I experienced it a lot of times and in different places. Honestly, I don’t wear revealing clothes. I grew up in a conservative family. I don’t wear shorts, above the knee dresses and skirts, sleeveless, tube, etc. But no matter how unrevealing the clothes I am wearing, I am not safe from street harassment.
No matter what you wear, no matter how you walk, no matter how you act, they will do it to you and they don’t care if it could hurt you, or worse, if it will traumatized you.
* While waiting for a public transport in a bus stop, the drivers and even their passengers (vehicles that were passing by) were catcalling me.
* There was one time that I was walking from school to our home, there were a group of boys laughing and slurring something to me.
* Inside the grocery store, there were men (around the ages of 20 to 26, I guess) stalking me and were leering.
* Inside a bus, I was about to come out but still waiting in line because a lot of us were coming out, when suddenly, someone was touching my waist and he’s acting like it was all accidental when in fact he did it thrice.
* I was walking home, when a motorcycle came by (a driver & a passenger, both are men) and touched my breasts then, they drove so fast that I couldn’t see their faces.
* Another time this happened when I was also walking home. There were two boys riding a bike when they passed by me, suddenly one of them touched my thigh. Everything happened so fast that I froze and I just cried.
Honestly, as of now, I am still in trauma about the street harassment that I had experienced. I cry a lot of times every time I remember those incidents. Some of those happened a couple of months ago, and one of those happened hours ago. I searched in google about street harassment and it led me to this website. I don’t know if I already need to seek for help from a psychiatrist or someone that could help me. I no longer feel safe and everything that has happened to me is really hurtful.
– CL
Location: The Philippines
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.
Lauren Borrero says
Oh I know how that feels so much. I’ve been honked, whistled, and catcalled way too much as well and it traumatized me even more after 2016 since it happened on a daily basis for months. I dosen’t happen as much as it used too but I still gen anxios when I see cars driving by hoping they don’t honk at me and most of the time they don’t. You never get used too it and it’s never falttering, when a total stranger imposes things like that upon you.