We All Have the Right to Be Safe

Ruth George

Donald Thurman raped and murdered University of Illinois Chicago student Ruth George. The headlines for Fox News, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun Times, USA Today, CNN, CBS, and NBC all shrieked that he killed her because she ignored his catcalls.

Street harassment is unwanted and unacceptable. Persisting when the person you are harassing communicates no interest in you amplifies the violence.  It is horrific what happened to Ruth George and also horrific that media headlines implicitly blame her for the violence she experienced. Imagine if she had not ignored him, then the headlines likely would have screamed: Student raped and murdered because she didn’t ignore his catcalls!

Street harassment is a major social problem. According to the 2019 Stop Street Harassment Survey, 81% of women and girls and 43% of men have experienced harassment. Over half of people identifying as transgender have experienced harassment. The experiences of people who identify as non-binary are under-researched so we don’t have those statistics. Holly Kearl, Stop Street Harassment founder, says: “we need to focus on ending the systems, attitudes, and culture that allow harassment and violence to occur in the first place. We need communities involved. We need to listen to the voices of those most affected, including girls and teenagers.”

YES, we must end the systems, attitudes, and culture that allow harassment and violence to occur AND we need to support individual choices about how to navigate the harassment and violence they encounter as we work to change the culture. There is no one-size fits all individual solution to dealing with street harassment and there are no guarantees for any solution. For instance, in “How to Handle Catcallers,” Plan International recommends “ignore it” as often the best response.  Kearl says: “…research suggests that a calm, short, assertive response may be the best strategy.” Whatever choices an individual makes when encountering street harassment is not the cause or reason for why they experience that harassment or subsequent violence. Ruth George ignoring Donald Thurman's verbal harassment in no way holds her responsible for his violent behavior.

IMPACT Chicago, like other empowerment self-defense organizations, holds people who  harass others responsible for that behavior AND we are also dedicated to providing opportunities for people to expand their options when faced with verbal and physical violence. While we support changing the culture at a macro level, we are also working to change the culture by providing people with tools to increase theirs and others’ safety and to prevent, interrupt, and stop violence. 

Our deepest sympathies to family and friends of Ruth George. We will continue to fight for the right of all to be safe.

Martha Thompson
IMPACT Chicago
Lead Instructor
Admin Team Co-Leader