I was waiting for the bus to go somewhere–can’t remember where–and a couple guys were stopped at the light by the bus stop. One leaned out the window and shouted at me, “How much?”
From time to time, while I’m out doing my own thing, I’ll have people whistling at me or cat-calling. It gets really irritating. The most “innocent” of it, for lack of a better term, is when people shout, “Hey beautiful” or something like that. I don’t appreciate it, but it’s not as creepy as other stuff that happens.
Once I was at a light rail stop waiting for someone since we were going to hang out at the mall. I identify with the Goth subculture, and some days my style of dress is more flamboyant than others; this was one of those days. A few guys saw me and started catcalling at me. I can’t remember what they were saying but it sounded like they’d assumed I was easy, and they even made it clear that they were trying to taunt me on purpose, which I didn’t appreciate. I told them to stop and when they didn’t, I went inside the mall.
I was on the light rail once coming back from hanging out with a friend of mine. A guy on the train was sitting across from me and was staring at me. I noticed him and was creeped out so I put my bag on the seat next to me. He kept trying to get my attention but I ignored him. He turned to this couple sitting in the seats behind him and asked them if they knew me and the girl said they didn’t. He came and sat in the row in front of me and tried talking to me. I thought my headphones would make it clear enough that I had no intention of talking to him, especially when I continued to ignore him. When he wouldn’t leave me alone I removed my headphones and talked to him, but I gave him short, one or two-word answers. He made a comment about how I was judging his appearance and about how just because he wasn’t the best looking didn’t mean he was a bad date, or whatever. I texted a former friend about how this guy kept hitting on me and wouldn’t leave me alone, doing so in a way so he could see what I was typing and leave me alone. I can’t remember what he did next but I stood up and moved to the front of the car.
Once I was waiting for the bus and–at the same stop as the first story–and a guy was trying to pick up on me. Now, I am in my early twenties but I look like a teenager. (A coworker’s mother thought I was sixteen when she first saw me. That’s five years younger than I actually am at the time of writing this.) I think this has a little to do with why this experience turned out the way it did.
The experience started out with the guy just staring at me. It weirded me out but I thought nothing of it. He then sat down next to me and I think he talked to the couple a bit. Then he started hitting on me and I just tried to ignore him. He talked to the couple again before talking to me again. When he started to get really weird, the couple stepped in and told him to leave me alone. By this time he’d stood up, and the woman’s boyfriend sat down next to me. I think the guy either wandered off or caught one of the buses that came, and the couple were on the same bus as me. I appreciated their stepping in, since not many people do so.
– EM
Location: Portland, Oregon
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