When I was a junior in college at the University of Cincinnati, I had a lots of friends who lived on Ohio Street. One day on a weekend in the morning I was walking down the street from my car to a friend’s apartment when some men leaned out a window of a large house and called at me. I ignored them. No response. They called me a bitch and threw an old flatscreen TV (the heavy kind with a large bulb and black plastic housing) out of the window at me. It landed mere feet in front of me. If I had been walking faster or if they had thrown it more to their left then it would have probably killed me or at the very least rendered me disabled or paralyzed for the rest of my life. It shattered into pieces at my feet. Without thinking I burst into a sprint and ran to my friend’s house and called the cops and filed a report. The experience was incredibly disturbing.
But it wasn’t the only time.
Once a van attempted to kidnap me on a one way street. The door flung open and they tried to grab me. So I walked the “wrong” way. The van flung into reverse, despite being on a one way street, and pursued me. I never got caught but the experience was mortifying. I had an apartment in a gated community for additional safety.
Honestly, I get cat calls maybe once a week. It never fails to shake my sense of safety and make me feel paranoid like I’m being chased. I feel threatened. I feel a lack of security. There’s nothing like feeling threatened the minute you walk out of your house. I have two 60 lb dogs and people think I’m crazy. It’s literally the only way I can go out in public and feel safe when my husband isn’t with me. I’m a white woman in my early 30’s. I can only imagine what other women experience.
Optional: What’s one way you think we can make public places safer for everyone?
Emergency Phones, Ample lighting
– Anonymous
Location: Cincinnati, Los Angeles, Savannah, NYC, Chicago, Italy, OKC, Seattle, Everywhere I go
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.
