GENDER IN PUBLIC SPACE: POLICY FRAMEWORKS AND THE FAILURE TO PREVENT STREET HARASSMENT

Abstract

In this thesis I examine the ways in which policy frameworks contribute to the proliferation of street harassment. By analyzing a diverse array of sources, including newspaper articles, government documents, activist interviews, and first-hand accounts of street harassment, I demonstrate that the lewd comments, groping, and assault that women experience in public spaces are interpreted as an insignificant individual problem that can only be prevented through reforming women’s misbehavior. This narrative is constructed through federal advice on sexual violence, police perpetration of sexual violence, and a lack of legal redress for victims of street harassment. A complete analysis of these frameworks offers greater clarity on how to construct street harassment as a policy problem and how to develop policy that will effectively address street harassment.