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January 16, 2007
smart mob 2.0
Ryanne Hodson posted this video where she confronts a bunch of construction workers who catcalled her by going back to the construction site with a video camera. Upon seeing the camera, the workers appear meek and stunned in the video. Ryanne (audibly upset) tells them that she felt disrespected and harassed and they apologize. At the end of the video, she walks away, recovering a bit of her dignity.
Ryanne's video reminded me of the Hollaback blog (which she references) and of stories of subway flashers and gaettongnyeo caught on cameraphone. On first view I came away proud of Ryanne but feeling a little unnerved. There was something bothering me about the video, something that Tricia was able to articulate in a phone conversation with me last night:
"Notice the race and class distinction between Ryanne and the construction workers. White woman, black men. Creative class, blue collar. It reminded me too much of the lynching of black men in the South for whistling at white women."
While I don't think Ryanne's video is equivalent to a lynching (check Tricia's post for more), I can't help but watch this post and read its comments and think that perhaps justice should be more about understanding and not punishment.
Posted by yatta at January 16, 2007 2:35 AM