Tell us a little bit about yourself.
My name is Jessie, I'm a 16-year-old student from 🇨🇳. I am interested in human rights, international affairs, politics and law and so on. I support multilateralism and a community with a shared future for mankind. I like to read and write in my spare time, even to meditate.
When did you start your account?
October 1, 2020.
Why were you inspired to start an account?
I saw Sophie on UNGEI's Instagram post the other day. The next day I read her post and knew the organization existed, and I was thinking about what meaningful things I could do. So I went to Chalk Back's website to apply for an account, but I didn't expect it to come true so soon. I felt like I was dreaming.
Why do you think “chalking back” is a good method to raise awareness? Why do you think ending street harassment is important?
1. I think writing is a kind of art, which includes some people's experiences, opinions and feelings on some things, as well as refined and beautiful language. Chalk Back is a good example of this. It is easy to attract people's attention when this kind of art appears in public.
2. One of the things that women fear in their lives is that when they walk down the street, they'll be marked by demons. And women have long been at high risk of random killings, sexual harassment and sexual assault. The proportion of female victims in criminal cases has also been high for several years. They just normally walk on the road, unfortunately became the devil under the sword of the soul. But even scarier than this is that these inequities exist but cannot be spoken about. It's like when someone hears a woman talk about her predicament, they'll always say, "That's the way it is, you're a woman, you need to get used to it." They tried to silence our voices with such a sentence. Being treated unfairly is not the worst. The most terrible thing is to ignore the injustice. If we can face our fears bravely and speak up for ourselves, we can make our voice heard by more people. Only in this way can these long-existing njustices have a chance to be corrected and eliminated. We need not be silent, nor should we yield. Once we step back, the abyss is beyond.
What’s your favorite thing about your city?
Food and places of interest. There are many famous foods in my city: Cangzhou winter vegetables, hot pot chicken, shrimp paste, donkey pie, Renqiu smoked fish, Hejian sesame candy and so on. I prefer hot pot chicken and donkey pie. There are so many places of interest in my city, I'm sorry I won't give you any examples. I prefer the iron lion in my city. It has a history of more than a thousand years and is the symbol of the city. It witnessed the experience of the city.
How can your city better address street harassment?
For minors, I think the most important thing is for schools and families to popularize this kind of education, such as telling girls to learn to speak up and use the law to protect themselves, telling boys what they should not do to girls. Boys and girls also have to learn to protect each other, both male and female will be hurt. For adults, the government should hold some activities or publicize the issue on social media to raise their legal and moral awareness, and take measures to deal with adults who violate the law and moral awareness.
What do you hope is the outcome of your account?
I hope every woman doesn't need to give me dm and they can speak up for themselves in the pursuit of fairness and equality.
What’s the most difficult street harassment situation you’ve experienced?
I have not experienced street harassment, but I have experienced one campus harassment and three online harassment. I experienced school harassment in third grade, and one day at noon a boy in first grade touched my underside. I felt ashamed and angry, and I regretted that I didn't tell my parents and teachers. But I've heard lately that this guy's not having a good time. I experienced two harassments on Twitter and one harassment on Facebook during the epidemic. A man from Pakistan asked me all about me. I couldn't stand the amount of private messages he sent me. I told him I liked women (I'm one of the LGBTQ+ members). Since then he has never sent me a private message. It wasn't long before another man kept sending me private messages. His words were provocative and he said he wanted to put his underside in my mouth and have sex with me. I am really scared to receive such remarks. I blocked him and reported to Twitter(half a year has passed and Twitter hasn't answered me). Although across the screen, but the impact on me is very big. I was afraid to be active on Twitter at that time, because I was afraid he would use another account to spy on me and then harass me. I was very lucky that he wasn't watching my account and someone helped me get out of it. A few months later a man from the UK sent me private messages on Facebook similar to the one the man from Pakistan sent me. I didn't give him any response. I blocked him.
What does being a part of this campaign mean to you?
This means that the journey to break through the darkness and light up in the darkness has begun.
