Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming
I got off of the bus on the way home. As soon as the bus left my stop I was waiting to cross the street, but a black car went flying by. The guy on the passenger side had his window rolled down and he yelled, ʺF***ng Whore!ʺ I was shocked it took me an entire 2 minutes to unfreeze my body. I refused to cry until I got home.
– Anonymous
Location: State College/PA/Centre
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See the book 50 Stories about Stopping Street Harassers for more idea
Whenever I go shopping in a supermarket, or a mall, I find myself being followed by crude, loud people. In fact it seems that everybody – especially hard-faced women – are giving me evil stares, coughing at me etc. This evil harassment makes my life intolerable. It is bullying and happens even if I am with my young children.
– Anonymous
Location: England
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See the book 50 Stories about Stopping Street Harassers for more idea
I was taking a walk and a group of teenage guys rolled down their window and made a comment about my ʺbooty.ʺ
I flipped them off as they drove away.
– Anonymous
Location: O’Fallon, MO, USA. In my neighborhood
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See the book 50 Stories about Stopping Street Harassers for more idea
I was walking to a club in Amsterdam with a group of six girls and a guy. It was approximately 2 a.m. I am 18 years old but I look younger, and I was wearing no make-up, a knee-length skirt and sneakers. My friend stopped in a shop to get a sandwich and I walked a few meters away from the group. A man passed by me, (he looked twenty-something) and told me something like ʺBaby babyʺ. I was pretty nervous and I answered insulting him, I basically told him ʺfuck youʺ loudly while walking back to my group of girlfriends.
I thought that was the end of it but the man followed me, looking angry, and started shouting at me. He said I was rude, that he only said ʺhelloʺ so I had no right to insult him, that it is normal and so on. I tried to explain that I was scared of him and he looked even more insulted and angry. All my friends told me to shut up, that answering was stupid.
One of my friends called the guy who was in the shop and only when the man saw there was a boy in our group he lowered his voice. My friends tried to bring up excuses like the fact that I was nervous and I ended up saying, ʺI’m sorry I didn’t mean itʺ to the gross man. He then told me I was lucky I was a girl because he doesn’t hit girls (how chivalrous!!!) and that if I were a boy he would have punched me. Then he told me ʺbitchʺ and walked away.
I feel so powerless because there is nothing I could have done against him, I did not want to put myself in danger. It is so unfair that men can say whatever they want to me and I have to keep quiet and ignore them. I also feel stupid for having insulted him, which was not a proper reaction.
– ZS
Location: Amsterdam, the Netherlands
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See the book 50 Stories about Stopping Street Harassers for more idea
I am 17 years old, and while I do not believe that what the victim was wearing matters, for the sake of information, I was wearing a black sundress with a white sweater. This morning, while walking to my law internship at my local courthouse, a man in a vehicle stopped at a red light on the street. He whistled sharply at me and waved his hand. This type of thing has happened more than once, and as a victim of physical sexual harassment in the past, things like this scare me beyond belief.
Out of shock that this type of thing would happen at 8 in the morning, I turned around (much to my mistake) to get a better look at the culprit. I couldn’t make him out, but I saw his waving hand gesture, and that was enough. I yelled obscenities, out of fear, and realized a pedestrian/man who was walking the OTHER way behind me began to turn around and walk towards me. I did not realize this as a threat initially, and since I was in public I just kept on walking towards work vigorously. The man behind me smiled at me creepily and entered work with me. I do not know what his intention was, but it creeps me out and scares me that catcalling enables other men to look at me as a sexual object.
Catcalling/ street harassment triggers other abusers to do the same. It’s repulsive and vile, and I am lucky that the situation did not escalate.
Optional: What’s one way you think we can make public places safer for everyone?
Making the public aware about the dangers of street harassment, so that it is treated as a serious form of harassment. In many cases, street harassment is the first step in many serious issues, such as kidnapping and rape.
– MM
Location: Salem, OR
Share your street harassment story for the blog.
See the book 50 Stories about Stopping Street Harassers for more idea