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PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release
 
Contact: Ken Tangvik, Communications Dept., The Hyde Square Task Force, Inc.
617-905-7424, ktangvik@aol.com
 
Fed Up, Jamaica Plain and Roxbury Girls Take to the Streets Against Sexual Harassment
 
On Thursday, August 25, at 5:30 P.M. several female teens from Roxbury and Jamaica Plain will organize a speak-out and press conference against a serious problem of sexual harassment in their community.  The press conference, organized by teens with the non-profit Hyde Square Task Force, Inc., will be held on the sidewalk on Centre St. in Jamaica Plain in front of the Blessed Sacrament Church at 365 Centre St. (In case of rain, the action/press conference will take place at the offices of the Hyde Square Task Force at 375 Centre St. in Jamaica Plain).
 
This action is a response to what the girls describe as a serious and chronic problem on the streets of their neighborhood and in the Boston Public Schools. Many of the girls state that when they walk daily from the Jackson Square T Station to the office of the Hyde Square Task Force, they are constantly verbally harassed and intimidated by individuals and groups of males who crowd the sidewalks.
 
Taking on the issue of sexual harassment is part of a youth-led campaign against violence, particularly at the Jackson Square T Station, where several months ago an alleged gang rape of a young teenage girl took place. Also, just over a year ago, a 14-year-old girl was stabbed at 7:00 A.M. while waiting for a bus to go to school.
 
At the event on August 25, several girls with the Hyde Square Task Force will give testimonies about the sexual harassment they have to deal with on the streets, as well as in the Boston Public High Schools.
 
The girls have designed a bi-lingual informational card that they will unveil at the press conference. The cards will be given out by the girls to males who harass them as a way to educate them on the harmfulness of their actions and words. The girls plan to use the card along Centre St. in the  Jackson Square area of Jamaica Plain and Roxbury and then bring them to other groups, neighborhoods and schools across the City of  Boston.
 
Also, at the action, teen males and females will be doing some improv skits/street theatre that they plan to use as an educational tool throughout the neighborhoods and within the Boston Public Schools. The teens plan to raise the issue of sexual harassment this fall with the Boston Public School administrators and Boston School Committee members.