A Conversation that Changed the Law on Sexual Harassment: A Seven Year Journey
Our Streets Now was founded in 2019 by two teenage sisters, sharing online about how they experienced the world as young women. They spoke about feeling afraid walking home at night. About being harassed in their school uniform. They knew that this was an everyday reality for millions of women, girls and people of marginalised genders up and down the country.
They decided to take action. They began a petition to make public sexual harassment (PSH) a criminal offence. They could never have imagined what was to come next. Within 100 days, their petition had over 100,000 signatures - it now sits at over half a million. It caught the attention of local media, then national media, then policymakers at the heart of government. Thousands joined the conversation, sharing their stories of being harassed, intimidated or objectified in public spaces; spaces they deserved to feel safe in.
It started with a conversation, it led to a movement.
Hundreds of volunteers would go on to join the movement over the next seven years. Writers, academics, student activists, teachers and human rights lawyers came together. We spoke out on the radio, wrote pieces of major newspapers, met with MPs, and shared evidence in Parliament. We’ve been asked by local authorities, universities, sports teams, and workplaces to lead on work to make their public spaces safer. We’ve reached over 10,000 young people and professionals through our training programmes.
With the support of Plan International UK, we officially launched the #CrimeNotCompliment campaign in 2021, working with lawyers to draft specific legislation. Working with young activists across the country enabled us to approach MPs and Greg Clarke MP chose to push for our law as a Private Members’ Bill. We worked with a range of other MPs, including Jess Philips, Caroline Nokes and Stella Creasy, ultimately resulting in the ‘Protection from Sex-Based Harassment in Public Act’ being passed in 2023.
It took a further two and a half years of campaigning until the Act commenced.
As of the 1st of April 2026, the Protection from Sex-Based Harassment in Public Act means that public sexual harassment is now a recognised offence in England and Wales. The new law creates a new criminal offence under the Public Order Act 1986. This means behaviour in public which intentionally causes you alarm or distress and is perpetrated because of your sex or presumed sex, will be illegal and a criminal offence under the law. You can read more about the changes to the law here.
The law alone is not enough to end public sexual harassment.
From the start of our story, we always knew that changing the law would only be one small part of the solution. There is so much cultural and transformative work still to be done to stop public sexual harassment being considered a normal part of growing up. With misogyny, racism and far-right political rhetoric on the rise, we need a real commitment from the government to investing in preventative solutions. Since 2020, we’ve been working on the frontline in schools. As of 2023, we also work in sports settings, universities and workplaces. And we are only just getting started.
The law has changed. Now the culture must.
#CultureMustChange
