Calling Out Street Harassment of Women and LGBTQ People: A Review of Kolysh’s Everyday Violence

Abstract

Street harassment often impacts people whose identities and presentations of self-intersect with femininity in any way. Yet, despite this frequent unwelcome scrutiny of our bodies and selves, few scholars have turned their own appraising gazes on street harassment in kind. Fewer still have centered queer and trans people in their inquiry. In Everyday Violence: The Public Harassment of Women & LGBTQ People, Dr. Simone Kolysh (2021) critically investigates street harassment from intersectional queer and nonbinary feminist perspectives. Their research both amplifies voices from survivors of harassment and directly explores perspectives from perpetrators of harassment. Per Kolysh’s own reflections, this balance of information proved immensely difficult to strike. It also distinguishes Everyday Violence as uniquely impactful for understanding and responding to street harassment of feminine, queer, and trans people. Kolysh enhances these impacts by writing concisely and clearly about complex nuances of harassment. Their monograph expansively covers street harassment origins and dynamics while remaining immensely accessible for readers of diverse cultural backgrounds and educational stages.