Holly is an expert on the topic of gender-based violence, including street harassment and sexual harassment in schools and on college campuses. She is the founder of the nonprofit organization Stop Street Harassment, a published author and a consultant for organizations like the United Nations, the Aspen Institute, and the US State Department.
She has authored:
- Three books: Stop Global Street Harassment: Growing Activism Around the World (2015), 50 Stories about Stopping Street Harassers (2013) and Stop Street Harassment: Making Public Places Safe and Welcoming for Women (2010)
- Two national studies: Unsafe and Harassed in Public Spaces: A National Street Harassment Report (2014) and Crossing the Line: Sexual Harassment in Schools (2011).
- 80 published articles for outlets like the New York Times, CNN, TIME Magazine, Washington Post, the Guardian, and Forbes.com.
Since 2010, she’s given more than 250 media interviews for every major outlet and 145 talks. She has also given expert testimony at city council hearings on street harassment in New York City, Washington, DC, and Philadelphia. Her work with the State Department sent her on speaking engagements in Ethiopia, her work with the Aspen Institute sent her to South Africa, and her work with the UN sent her to India, Turkey and Ecuador.
Her organization Stop Street Harassment (SSH) organizes the annual week of awareness, International Anti-Street Harassment Week, which she founded in 2011. Since 2012, SSH has partnered with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority and Collective Action for Safe Spaces on the most comprehensive anti-harassment transit campaign in the country. SSH commissioned the largest nationally representative study on street harassment in the USA in 2014. In 2016, they partnered with the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network and Defend Yourself to launch the first-ever national street harassment support line.
Kearl received her master’s degree in public policy and women’s studies from George Washington University, where she began her street harassment work by writing her thesis on the topic. She received BA’s in history and women and gender studies from Santa Clara University.
Follow Kearl on Twitter @hkearl.
Area of Expertise
Street Harassment, Sexual Harassment, Sexual Assault, Gender Violence and Women's Equity, Title IX, online harassment & free speech
Media Experience
Television: Today Show, BBC World News, CNN/HLN, ABC Channel 7, AP News, Fox News 5, CBS DC, WUSA Channel 9, YNN, HuffPost Live etc
Radio: NPR’s Tell Me More, CBS Radio, ABC Radio, WTOP radio, Wall Street Journal Radio, KQED Public Radio (San Francisco), NPR Wisconsin, Denver KOA News Radio, Radio 720 WGN, the Voice of Chicago, South Dakota Public Broadcasting, Women’s Media Center Live, Jim Richards Show on News Talk 1010, Sverige Radio (Sweden Public Radio), Newstalk on the Moncrieff Show (Ireland), KPFT 90 (Houston station), Feminist Magazine Radio, Fully Engaged Feminism Podcast, Brown Skin Online Radio Show, Newsradio 1070 WKOK (Sunbury, PA), WBAI Radio 99.5, CKNW (Vancouver), Matt Townsend Show (BYU Radio), Michelangelo Signorile Show, and CrimePrevention 101
Print: Washington Post, New York Times, Marie Clare Magazine, Cosmo Magazine, Runner’s World Magazine, Bitch Magazine, Ms. Magazine, Missy Magazine (Germany), Company Magazine (UK), El Diario, Palisades Post, Appleton Post Crescent, Run Washington, LOOK Magazine (UK), Bridget Magazine (France), National Sexual Violence Resource Center quarterly publication, and Santa Clara University magazine
Online: Associated Press, USA Today, BBC Magazine, NPR, New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, ABC News, PBS Newshour, Wall Street Journal, Christian Science Monitor, Education Week, The Irish Times, Latina Magazine, Prensa Latina, La Opinnion, Al Jazeera, Rue89, Psychology Today’s blog, MTV blog, The Economist, Vice News, New York Post, NY Daily News, Ebony Magazine, Globe and Mail, Women’s eNews, Feministing.com, Alternet.org, Citylab, Jezebel, Business Insider, Tumblr, Canadian Running, Shape.com, Heraldo de Soria, Yahoo! Shine, Mother Jones, Mashable, The Connection, Washington City Paper, the Huffington Post, Salon.com, Mic, DCist, Quartz, Gotham Gazette, Care2, ThinkProgress, Bustle, RedEye Chicago, Washington City Paper, The Statesman, Iowa Press Citizen, NYU Local, GW Hatchet, Ohio.com, She Knows, Business Insider Australia, NewsOne, Morocco World News, Daily Times-Pakistan, Daily Emerald, Il Referendum, Newsworks, Tiemp de San Juan, The WIP, Vitamin W, The Chicago Bureau, State Department’s SPAN Magazine, Tech Crunch, The New Zealand Herald, The Jerusalem Post, College Candy, Broadside, ArgusLeader, XO Jane, Rapid City Journal, The Daily Star-Lebanon, NJ.com, Sundance Channel Blog, TBD.com, In These Times, Reston Patch, ESPN-W, The Mooring Mast, La Opinion, the Hartford Courant, and Gender Across Borders
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Expert DirectLink
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National Study Finds Widespread Sexual Harassment of Students in Grades 7 to 12
The New York Times -
Many Teens Endure Sexual Harassment
Education Week -
Why Do Men Shout at Women on the Street?
BBC -
Feeling Harassed? Do Something About It.
The Guardian -
Street Harassment of Women: It's a Bigger Problem than You Think
The Christian Science Monitor -
WMC Features
The legislation, which focuses on prevention over punishment, offers the first legal definition of street harassment in the United States.
In many regions, access to public marketplaces is a must for women's lives and livelihoods. Advocates are working on new ways to make these spaces safer for women and girls.
A small but growing number of high school teachers all over the United States are offering feminist or women’s studies classes in their schools.
A new report by Human Rights Watch reveals that when U.S. service members report sexual assault, they are far more likely to experience retaliation than to see justice.