I am a 51 year old woman and last week a young (I’d say early twenties) man started talking to me at a crowded transit stop in broad daylight during the afternoon rush hour. I am actually getting used to the invisibility of middle-aged womanhood so I was surprised that this happened to me – it has been a while. He had been talking to some other women when I walked up but the women were speaking Spanish so I suspect that they did not reply to him.
After engaging in an innocuous conversation about when the next bus was expected and the weather (it was very hot) he asked me if hot humid weather makes me horny and shared that it made him horny all day. I didn’t have a clue how to respond but wanted to end any conversation and looked in the opposite direction, but he kept talking (to the back of my head) about sweaty sex. Ugh.
Optional: Do you have any suggestions for dealing with harassers and/or ending street harassment in general
I think men need to know that women find it aggressive and threatening and not at all complimentary or attractive. My husband would never do something like this, so he assumes that most other men don’t/won’t. I have also made sure that my teenage son understands a woman’s perspective on this – I wish more wives/girlfriends/mothers would share their thoughts with the men they live with.
– CD
Location: Downtown Toronto (Chinatown)
Need support? Call the toll-free National Street Harassment hotline: 855-897-5910
Share your street harassment story for the blog.
See the book 50 Stories about Stopping Street Harassers for ideas.
