I was walking to work at a Smithsonian museum in Washington DC. I entered the museum and walked towards a ladies’ bathroom. One of the male guards there said, “You need to smile, baby,” and I turned to him and said directly, “Repeat that.” He did, but this time did it nervously (there were people around, most of them women). Then I said, “Do not do that.” and walked off into the bathroom. When I walked out, he was gone.
I felt good having to hold him accountable for the way he talked, and I could tell he felt embarrassed. But when I spoke about it with someone else, he told me that interaction with harassment is a mistake-“you enter their world, so to speak, and that makes you unsafe.” he said. I don’t know if he is right.
– Anonymous
Location: Smithsonian, Washington, D.C.
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