I’ll never forget being in middle school and walking around my neighborhood and having these middle-aged men cat calling me. I was a 12-year-old girl, I wanted to dress pretty but the constant stares and whistles from older men made me feel insecure. It felt as if I wasn’t a person just a body with a vagina walking around.
At times I would yell and say you are disgusting but I was afraid that they might chase me down, so I didn’t do it as often. The majority of the time I would look down and walk away quickly. I was in middle school and these men were older and stronger than I was; all the news story scared me of what these men could do.
I hated my parents for telling me that if I was a boy things would be different, I would have more freedom and be able to be outside later than 6 p.m. These men made me want to destroy myself because I could not be a regular pre-teen/teen without having them make statements about my clothes and body. I really wanted to tell them “what if I was your daughter, the daughter you never had? Would you then be disgusted and change?”
To this day I’m too scared to say it. The fear that they could overpower me physically and no legal system will believe the victim is why I shut my mouth. The only difference is I do not look down, I look past them and continue with my day.
– K
Location: Queens, NY
Share your street harassment story for the blog.
See the book 50 Stories about Stopping Street Harassers for more idea
