While cycling in early evening a few weeks ago, a man (probably in his 30s, shaved head, light brown skin tone – appears to live or at least park his car on the estate at the southwest end of Jubilee Street – avoid this area if you’re female!) in a silver car passed far too closely, rolled down his window, and yelled ‘I’m going to f**** you and then kill you’.

I unfortunately ran into him again tonight. I was waiting at the red light to cross Commercial Road and continue on Jubilee Street. There were no cars around when I reached the intersection. He pulled up behind me and began revving his engine and driving forward, forcing me into a busy intersection and then leaning on his horn to intimidate me, honking away despite the fact that the light was still red and I had nowhere I could go. He passed me when the light turned and swerved at me as he did, eventually turning in to the same estate parking lot he turned in to the previous time. This is a street I frequently have to cycle down – I may have to find a new route.

As a female cyclist in London, harassment is the norm. It tends to take a darker turn in Tower Hamlets though, with threats of rape and murder replacing the usual ‘lucky saddle’. Seeing this man twice has been exceptionally scary. I got his registration plate and reported him to the police after the first incident but was told they could not help on such matters.

– Anonymous

Location: 2 Jubilee Street, London, e1, England

EDITOR’S NOTE: I talked with two anti-violence groups in London and they said police SHOULD take this kind of report seriously. “Depending on how she reported initially (either by calling 999 or 101) I’d recommend her reporting another way – i.e. going into the police station or calling 101 if she’d called 999, and making sure the report is taken by getting a CAD number…This may help set up a quicker response by police if this happens again with same perp (as she can then quote the CAD number).”

There are too many incidents to recount. Whistling and ogling are the most common by far.

I have developed I great non-verbal response to harassment. If someone says anything and/or stares at me and my body, I stare at their body, avoiding eye contact (which only encourages them), and focus on their gut (which, nine times out of ten, is an expansive target). I stare long and hard so that I know they see me looking at their body. Then I make a disgusted face and look away as I pass by.

It’s a non-confrontational technique, but I find most men look away from me after getting a small dose of the flip side of their own behavior.

– Anonymous

As I was parking and about to walk up to my home, a neighbor (I assume) was pulling out of their driveway. I noticed that they stopped the car for longer than normal and immediately felt the all-too-familiar tensing up right before a potential harassment situation, and quickly moved to get my things out of my car and go inside. Of course, they pulled up and yelled, “Hey baby” out of their black truck at me and honked. I ignored them entirely and went into my house as they drove off.

I’m still a bit shaken but mostly very angry that I can’t even navigate my own neighborhood without this sort of treatment. I will now constantly be wary of this black truck and whoever lives in that house.

– Anonymous

Location: Charlotte, North Carolina

Ordinary whistles or stuff doesn’t bother me. What scares and insults me are the youths and even small boys who roam around my area in Berlin, at twelve years old already bigger and heavier than me, from Muslim families (I’ll complain about the Germans later, don’t worry!) who follow me around, make remarks, pretend to run into me, then swerve and just touch me, call me names they think are derogatory, walk extra slow to block my way, wriggle their tongues, while the police are standing by – WHILE the police I call are telling them OFF!! Once they tried to get my attention, I told them to leave me alone and they peed in the bushes right above me. Then the penis rubbing guys – not nice.

Then, the cross-cultural pissing all over the place. Men just whip out their thing and pee right in front of you at the street corner. You see their member, you smell their urine. If you say anything – it begins to feel dangerous. Others find it normal to tell you how they just threatened some girls, who were being a nuisance they would rape them if they didn’t stop. Makes me sick.

Now the German guys that bug me – mostly a bit older, in their twenties to forties. A group of guys following me in their boat, while I walk by the river, very openly and disgustingly making advances and insulting me. Some older guys sitting al fresco in my street (busy inner city tourist hot spot) making super stupid remarks, standing up, touching me, trying to make a fool out of me, laughing, jeering just because I was so stupid to humour them in the beginning. Then the people insinuating things like “I’ll put k.o. pills in your drink” – It’s just – I hate it!

BUT! More often GIRLS AND WOMEN make me feel bad. They are less dangerous, of course, but their daily meannes really gets to me. I’m a dancer, And naturally I have toned legs. I have a small waist. I have breasts. I am a dreamer. Apparently that makes their boyfriends give me fleeting, unconscious looks of approval. So the girls and women give me the evil eye – all the time. Every day. It REALLY hurts, sisters.

– Anonymous

Location: Berlin, Germany

While traveling to Guatemala, I was stopped every day on the streets. Men either whistled or touched my butt. Sometimes men would stop their car, roll down the windows, and say things like “wow!” or “smile for me!.” It might of been because I was not from the area, but I know it was not because of what I was wearing for every day I wore long pants and tops that were not tight or revealing.

Optional: Do you have any suggestions for dealing with harassers and/or ending street harassment in general?

Do not just smile and walk away, because men will think that you appreciate it, or it encourages them to continue harassing others. Have a reaction that shows you do not appreciate them, or completely ignore them.

– Anonymous

Location: Antigua, Guatemala