Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Homophobia in the neighbourhood
John Toner of the Indy reports on the high levels of abuse that one couple receive on a daily basis:
A gay couple have told of their constant struggle with homophobia in Haringey.
Teacher Siobhan Wesley and her partner, charity worker Patricia Macleod, say they are subjected to threatening sexual and homophobic abuse in public on an almost daily basis.
The pair live separately in the Green Lanes area of Haringey but spend a significant amount of time together as a couple in public.
This has exposed them to an escalating level of threatening sexual behaviour from people, predominantly men, and violent threats and abuse purely because they appear together in public as a gay couple.
Ms Wesley, 29, said: “All the time this happens, we’re just walking along the street and we get people yelling sexual insults at us, men shouting what they’d like us to do to them and people just screaming ‘lezzers’ at us.”
Recently the couple were saying goodbye at the end of Siobhan’s street when a man exposed himself to them and began to sexually insult them for no apparent reason.
I'm sure I'm not alone in feeling that it is upsetting to read of this homophobic behaviour in the neighbourhood.
What should be done, as Ms Wesley suggests, to make local people aware that "queer people exist in this area, that it’s completely normal and that the comments they make are offensive and against the law."
UPDATED Sat 11th April
From GayHarrin website
Report it!
The local police station for Harringay can be reached on:
If you have witnessed or experienced harassment, report it by calling the Anti-Social Behaviour Reporting Line:
- Name
- Address
- Email address /telephone no.
- Brief description of people involved, location and what was done or said.
Tags for Forum Posts: homophobia
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Old-Age-Emporium(OAE) on
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Ah yes, Michael, but at least she'd have ranted in her sexy Asiatic Aeolic dialect and couched her complaints in her catchy Alcaic stanzas.
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i am pleased that this unpleasant behaviour is getting attention. I've witnessed casual sexual harassment on green lanes on a number of occasions and I don't think it is a safe place to challenge that behaviour. I am not surprised that people are also receiving homophobic abuse and it really needs to stop. For a start i'd like to see a stronger presence from the police, I don't think I've ever seen police on foot.
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Permalink Reply by StephenBln on
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While train spotting at Bank, without realising I captured two lovers on video. Long may it continue..
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Permalink Reply by Pat Mac on
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Agreed Pav :) Really overwhelmed by the kind words of support that we have received and hope to move forward in a productive and sensitive way. It's great that some people have made suggestions on here for things we can be getting on with together to help resolve this issue. It would be wonderful to chat to anyone who has an interest in taking action against harassment in all its forms - sexist, homophobic, racist, ableist and otherwise. If that's you, please get in touch - it is International Anti-Street Harassment Week after all ;)
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Permalink Reply by Lauren on
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The abuse is (or seems to be) worse on Green Lanes than elsewhere in the area. This is why the thread was started and as we are all talking about it we must to some extent agree, or we wouldn't be discussing it.
Why is it (or why does it seem to be) the case that it is worse here?
We've identified that the abuse is (or seems to be) mainly directed at women, gay and straight.
We've identified that the abuse is (or seems to be) perpetrated by men.
Who are the men?
Is it groups of men, or individuals?
Why are they doing it?
Are they being provoked?
Why are they doing it here?
What are they saying/doing that is abusive?
Do they know that what they are doing is not acceptable?
Why don't they stop?
Why is the abuse worse here, than elsewhere?
Just a brainstorm, but if everyone who wants to do something about it can have a think, maybe we can go some way to tackling it?
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It is not an assumption that sexual harrassment and homophobic abuse is worse on green lanes, it is direct experience. We all walk around in other parts of London. There is a clear issue that some groups of men standing around on green lanes outside the barbers, cafes, and restaurants regularly sexually harrass women and display offensive, homophobic behaviour. That behviour needs to be confronted and it needs to stop.
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Pav –
Your points about other matters are of course perfectly valid, and your contribution is interesting. However, what would be really constructive and helpful to THIS situation would be for you to keep ON TOPIC and that topic is the prolific sexual and homophobic harassment of women on Green Lanes that HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED by a large number of women who HAVE EXPERIENCED IT and identified it as coming from men who work at and frequent cafes, barbers and restaurants on Green Lanes.
Different people have different opinions on why it is happening and isn’t it brilliant that we live in a society where we can all voice those opinions?! You might not agree with all of those opinions, and NOBODY IS ASKING YOU TO that is entirely your right. Your agreement is however not required, and nor will your dismissal of those opinions affect whether or not THIS DISCUSSION progresses.
It would be really nice if you could listen to the EVIDENCE and help to come up with some ideas of what we can feasibly do to tackle THE SITUATION ON GREEN LANES. If you don’t believe it is happening or you don’t want to resolve it, maybe you could start your own topic and discuss that?
Perhaps it would be good idea to take this off-forum and meet in person? So that the women who are being affected (and those who wish to confront it – be they men or women) might discuss it in a constructive, positive environment away from people who refuse to believe/address it, or those who wish to divert this discussion as a means of addressing other matters?
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Thanks Pav, got it. Are you going to come to the meeting? I hope you do.
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Permalink Reply by John D on
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Who cares whether it's worse here or not so worse ?
It's here and it's unacceptable at any level.
I would be happy to help with vox pops on Green Lanes with the aim of producing a DVD that we could distribute to every social centre, hoping that it would illustrate the gravity of the situation.
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Good point John. It would be great to have more men on board with this.
Women raising issues and giving examples of being victims of misogyny + Men denying it /saying it isn't a serious issue = MISOGYNY
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Permalink Reply by M Zed. on
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Being in Haringey all my life, i remember back to the late 70s and 80s of not being able to walk the length of Green Lanes without groups of young and older men constantly making comments to young women who walked past.
At that age we would always confront them and answer back, sometimes turning into a verbal slanging match but i really don't remember the comments being as offensive and rude as they are today.
Walking down Green Lanes a few months back with a friend and her teenage niece the comments that were made by a group of men (some old enough to be her father) completely took my breath away, shocking disgusting and all of a sexual nature.
We went back and asked them if they would like it if men spoke to their sisters, mothers, wives, etc like that. Not one comment back. They were dumbstruck...
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