I had two errands to do at lunch today: Mail a package at the post office next to the Alamo, then grab a shared-bicycle at the corner of Houston and Alamo, ride down Houston street, park the bike near a bus stop, and walk two blocks to a county office for new license plates.
Two skeezed-out looking guys at the bus stop outright grunted and howled at me for 5 minutes straight until I disappeared around the corner, and threw out obscene suggestions, too.
Though the two dudes on the bench on Houston and Alamo when I was waiting to cross to the post office had a nicer tactic (“Hey beautiful. Man you have a beautiful smile. Mmm mmmm what a smile”), it is still embarassing as hell. Especially when I got the bike 10 minutes later and got out into the lane and they hollered after me, “Hey hey there Miss America!” (it’s 90 degree out already in April in Texas, and my tattoo is showing in my tank top).
Riding down Houston Street on the way to the bus stop where I kept my head low and made eye contact with no one, a man leaned out his the open window of his truck and honked and said, “Ay-chihahau!”
All in a 3 mile roundtrip to the post office and a county office.
– Anonymous
Location: San Antonio, Texas
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Katherine says
I am very familiar with this, being a woman and living in San Antonio is rough. My harassment started in elementary in my own neighborhood. Cars would follow me, men would stare in their side mirrors, I had to learn to have a plan if anything was to happen. . .cat calls, comments about sexual crap, whistles. . .you name it. . .it all increased as I grew older, I would just flick them off and keep walking. . .but when it was in my middle school, it became harder to deal with, I became a sexual goal for some boys, they would follow me in the halls saying sexual comment. One boy found me in the hall alone, he grabbed me, shoved me to the wall and kissed my cheek. . .fear set started to set in. . . . .Today, I still get harassed. . .men driving by waving while I’m on the highway. . .comments are said, it’s a way of life here in San Antonio. . .It scares me to think about having a daughter in the future. . .Harassment is more damaging then people think and it has to stop.