One of my earliest harassment experiences was at about 15 years old. My girlfriend & I were walking along the road when one of four lads driving past in a car shouted, “Have you got hair on it yet Love?”
This was the first of too many to document!
Optional: What’s one way you think we can make public places safer for everyone?
Educate the perpetrators, as well as the victims, that what they are doing is harming all girls and women.
I think most men who harass women in the street do it “innocently” and genuinely think it is “a bit of fun.” Educate everyone on what harassment looks like, what it feels like.
When I have gently addressed a male’s belittling of harassment by asking them to put themselves in the victims shoes (eg, she is 5′, you are 6’2″ – if a big hairy bloke of 7’2″ put you on his knee & toyed with you like a doll?). They get it then!
Men think we have “taken it the wrong way,” because they don’t understand the culture they perpetuate. It is hard to change behaviour if the perpetrator (and sadly often the victim) sees it as the norm.
Legislate? Harder penalties for harassment? A man in a bar in Singapore grabbed my breasts, but my ex-pat male colleague made light of it, so I didn’t feel able or supported in calling the police. If it is law, it is harder to sweep aside.
– Michele Dougherty
Location: Larne, N. Ireland
Share your street harassment story for the blog.
See the book 50 Stories about Stopping Street Harassers for more ideas
