I’ll start with the first one I remember.
As I was walking to turn in a job application, a man on a motorcycle passed by me. He turned around and followed me, telling me how pretty and cute I am. I thanked him for his “compliments” thinking that would get him to leave me alone. I was very busy and didn’t have the time to deal with him. I told him I was busy and wished him a wonderful day.
That did nothing but made things worse. He started to circle me as I was walking and called me kitten and told me to hop on, that he’d take me somewhere fun. I told him no, that I was busy and had lots to do (which I did), but he was persistent, getting more visibly aggressive every time I said no. He hit the seat behind him hard enough that I could hear it. He kept calling me kitten and saying to get on and that I would like it.
At this point, he scared me because he got mad and demanded I get on. I was about to cry and I felt so alone and scared. The way he was looking at me, the way he was calling me kitten made me feel vulnerable and naked. The way he was looking at my body and not me made me feel less then who I am – that I was nothing else but something for his pleasure. I felt dirty.
A kind man came to my rescue and put himself between me and him. He told the biker to leave me alone that “you can clearly see that she is not interested. You’re scaring this poor girl.”
The biker tried to tell me a couple more times to get on, but he stopped and left when the kind man kept him away from me and kept telling him, “She’s not interested.”
I thanked him soo much. He said that he would love to see me get to where I was going safely but he had errands to take care of and wished me luck.
Optional: What’s one way you think we can make public places safer for everyone?
To become more open-minded. We desperately need programs for people of all ages to attend for the development of critical thinking. Possibly a manners class too.
– Kensa
Location: Greenville, Texas
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.
