VIDEO
Danh Truong, the best female skater in Hanoi, wanted to ask girls hanging around if they would try skating.
GENDER STEREOTYPES
ENDURING OR ERODING?
Many young women hold positive views about those few, socially transgressive girls who practice “strong activities” such as inline skating, hip hop dancing, or skateboarding in Hanoi’s public spaces.
They say that these girls are “stylish”
They admire them for stretching gender norms
They see these practices as new expressions of femininity and female independence
VIDEO
SKATER GIRLS!
STAYING SAFE
Visiting a public space is the preferred leisure activity of many young women.
However, compared to young men, they face a number of constraints on their use of these spaces. Most importantly: They lack of free time, have safety concerns, and feel the threat of harassment.
Young women have four main strategies to counter these limits:
Young women feel safer when they visit parks with friends (female or male).
They are reassured by the presence of numerous park users around them.
“I just don’t like coming alone to a deserted park in the evening. But it’s very crowded here in the square, so I don’t mind.”
(interview, June 13, 2014)
“I usually take a seat near the lights.”
(interview, June 9, 2014)
Some informants mentioned that the way you dress impacts your sense of safety. A student who is a new user of 34T Plaza told a story of harassment:
“Some young girls who wore sexy clothes were properly harassed”
(interview, June 13, 2014)
