It’s happened to me more than once in my life. The first time, I was on the CTA on a train headed to school, and a guy was staring at me and touching himself, but I couldn’t see him doing that because he was behind a seat, so it was just his eyes that were freaking me out initially. I finally realized what he was doing and got off that car and went onto another. I was really upset. I was about 13.
Then, in between the other CTA incidents, which are all similar and involve men in states of arousal sitting there waiting to be discovered, I’ve ridden my bike and had catcalls happen (this is on the streets of Chicago), walked down the street minding my own business, all on the North Side to Downtown Chicago. It happened once in a pizza place and it was relentless, to the point where I started crying, but I did stand up for myself. They insisted it was a compliment and I told them it was absolutely not appropriate and that I was sick of hearing it.
– DS
Location: Chicago, IL
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beckie says
I can’t even imagine how scary that was at age 13. Be safe.