I am a young professional woman, I try to look presentable everyday and I don’t wear provocative clothes. However, I still experience street harassment on an everyday basis whenever I go out in public areas or walk in the streets of Metro Manila. I frequently experience honks, leers, whistles, comments, but sometimes they even try to bump me or walk close to me. I am just sick of these things happening to me. I get frustrated, I want to shout at them and insult them because I want them to be disrespected just like how they made me feel.

But I can’t because I am also scared so I choose to ignore them. But I really want to avoid these experiences so sometimes I don’t make an effort to look good, I try to dress awful to be unnoticeable, I feel bad so I would look bad and unattractive to men.

– J

Location: Metro Manila, Philippines

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I’m only sharing one story because the story is pretty much always the same.

It’s always at a gas station. It doesn’t matter which one or what time of day.

It happens as I’m walking from my car to the lobby to pay for gas. It happens on the way back to the car.

It happens when I’m by myself.

Telling someone they are beautiful may seem harmless or sweet. Yelling it at someone across the parking lot and telling them to “come over here and talk to me,” is not.

I’m just so sick of this shit. I’m sick of people brushing it off as “humble bragging” when you tell someone about it. It’s not “humble bragging.” It’s uncomfortable. It’s disgusting. It needs to stop.

I’m not your “shorty”, you can’t have my number, and you can’t hollar at me.

– Anonymous

Location: Olathe, KS

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I was with several of my friends walking back from dinner that we try to have every couple of months because we live so far from each other. On the walk back home, a car full of what looked to be college guys slowed down and a guy’s head poked out the window saying, “I just want to let you girls know that you look beautiful…thank you girls.”

Two of the girls I was walking with were like, “Awwww that was so sweet!” and I just remember having a blank stare at them. I think it is disgusting for a guy to yell out at me no matter if it were PG or R-rated language because his intentions were not good.

The girls I hang out with I think lack confidence, and so do I, but I just wish we wouldn’t get on a high because of what a random guy thought of us. Having a guy catcall can feel like a confidence booster for some girls but I think it is important for a girls to realize they should not be treated like an object but an actual human being.

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

I think it is the man’s responsibility to end street harassment because they are mainly the perpetrators but for dealing with harassers, if you feel comfortable enough, try and stand up for yourself and show how powerful your voice can be.

– Anonymous

Location: Not included

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I am a young woman in her late teens. I was in the middle of a massive crowd at a Harvard dance, when I was molested by three different men. Two of them were friends with each other, and the first one passed me off to the second one when he was done with me. The crowd was so thick that I couldn’t get out of it for twenty minutes. I have frequent flashbacks to the incident, and I am meeting weekly with a counselor to recover.

– Anonymous

Location: Harvard University, MA

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My friend and I, both 15, were on the city’s public transit just talking to each other when a man started talking to us. He asked how old we were, where we were from, personal questions he had no right to ask. It was a cold day and we were both wearing thick winter jackets, the only visible skin was our faces and hands. We made it clear that we were uncomfortable, but he kept talking to us even knowing we were minors. He was probably twice our age, or close to it. At the next station we got off the train.

– Anonymous

Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

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Check out the new book 50 Stories about Stopping Street Harassers!