Kissy kissy in the suburbs — aren’t these Our Streets, Too?

At the end of last summer, my partner and I bought a townhouse in an area where there are a lot of running trails and a high school track nearby specifically in the hope that I’d be able to go running without facing harassment.

(Side note: What kind of messed up woman-hating world do we live in where thinking about street harasser has to be part of our housing decision? In a survey of 811 women that I conducted for the Stop Street Harassment book, almost 20 percent said they had moved neighborhoods because of street harassers.)

Since we moved, I have faced a lot less harassment, in part because I had a hamstring injury when we moved and couldn’t run again until the late fall, when there is less harassment anyway, and also because I do stick to the trails and track as much as I can. But sometimes I face harassment from guys in cars as I run along the road from my house to reach the trails or the track. And that’s frustrating.

Lately, I’ve also been facing harassment while walking my two dogs. Most recently, I walked them at a bright and early 6:15 a.m. one day last week and a guy  harassed me from his car, yelling crap out his window. Really? 6:15 a.m.?

Just now, I got back from walking my dogs at 8:30 p.m. and a car fully of guys made kissy noises out their car window at me. Thanks, kissy guys. I really wanted to be treated with disrespect, as if I am an object, while walking my dogs. NOT.

This is very benign harassment, of course, compared to some that I’ve faced and compared to what a majority of women have faced at some point (e.g. in my survey, 75 percent of women had been followed, more than 50 percent had been sexually touched). But it’s still not okay. It’s still upsetting.

And PS, I live in a suburb of Washington, DC. I’ve always lived in suburbs across the country and I’ve faced most of my harassment there. Often people think street harassment is a “city” thing, but it is not. It happens in cities, suburbs, along rural roads, in shopping malls, libraries, movie theaters, on buses, subways, taxis, in parks, and along hiking trails. It’s everywhere and it’s gotta end.

[Update on 6/19 — I had to give a work presentation at 7 a.m. this morning and as I walked from my car to the location, a man whistled at me. It was 6:45 a.m. by L Street and Vermont in Washington, DC. Two harassment incidents in 12 hours made me pretty grumpy!]

If you live in the Washington, DC, area, please join me and others in the area in marching against street harassment next Sunday, June 26, 2 p.m. Let’s remind people that these are Our Streets, Too!!

– Holly

Location: Reston, VA

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