Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Archives for June 2009

Sick Perv

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Yesterday around 12:30PM I was walking down a narrow street in Brooklyn (61st Street, between 8th and 9th Avenue) and there was a man wearing a red tshirt walking really slowly in front of me and taking up the entire sidewalk. I was in a rush so I walked faster, hoping to get ahead of him. When I quickened my pace, he started walking faster as well (I was wearing flip flops so he could hear me walking faster) which I thought was a little odd. I kept walking faster, and he kept walking faster, but I ultimately got in front of him, but I could still hear him walking really fast behind me to try and catch up which made me feel slightly nervous. I felt a poke from behind and I turned around and the sick perv had his penis hanging out. Now that he had my attention he resumed his slow pace. I was too shocked/disgusted/angered to say or do anything so I just crossed the street and walked in the opposite direction.

– anonymous

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Beer Festival Hell

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I was at a beer festival and at the end of the event one man grabbed me by the arm and started pulling me along with him. I jerked my hand away and walked back towards my friends. Another man approached me and asked to take my picture. I was shaken from the other man grabbing me so I figured it would be better to comply and not anger him, but when I was standing there he pulled down the front of my shirt and touched my breast. I just sort of turned and ran away. Since then I feel uncomfortable wearing low cut shirts when I will be walking alone because I think that is what attracted his attention.

-anonymous

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Street Harassment from NY to France to Japan

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Exploring the blogosphere, I came across the following street harassment post on the blog Pomp and Circumstance:

“Heat and mating season make New Yorkers let it all hang out. I am pro sex yet have always had mixed feelings about street harassment. A woman whose weight fluctuates from average to a little extra, a globe trekker approaching 30, I’ve developed an international view on the issue.

Growing up in Philly after I lost my baby fat and had a growth spurt I got a lot of attention on the block. I chuckled, flinched sometimes. After a few years, I took “White is right!” “Can I get a ride? and “Pssst, snowflake” for granted. Yet I was always self-conscious, wearing overalls over my miniskirt to waitress one summer.

In France, I starved myself more to almost French size, sticking out only to my matronly host who said I was a little plump. Still, I was the victim of both friendly Bonjours and a teenage ass grabber.

I moved to Japan and gained 20 pounds. My teenaged students shouted ‘I love you,’ and girls grabbed my breasts in clubs. I was the victim of chikan-subway molestation. A crime so common authorities told me to carry hatpins.

I moved to New York five years ago. In the big city, women and men, cultivate the blank, sidewalk face, which I wear more often than I’d like. Sometimes, a ‘God bless you, beautiful’ is a relief.

-A”

An interesting and global take on street harassment, huh? Do you feel glad to hear from people on the street sometimes?

I’m also interested in how she perceives the role her weight plays in the kinds and volume of street harassment she experiences. Have you ever felt your weight impacts the type or volume of harassment you experience?

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Dogs Deflect Street Harassers?

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If I go out alone at night in my neighborhood I get an average of 3-5 “hey baby” type comments per outing. If I go out with my dogs, I get roughly the same number of people, from roughly the same age/gender range asking me friendly questions about them, which is a kind of interaction that I enjoy. Somehow the presence of the dogs, even though they are not at all scary looking, completely changes the way men interact with me on the street from upsetting and sexualized to pleasant and neighborly. I am completely baffled.

-anonymous

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