A friend and I decided to meet half-way between our respective offices in Manhattan for a weekly “professionals” lunch. The logical meeting point was 28th street and Broadway on the R/W line. When we both were vulgarly harassed (I hate it when people say “God bless” or “So sexy,” half under their breath but it’s somehow much more degrading when p**** and f*** are said loud and clear) within seconds of emerging from the subway we decided it would be better to meet at a stop that was slightly further for one of us. (This part of Manhattan is what I like to call “sketchy” Broadway as it’s about a 10-block stretch of nothing but open trash bag after open trash bag filled with “fake” DVDs, purses, etc.)
– anonymous
Location: 28th Street & Broadway, New York City
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vi says
Oh sister, I feel your pain. I work in this area and use this stop two times a day when commuting–it is a terrible area and the “God Bless” and “Good Morning” and “Hello Gorgeous” commenting losers abound.
Better to avoid it if you can.
Golden Silence says
You can be covered from head to toe or walking around completely naked and those men will always have something to say. It doesn’t matter what you’re wearing—if you’re female they’ll harass you.
Delia says
I’m sorry that happened to you 🙁
I worked in that area for a couple of months on a temp assignment. I’m very young and petite, but as a rape and abuse survivor, I have zero tolerance for harassment, so I made it a point to look each and every one of them in the eye every day, and curse them out loudly when they said something to me, which might have been dangerous, but I just had to do it for sanity’s sake. One time when I wasn’t in a hurry to get to work, I actually called the police instead and had the block (27th street bet Broadway/Fifth) cleared of them.
But FYI I don’t advise anyone to behave like I do! Except calling the police – that is a GREAT idea, although time-consuming as you have to wait for them to arrive.
We can’t let them take the public streets away from us, ladies! Shut ’em down and let’s be heard!
Wondering guy says
Talking to you != harassment. God bless? Come on!? Just be happy people are willing to talk to you. I mean, I’d get if some strange guy was telling you how he’d like to take you home, but that’s not really the case here.
To vi:
No offense, but if guys saying “good morning” upsets you, you’ve got a problem. You should consider seeing a psychiatrist.
administrator says
@wondering guy. you are not considering this scenario from a woman’s perspective and it is insulting that you are dismissing the experiences of the woman who wrote this story and the women who posted comments supporting her just because YOU wouldn’t mind having people say good morning to you. Those people probably are not leering at you in a sexual way as they do it and they probably are not larger than you.
Vi says
Wondering guy, let me ask you: how many times do you get unsolicited hellos, god blesses, hello gorgeous, can i take you home, MMMMMMM, each day?
It all adds up. We aren’t talking about one incident here. It all equals harassment. It is all unsolicited. These are not isolated incidents for women. They are constant and daily infringements.
I’m also guessing that if you’re reading this post, you aren’t one of the types of guys making these comments on the streets. And for a good reason–they aren’t necessary.
administrator says
@Vi well said