Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I’m Laura Franco and I’m a high school student at Marymount school. I love my country, the people and the beautiful places it has, I really hope people could think beyond drugs when addressing to Colombia. I would be thrilled to study medicine abroad to know different people and have new experiences.
When did you start your account?
About six months ago I found catcalls of NYC account and loved the whole idea and point of it, therefore with my best friends we decided to bring the project to Colombia, were street harassment is so constant it became normal.
Why were you inspired to start an account?
When I saw a video explaining the idea and purpose of the account I realized how street harassment takes place all around the globe, I genuinely thought this only happened in Colombia as I grew up with it, thinking it was normal in my country. Realizing it wasn’t something I should settle down with hit me, so every time I can I explain others how this isn’t something we should be silent about, but something we should take action about.
Why do you think ending online harassment is important?
Every type of harassment is incredibly hard and dangerous for the well being of a person, I believe a persons happiness is the most important and valuable treasure because when you are happy, you see everything in a positive way, online harassment takes happiness away and ruins the self esteem of the person, for me, ending online harassment is a synonym of creating happiness and well being
How can the online community better address harassment?
I think the best way to address harassment is by making people understand it isn’t normal, it is something that can really make us feel unsafe, it isn’t something man should cheer about or girls should shut about. Making people get the impact it has on us I believe could make a change.
What do you hope is the outcome of your account?
I really hope people see how commonly this happens and take action on it. I want our account to make an impact on both the person harassing and the one being harassed in order to stop street harassment as much as possible.
What’s the most difficult street harassment situation you’ve experienced?
My worst street harassment situation actually wasn’t even verbal, I’ve had a few man telling me some stuff but I feel the worse when they look at me in such a way I feel terrible, unsafe and grossed out.
What does being a part of this campaign mean to you?
I feel amazing being part of this campaign, it means the world to me that I get to empower women to speak up about harassment and the best thing is I do it with my best friends by my side, I really feel like we could make a change and that makes me be more and more compromised to our account and all the goals we are going for with it.
Comments