When Maddy Hall was catcalled during an evening jog, she decided to start a conversation about it - with the catcaller himself, and on social media. Carla Green reports.
One evening this month, when Maddy Hall was going for a run near her Castle St office, she heard somebody shout something at her.
''It took me a little while to figure out what he said ... but it was definitely, 'You look hot'. And for the next 25 minutes of my run, I couldn't think about anything else. I couldn't relax,'' she said.
So she went back to talk to him.
''He listened to what I had to say. And he said, 'I'm sorry, I didn't realise that that's how you would take it, I'm sorry'.''
Ms Hall, a postgraduate student at the University of Otago, said she was appreciative - and a bit surprised - that he apologised.
So she decided to write about it on the `Overheard at Otago University' Facebook page.
She was hoping, she said, to start a conversation.
She was successful.
Ms Hall's Facebook post sparked a small firestorm of online activity, garnering almost 700 likes and just under 50 comments.
She was expecting the deluge, and knew not all the comments would be supportive - although some of them were.
''The least friendly [ comments posted] have actually been taken down as hate speech,'' she said.
But she was happy it started the conversation she was hoping for, which also took root within her own home - she had spoken to her flatmates about the issue for ''hours'', she said.
This month was not the first time that Ms Hall had been catcalled in the student neighbourhood - far from it, she said.
''I think it's become pretty acceptable for young men, especially in a university setting, while they're getting drunk, or while they're drunk, to catcall.''
University of Otago student Millie Lovelock, an ODT columnist, said she, too, had been harassed regularly when walking around at night.
''My experience is there being groups of men who are coming out of nowhere and think that it's really funny to yell at you, or actually try to touch you as well. I've actually had groups of men push me against walls and intimidate me,'' she said.
''I definitely don't feel safe walking around campus.''
Ms Lovelock did not think street harassment was particularly bad among students, per se.
''People yell at you from cars pretty much everywhere in Dunedin.''
It was just that campus and the surrounding area had an unusually high concentration of young men, she said.
''[People think it's] just the boys are just having fun, it's a bit of harmless fun, boys-will-be-boys kind of attitude.''
For both Ms Lovelock and Ms Hall, the conversation about sexual harassment should not stop with catcalling.
''It's important for people to understand that catcalling is just one small part of a larger issue,'' Ms Hall said.
''On the one hand, you have street harassment and catcalling. And in the middle you have sexual harassment. And on the far end, you have rape.''
Rape Crisis Dunedin community educator and support worker Jess Hayden said statistically people tended to be most vulnerable to rape and sexual abuse in the 16-24 age group.
''This means new university entrants coming straight from high school are at high risk.''
And then, she said, there was the problem of alcohol.
''Research suggests up to 50% of reported rape cases included alcohol as a factor, so there may be something about university drinking culture that may be putting that age group at risk, as well.''
Otago University Students' Association president Paul Hunt said the problem associated with drinking culture was a ''long-term challenge that relies on a range of stakeholders to help adjust the culture''.
'Good practical tools'
A workshop for 16-year-old and 17-year-old students puts the focus on a different aspect of the sexual harassment spectrum: domestic violence and consent.
School community officer Sergeant John Hedges runs the day-long programme, called Loves Me Not, covering everything from sex and consent to being a ''good bystander''.
Dunedin woman Lesley Elliott helped develop the programme as part of the Sophie Elliott Foundation, named after her daughter, who was stabbed to death by her ex-boyfriend in 2008.
Talking about domestic abuse, and not just ''stranger danger'', was important, she said.
''People are starting to realise that [violence is not just] the stranger that attacks you in the street.''
Statistics support Ms Elliott's point.
A 2003 Ministry of Justice survey found that ''the majority of [sexual interference and sexual assault] victims know their offender''.
Sgt Hedges said the crux of the programme was ''taking the taboo away'' from talking about abuse, sex and consent.
''What we want are good practical tools,'' he said.
''One thing I'd like them to take away from all of this, is that the topics are OK to talk about.''
Ms Elliott said this week the University of Otago and Otago Polytechnic had given the foundation ''substantial'' donations, for which she was very grateful.
The Loves Me Not programme was expanding across the country.
The university declined to answer questions about programmes it offers to prevent sexual harassment and assault, sending instead a one-line statement expressing support of ''Lesley Elliott's attempts to raise students' awareness about good and bad relationships''.
Several initiatives existed on campus, targeting sexual harassment and assault, including some organised by OUSA, the association's student support manager, Matt Tucker, said.
''We have run a number of campaigns in the past around sexual harassment and/or sexual assault. For example, last year we ... ran a campaign about stepping in if you believe someone is receiving unwanted attention.''
Another initiative was a new self-defence course that OUSA communications manager Tess Trotter said was the first one that ''addresses and places emphasis on some sensitive issues such as rape, sexism, stranger danger and disrespect [with] the feminist empowerment model''.
The course's teacher, Bell Murphy, also ran a series of courses for women living in residence halls this month.
Ms Murphy said she taught physical self-defence in her courses, but that it was ''more than just karate moves''.
''They [include] a discussion of health and healthy relationships, self-esteem, verbal strategies, and practice asserting your boundaries.''
Rape Crisis Dunedin held yearly workshops for residential assistants about ''concepts including rape awareness, rape myth versus reality, bystander intervention, effects of rape and sexual abuse, and how to support survivors of sexual abuse'', in co-ordination with the university, Ms Hayden said.
Still, Ms Lovelock thinks more could be done to educate and provoke discussion about sexual violence and harassment, so that women can walk around at night without feeling intimidated - or that they need to call Campus Watch.
Above all, she said, ''women have the right to exist in public spaces''.
''It's really important people know that''.
