Woman receives rape threats after recording 10 hours of harassment in New York

An actor who recorded 10 hours of catcalls and remarks from passersby in New York City has received rape threats in response to a video detailing the harassment, the advocacy group that commissioned the video said on Tuesday.

In a two-minute video, actor Shoshana B Roberts was told to smile, told, “Somebody is acknowledging you for being beautiful – you should say thank you,” and comments were made about her clothes and appearance.

At one point in the video, which has been viewed nearly 10m times in fewer than 24 hours, a man walked alongside her silently for five minutes.

Another followed her, while offering to give her his number.

“The rape threats indicate that we are hitting a nerve,” Hollaback director Emily May told Newsday. “We want to do more than just hit a nerve though, we want New Yorkers to realize – once and for all – that street harassment isn’t OK, and that as a city we refuse to tolerate it.”

Hollaback!, an international group that has been fighting street harassment since 2005, said people were reporting threats to YouTube, where the video is hosted, and that the website was taking them down.

There were more than 100 instances of verbal street harassment recorded during the 10 hours. “This doesn’t include the countless winks, whistles, etc,” the video says.