Julka Szymańska, the Netherlands, SSH Blog Correspondent
This article is the second installment in a two part series, you can find the first set of portraits here.
Sophie.
A real people’s person, 22 year old Sustainable Agriculture student Sophie is based in Germany when she is not away on one of her hitchhiking adventures. One of the core reasons for wanting to hitchhike is her love for being around many different kinds of people, another revolves around the journey from festival to festival during summer’s festival season. In the middle of nowhere you can more easily find a ride than a train- or bus station.
Harassment while thumbing is familiar for Sophie, she recalls: “During my third time hitchhiking, I was in Romania with a friend when we had just waited for two hours in the scorching hot sun. Finally a car stopped and a Romanian guy offered a ride, but we were having troubles with the language barrier. He took me aside and after some attempts at understanding each other it became clear he only wanted to take us in exchange for sex. Of course I declined, but I felt really embarrassed and unsafe. I would not have known what would have happened if my friend wasn’t there with me and I think every girl should be informed that this can happen. I was a little bit too naive. This incident was a warning for me, now I communicate more with drivers before I get into their car.”
Knowledge and experience in hitchhiking is a factor Sophie thinks a lot about these days; she wants to be prepared for all the challenges she might face. She doesn’t carry pepper spray, because using that in a closed car can literally backfire and the only knife hidden in her shoe is a utility knife with a safety switch, so she herself won’t be cut by accident. Another method to feel safe for her is reading a lot of resources by more experienced hitchhikers, like blogs, guides and documentaries.
“I’m proud when I hitchhike alone, the sense of self confidence and freedom feels great. I wear practical clothes, nothing sexy and I meet a lot of nice people on the road who go the extra mile for a young woman alone. They compliment me and respect my character for being out there on my own, I love that,” Sophie cheerfully laughs.
Diana.
Diana is a 24 year old woman of the world; originally from the United States, but currently living in Thailand. She first hitchhiked in Japan with a friend who taught her the ropes, following this nice introduction to hitchhiking she started doing it alone. After utilizing her fluency in Spanish on the road in Chile, many different countries would be next on Diana’s list.
Her experiences with harassment during hitchhiking are fortunately limited, unfortunately that can’t be said for other travels or destinations. In Australia she had to face a lot of micro-aggressions (such as being called “a spicy Latina” and men even groped her a few times. And during an emergency couch surf for a night in Paris her host expected her to have sex with him, which resulted in her locking the guest room she stayed in and leaving at sunrise to get away from the creep. Similar situations happened more than once, but always were resolved safely.
“The controversy surrounding women’s safety when hitchhiking is very frustrating”, Diana sighs, “In my opinion it perpetuates the patriarchal notion that women are weak and aren’t able to take care of themselves. Which is not the case, because I’ve been hitchhiking alone many times and I even introduced another girl who never hitchhiked before to the world of it. ”
She explains that traveling alone isn’t the problem. “It’s really suffocating for women to be told that we shouldn’t do it, people should just stop harassing and preying on women. Women aren’t asking to be prayed upon. As a feminist I’d want women to be safe, that is their right, this includes exploring the world and hitchhiking is an amazing way to do that.”
Diana lives by a proverb in Spanish that translates to something along the lines of “Go with a good vibe”. She endorses passing the ways of the hitchhiker on to new people who want to embrace this way of traveling, to both teach them by setting a good example and give them more self confidence; to ultimately simply share the vibe.
At the end of the road.
All in all I think we can conclude that no matter the risks of hitchhiking and the warnings women in particular receive about it, a lot of women aren’t repelled from raising their thumb at the highway, either alone or with a traveling companion. Many women use strategies to ensure their own safety, just like hitchhiking men do, although perhaps a little more consciously. Harassment does happen, but not as often as many people think, nor more often than in other public places, such as the street, trains or other public transport or behind the doors of a building. The responsibility of stopping highway harassment and any street harassment in general lies with the people doing the harassing. Women can only do so much to ensure their own safety and are armed with their intuition and wits to cope in a world that can be considered outright hostile to women. Despite this animosity, every single woman is brave for going on with their lives and doing what they want to do with it in the face of harassment. And that demands nothing less than utter respect.
Are you curious about hitchhiking after reading these courageous women’s stories? If so, be sure to check out some of these resources on the subject of hitching rides risk-aware and as safe and comfortable as possible.
- Hitchwiki: The guide to hitchhiking the world.
- A Girl And Her Thumb: A blog about hitchhiking while female.
- Women On The Road: An inspirational website dedicated to women who travel.
Julka is a 25-year-old feminist activist and soon-to-be Cultural Science student with a generous amount of life experiences -including street harassment – and even more passion for social justice.
