ABSTRACT
Recently, attention to the sexual harassment of women in public has grown, from the conversations generated by #MeToo to the policy interests demonstrated by a select committee inquiry launched in the UK. While such public attention may be relatively new for a form of violence against women commonly trivialized and normalized, feminist research and activism have a long history of engaging with the range and extent of men’s intrusive practices on women in public. This feminist work takes as a starting point public space as a place where gender relations are contested. Here, the impact of men’s practices on women and girls is understood not only in terms of the women and girls’ safety, but also their freedom, highlighting how the “safety work” mandated for women and girls in public functions to limit women’s space for action and make them responsible for preventing violence. Drawing from research conducted in the UK, this article sets out in detail the concept of “safety work” and how it relates not only to women’s behaviors but also their sense of being in public places.
