I went out for a low-key night with a friend in a relatively safe, family friendly area of D.C. We bought ice cream and were enjoying eating and walking down the street, until a group of men (you know the type: reclining, legs spread apart, hands on their crotches, basking in their privilege) began shouting “howyoudoins” and commenting lewdly on how I was eating my ice cream. We rolled our eyes and kept walking, albeit more quickly.
Hardly a block further down, we encountered another group of men, one member of which swaggered very close to me and mumbled something vaguely suggestive and obnoxious. Later when we passed the same block, I put on a hooded sweatshirt, hoping that I wouldn’t be recognized and that if perhaps I was showing less skin, I would be left alone. As I got on the metro, the same man got on and began harassing almost every young woman he passed. After he got off, we all shared a collective sigh of relief and a laugh or two, but the general tone was that, as women, it’s exhausting to constantly have to be on edge – calculating escape routes, preparing firm (yet not “over-dramatic”) rejections, tensing our bodies just in case, considering what readily available object works best as a self-defense weapon, wondering if it’s our fault – our clothing, our make-up, our demeanor – and if other people see it that way.
We would love to be able to feel at home in our own city.
– E. Richardson
Location: 601 F Street NW Washington, D.C.
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beckie says
I am so sorry. You have written and described the whole horrid experience so well. You might want to turn this piece into an article. Your writing is brilliant! And heaven knows we need more stories like this out there, and you have just let the reader inside your skin and let them walk around with you in such a great way.
Alan says
It makes me so mad to see how these few self-serving, insensitive comments, lasting only a matter of seconds have affected you and your friends and the tens of thousands of other females who have experienced this same kind of thing. Your comment about wanting to feel at home in your own city is so poignant. Although painful, I am glad you have not accepted the treatment you receive.