Sharing our street harassment stories can be so powerful, but it’s not always easy to do, especially in a public setting.
That’s why I really admire Raquel Reichard, SSH’s former social media volunteer (who is now doing contract work for the SSH national report coming out on June 3), who wrote an article for The New York Times about her street harassment experiences and how they intersect with her recovery from an eating disorder. She ends her piece with some hard questions that I don’t have the answers to, but wish I did.
“…Street harassment is a part of my everyday life. And I know I’m not the only one. This is also the reality of countless New Yorkers. So many women in New York City who walk out of their buildings, jump on a subway, head to school, commute to work, jog through a park or grab a bite to eat will deal with some form of street harassment, whether it’s annoying like leering and whistling, or illegal like stalking and sexual touching.
I’m just 23 years old, and I’ve dealt with all of that. But even knowing that the women in this city are surely experiencing the same street harassment that I meet most times I walk out of my building, I still feel isolated and helpless during each encounter.
Even on a crowded block, when my body is threatened, I feel alone. The strong and empowered woman that took years to build loses control, resembling the vulnerable girl struggling with bulimia.
What do you do, then, when you want to fight back against street harassment but you literally fear for your life?
How do you deal with that sense of failure that creeps in when you had the chance to school someone on sexism and the objectification of women but you let your anxiety get the best of you?
How can you truly get over an eating disorder when your fear of the men outside and the potential for sexual harassment keep you in a painfully familiar state of hunger, apprehension and self-loathing?”
Street harassment is a complex issue. It touches each of us in different ways. Through our stories, we can collectively better understand the issue — and then work collectively to end it.
We may feel alone in the moment of harassment, but we’re not. There are thousands of us speaking out and more will join us because of our stories.
