Archives for April 2011

I am a 21 year old student, living in the UK. In my short life, I have experienced harassment countless times & whilst they vary in severity, they all contribute to ultimately making me feel unsafe & disrespected.

Amongst them all, there are primarily two instances that remain with me to this day. When I was just 14, I walked with my mum to our parked car. As it was the height of the summer, I was wearing a short skirt without leggings or tights. There was a gentle breeze that blew at my skirt & occasionally blew it up. As I struggled to keep it down whilst I walked, a middle-aged man passed & said directly to my mother & me: “Don’t hold it down, you’re ruining my fun.” We were both appalled &, as with most of these cases, so paralysed with shock that we remained silent when we should have spoken up.

Sadly, this continued &, to my shame, never have I once challenged comments or actions from strangers on the street. However, single-handedly my biggest regret in life was not reporting an incident of molestation on a plane journey.

I was 19, traveling from India to Malaysia & was very tired. Although this should be irrelevant, it’s still needs mentioning, but I had entirely conformed to the Indian culture with particular regards to dress & for this flight, I wore a long skirt and long sleeved top. No flesh was on show from the neck down, besides hands & feet. Several hours into the flight, I was woken by someone touching my lower right leg & thigh. However, because of my tired state & general confusion, I did not compute that it was the stranger next to me. This continued for another 3 times, yet whenever I was woken, the person next to me pretended to be asleep so I thought nothing more of it. By the 4th time, I moved my legs further away, hunched over more & protected them with more clothing. However, this did not deter him & as he could no longer access my legs, he began to grope my breasts whilst I slept. Naturally, I woke up, yet to avoid another situation of him feigning sleep, I grabbed his hand that was on my chest & caught him in the act. I confronted him, asked him what the hell he thought he was doing, at which point he grabbed his blanket & covered himself, including his face, with it.

I woke up my traveling companion & he ordered that I switch places with him which I gladly obliged. He then confronted the man himself, telling him that he owed me an apology. The man in question did not respond. My traveling buddy asked if I wanted to call for a flight attendant but at that moment in time, I simply said, “No, I just want to get as far away from him as possible & forget about it.”

To this day, it is my biggest regret that I did not report him for his harassment. I sincerely hope that he does not do it to anyone else, yet something tells me I was probably not the first & won’t be the last.

I do not wish to view men as the enemy as this is an extremely unhealthy attitude to adopt. I will say this however, given the frequency of unwanted verbal & physical attention that many, many women endure on a daily or weekly basis, these men certainly do not create a culture or environment in which I can respect them.

– L.N.

Location: India and United Kingdom

Share your street harassment story today and help raise awareness about the problem. Find suggestions for what YOU can do about this human rights issue.

I TOTALLY agree that no women should suffer harassment in the street, or anywhere else. While in no way condoning this behaviour, as man, it is surprising how much social pressure a male can come under from males and females to “behave” in a “masculine” way.

I was a male nurse for years, pretty much did the caring for my daughters and had on many occasions comments about my masculinity from males and females. Taking my daughters to play groups and I was pretty much ignored or “you’re” having the baby today! NO I was caring for the children equally.

I feel that education is the key to both sexes from an early age. AND action taken against predictors more vigorously.

– Anonymous

Location: Worcestershire, United Kingdom

Share your street harassment story today and help raise awareness about the problem. Find suggestions for what YOU can do about this human rights issue.