The harassment started by the time I was 10 or 11 years old, which would have been about 1966/1967. Every time I was walking alone. By boys and men of all ages. I was made to feel so ashamed of looking female. I felt afraid and powerless. I even had to run from some of them.
Optional: What’s one way you think we can make public places safer for everyone?
I’ve intervened a few times for other women and in those cases my being an older woman and much more aggressive helped.
I honestly don’t think much of the male sex. I know there are good, honorable male persons out there, but I’ve not personally known many of them. There is so little responsible male mentoring out there. They learn from what they see, hear, and experience. When you look at what’s on the news, in magazines, etc. it’s all so denigrating to women.
After all this time I see young women are still more concerned about how they look and about how men perceive them, how big their wardrobe is, how many pairs of designer shoes they have, having the best manicure, what sort of cosmetic surgery to have, etc. I really wonder if there is any hope for us.
Violence continues to grow exponentially in our society and, shockingly, a great deal of it is towards women. For instance I heard some rap musician singing/talking about beating women and a woman was singing along with it!
I think little girls should learn empowerment and self defense from the time they start school and onward until they graduate from high school. How about programs in schools to teach children and teenagers how to treat each other ethically and kindly, because they’re most definitely not learning it at home.
– SLA
Location: Hillsboro, Oregon, Spokane, Washington
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See the book 50 Stories about Stopping Street Harassers for more idea.
