This incident happened about four years ago. I was living in South Philadelphia back then. I would ride the Broad Street subway to and from work. A few weeks prior to the incident, a young woman had been stabbed by some man on that same line that I rode because she ignored his advances.
I rode the subway everyday and rode home after work during peak hours. This meant full to capacity trains. I was starting to get nervous riding the subway alone, but I didn’t like to drive into the city, parking was expensive! After hearing the story of this young woman I bought a taser.
One night after work, I’m riding the train, usually I keep my headphones in. I had been harassed before and I just made it a habit to wear the headphones so maybe men wouldn’t approach me. I get off at my stop and begin walking home. It was about a ten minute walk. Not too bad. It wasn’t dark so I wasn’t too worried. It was summertime though, and in my neighborhood it seemed like groups of men just sat on their steps, got drunk and hollered at the passing women all day. I tried to always be careful, be aware of my surroundings, keep my music low enough to hear anyone approaching, cross the street just in case the group of men was too large.
Well this night, it was only about 6:30 p.m., I’m walking past these men. I just got off of work and I worked in an office so I had on slacks and a button up blouse. One man started whistling. The kind of whistling you do to call a dog. I was pissed. I wanted so badly to say something but there were about six of them so I keep going. He whistles again, maybe three times. When I get by him he blocks my path, so I tried to cross the street.
Upset that I didn’t react to his “advances”, he decides to grab my arm. He screams, “Yo Bitch, I’m talking to you!” I yank my arm away, but by this time he decides to grab the back of my neck. He whispers to me, “I got something for mean Bitches like you.”
His “crew” were all like man what are you doing? When he turns his head to respond to them, I dig my taser out of my bag, I always kept it within reach and tased him right in the chest. He let go and went down. I stood right there and called 911. Crazy thing was, when the cops got there, they took our statements but I got in trouble because the voltage on my taser was too high. Nothing was done to him, NOTHING! the officers just kept saying, “BUT YOU TASED HIM” I was so angry. It took me a long time to recover. I started driving to work after that.
Optional: What’s one way you think we can make public places safer for everyone?
Although, I got in trouble for mine, I would recommend a taser. Maybe research if they’re legal where you live first. I don’t want to think about what might have happened if he would have taken me inside the house that night. I’ll gladly take a ticket for defending my life, then who knows what….defend yourselves stand up for yourselves. Don’t let anyone get away with disrespecting you.
– SP
Location: South Philly, PA
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See the book 50 Stories about Stopping Street Harassers for more idea.
