I am a Canadian girl who lived in France for a semester. In that time, I developed anxiety about going outside, even three minutes away to the grocery store. I could not leave the house without feeling threatened by leering, cat-calling men, usually middle-aged, yelling sexually vulgar remarks or in several cases, grabbing parts of my body. I was in shock and disbelief at the sexism and misogyny I discovered, specifically in Paris.
I began to wear different clothes and felt a change in my attitude – normally a happy-go-lucky, positive person, I became withdrawn, anxious, and angry. Angry I could no longer express myself without being made to feel as though it was a cry for attention, that I was ASKING for their commentary and harassment.
The peak of this issue was one evening by a canal in Paris, when a man tried to join my conversation with a friend. We politely declined several times and he grew angry. He ripped my headband off my head, threw my belongings in the river, took my cigarettes and I feared he would hit me, or push me in the canal too. I was shaken, shocked and most of all astonished that NO ONE came to help – even though it was in a busy area.
I booked a flight home several weeks earlier than planned.
– Anonymous
Location: Paris, France
