will literally use sidewalk chalk to reclaim our streets, by writing messages about our right to be there and to walk safely, without harassment. (See http://wechalkwalk.tumblr.com/ for examples!) We choose chalk because it isn’t damaging, doesn’t cost us much money, and

HOW DO I GET INVOLVED?

There are two ways to participate – choose one or both!

1. Meet Us on the Street! We’ll be gathering on the steps of the Capitol Building at 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 13, to write empowering statements on our downtown streets. Just bring yourself and your HOLLA attitude; we’ll bring the chalk!
2. Take Back YOUR Street! Sometime in the week of April 7-13, go back to a street where you experienced harassment (or any street, really). Reclaim that space by writing an empowering message; then take a picture and send it to us at dsm@ihollaback.org! We’ll post all the photos to the blog after the event!

Please spread the word – come as you are and/or send in your own photos!  United we Chalk Walk against street harassment, sexism, racism, homophobia and gender-based violence. We share the streets and we’re all in this together!

For more information, visit http://www.meetusonthestreet.org/

What was your inspiration for this comic?

I take the bus almost every day, usually twice, and it’s not that uncommon for people to try and make conversation with me even though I’m reading or have my headphones on. I’ve also gotten a fair bit of that kind of harassment on the street – you know, guys who try and talk to you even though you’re clearly disinterested, and then hurl insults when you ask them to leave you alone. What’s my inspiration? Hah. Being a girl in a city. There are lots of reasons. I write about what’s on my mind, and there was a period of time in the summer where it felt like I was getting chatted up or yelled at everywhere I went. I’ve got a lot of tattoos and people often take that as an invitation to my personal space. I’ve done comics about that, too.

What do you think of the work Hollaback! is doing? 

It’s great! Street harassment is a pain, and the reactions to it can be, as well. I remember walking to work one morning (at 9:45am) and having a car pull up beside me and both guys inside gesture for me to take off my headphones. I did, and they proceeded to catcall me and ask me to come for a ride. When I angrily put my headphones back on and started to walk away, they both swore at me and laughed. Later, I told a male friend about it, and he pulled the old “I’d be so flattered if a woman did that to me!” routine. It’s good to talk about why that’s not okay.

Did you know there was a Hollaback! in Halifax too?

I did! The woman running it is a friend of mine online and participated in our Ladies Night event at the comic shop I work in. We talk on twitter! She is awesome.

What is your signature Hollaback!?

My favorite response ever – well, okay, I’m usually kind of irritated and just walk away, but not always. One day last summer a guy pulled up next to me in his car, same deal, and instead of leaving I walked in front of his car, flipped him the bird twice and yelled, “DOES IT FEEL NICE WHEN I DO THIS? DO YOU FEEL PRETTY?” …He swerved around me, swearing, and drove away. I’m particularly proud of that.

Excerpt from the transcript:

I am not your cunt, I am not your bitch, I am not your slut, I am not your whore.

I am not your entertainment when you walk home from the bar, I am not some bitch that would look good in your car. I am the MACE in my pocket, waiting to blind you. I am the knife in my purse, waiting to cut you.

Do not tell me, “Hey, smile baby.” If I smile, it’s for myself. I do it for me.

When I shut you down, when I holler back, you act surprised. You’re taken aback, you’re angrier, you get aggressive.

But I couldn’t give less a shit if you are annoyed, because I am through. I am done. I’m not taking this shit from anyone. I am walking home in peace tonight.

Q. What inspired this film? Would you mind sharing your story on the harassment you’ve experienced/witnessed?

A. My own experiences dealing with street harassment, along with my friends’ stories, were the inspiration for making this film. Probably one of the most aggressive experiences of street harassment I’ve ever experienced in my life happened while I was a junior in college at Penn State. I was walking home after hanging out with some friends really late into the night. It was pretty quiet and desolate for Penn State streets, probably because it was around 3:30 or 4 a.m., and most party goers were home for the night. It seemed so eerily desolate out, that I called my then-boyfriend at the time, so I’d have someone to keep me company on the walk home. As I was approaching my block, I heard someone running towards me. Before I could even turn around to see, I felt someone smack my ass, as hard as they could. It literally felt like someone swung a bat with full force and hit my rear end with all the power they could muster. The guy shouted some sexist remark that fell on my deaf ears because everything around me went silent. It’s like my ears stopped working and all I can remember now is the pain of the hit and of the violation. At first I stood there, in disbelief as he walked on. Then, before I knew what I was doing, my feet started moving quickly towards him. I started shouting back, “HOW DARE YOU! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!?!!” My boyfriend at the time, still on the phone with me, asked me to please get home and discuss with him what had just happened. The only things I could feel for the rest of the night were the physical pain of being smacked with full force and the emotional pain of feeling so violated. I’ve dealt with street harassment a hundred times before that incident and since that incident, but that night has always been with me, and has been the impetus for me shutting down and hollering back all street harassment scumbags since. After that incident, I knew I never would let another street harasser intimidate me or make me feel uncomfortable ever again.

Q. Has MACE ignited any conversation about street harassment at the U of Iowa?

A. I’ve gotten really positive feedback about the film, though it’s only just been made and put online very recently and only just started to spread a bit. If it spreads more I’d certainly love for it to ignite important discussions about street harassment here at the University of Iowa, and everywhere really. I think films like “I AM THE MACE” allow for important representations of female empowerment that allow us to reflect on our own ways of fighting back against street harassment and misogyny. I remember the first time I saw the film “Born in Flames” by Lizzie Borden. I remember how important it was for me to see women standing up together against street harassers, and how watching it all unfold on screen made me reflect on how I would deal in those same situations. The more chances we get to see and hear women shutting down street harassment in strong and unapologetic ways, the better we become at vehemently shutting down street harassers ourselves!

Q. We completely agree! How do you Hollaback! against street harassment?

A. I Hollaback! against street harassment by assertively calling street harassers out and shutting them down immediately when they harass me on the street. I like to do this loudly so that the rest of the public walking nearby can hear, and so that the street harasser has been clearly called out. Then I firmly continue on my way because while they may try and engage in a back and forth, I’m not giving them the satisfaction. I also always carry pepper spray and a whistle on my keychain. Beyond shutting down street harassment on the street, I Hollaback! by creating and sharing films like “I AM THE MACE,” in hopes of igniting a larger dialogue about not only fighting to end street harassment, but fighting to end the kind of misogynistic culture that allows and perpetuates street harassment. I chose the title “I AM THE MACE,” because I think it’s important that we remember that we ourselves are in fact weapons against street harassment scum.

See more of Kelly Gallagher’s work on her website and vimeo page! 

Have your own story to tell? Share it with us!

Q. What does Hollaback! mean to you?

A. This organization made me stop and think about my own experiences. How when these things happen to me, that I feel the safest, most logical thing was to hide, ignore, run, cry. It made me question things I never had before, such as how if I’m going down town, I have to really think about my outfit. Is it too tight? Will it draw peoples attention to me, unwanted attention? Would people think I’m fat or weird, or slutty? Will this make guys think its okay to just grope me on the dance floor, even though I just want to dance with my friends? All these thoughts hindered me from being myself, from expressing  and loving myself. But with an organization like this and it’s support it helps me learn and think about these situations differently, and learn to Hollaback, whether on the street or in my clothing choice!

Q. What has been your experience with street harassment in Des Moines?

A. My first experience as a pre-teen, was walking to my friends house, and getting whistles and “ hey baby want a ride, you look good” from a driver’s window. It scared the living shit out of me. As an adult, I feel when I go downtown, I have to deal with this a lot, and watch others deal with it, whether its hand gestures to woman walking by, or whistling, verbal comments. It’s really sad that just wanting to dance with my girls becomes such a non-fun experience.

Q. What is your signature Hollaback?

A. I’m still developing my voice. For so long, I felt like I needed to hide, but I am ready and willing to stand tall and bold like wonder woman!