‘Stop Telling Women To Smile’: Denouncing ‘Jackals’ And Catcalling In Mexico

*This is powerful. More like this should be done in all major cities, where media attention tends to focus. VL

By Rigoberto Hernandez, Code Switch

Brooklyn-based artist Tatyana Fazlalizadeh recently went to Mexico City to talk with women who’ve gotten unwanted “piropos,” as catcalling is known in Mexico.

Fazlalizadeh, 29, has been taking on street harassment since 2012 with her campaign “Stop Telling Women to Smile,” a series of street posters with portraits of women and messages like “critiques on my body are not welcome” and “women do not owe you their time or conversation.” The campaign started in Brooklyn and has expanded to other cities including, Philadelphia, Chicago and Boston.

Mexico City, where rampant sexual harassment has led the city to provide female-only subway cars and buses, is the campaign’s first international foray, and it’s part of an impressive new interactive project at Fusion, a joint startup between ABC and Univision aimed at attracting millennials. The page includes short videos of women describing their experiences, map of where the posters were planted throughout the city, and videos documenting the project.

Click HERE to read the full story.

[Photo courtesy of Tatyana Fazlalizadeh]

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