I was at my office today walking up the stairs and two guys came loudly tromping down the stairs at me. No one ever takes the stairs so it was sort of surprising and then suddenly one of them interrupts his conversation with his coworker to be all, “Hey baby” at me. I couldn’t believe it! I’m at WORK, for chrissakes. I was so appalled that I actually stopped walking and then turned around and said, “My name is *Aerin*” really assertively. They both stared at me like I was something they’d never seen before and then the guy actually told me his name, like we were being introduced by a coworker.

– Aerin

Location: St. Louis, MO

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I live in a nice area on the outskirts of the city. We just moved here about 10 months ago and I’ve loved everything about it — well almost. Our house is next to a somewhat busy road with a chain link fence around our 2 acres. I am a very energetic person who loves being outdoors and physical activity. We have a trampoline that I use daily. It’s one of my ways to de-stress after a long day. At first people just stared, which I understood since we are new here. Then cars would slow down…which was a bit creepy but I just shrugged it off. Then it escalated to lewd hand-motions, yelling, and stopping their cars to watch all together. I can’t believe this, I am being street harassed in my own backyard.

So I just stopped jumping during the day and just waited til night. (which majorly sucks for me since it’s summer and night is when the Mosquitos come out.) So I switched my exercising to running in the mornings. Thinking no one would bother me at 6 in the morning, well I was wrong. Now I just stay inside most of the time, which is hard because I love the outdoors so much! I just don’t want it to escalate to the point that they come on my property, I mean they already know where I live, which is terrifying. The thing that really gets me is that, I do not live in a bad area, some of the houses around here are 700k-1 mil. Most of these people that shout obscenities at me are yelling from their new BMW’s.

– Marissa

Location: Las Cruces, NM

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I was walking back from the grocery store, carrying two big bags of groceries about nine blocks on a hot August day. I passed a man and he starts saying, “Hi,” to me. I just sort of smiled, but I kept walking, because it was hot and all I wanted to do was get home and put away my groceries. He then starts yelling at me, “I said hi! You don’t even say anything back? You’re rude as fuck, you fat ass bitch!”

Yeah, fucking lovely start to my day.

– Anonymous

Location: Columbus, OH

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I used to work the night shift in a lab, so I would take public transportation home each morning as all the day shift commuters traveled in the opposite direction. At the time, the distance from my stop to my front door was about a block.

One morning, in that short walk to my house, I jumped in shock halfway there because a complete stranger grabbed my rear. Completely furious, I turned and glared, only to be met with raucous laughter from this adult man and five of his buddies. I was 23 and 5’4”, and these men were easily in their late 30s, towering over me, and with considerably more muscle. I shut my mouth, aware of my vulnerability, and went home.

That’s not even close to the worst harassment I’ve received in my lifetime. Just an example of the average, normal experience of being female in public.

– KJT

Location: Portland, OR

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I was thirteen, walking from my neighbor’s house back to my own. I was wearing a t-shirt and athletic shorts. My childhood friend and all of his friends were hanging around outside. They stood in the middle of the street that I had to cross and started to approach me. I noticed they were all wearing bike shorts or something. You know, the kind of shorts that makes their crotches pretty damn noticeable. Immediately, they all started asking me for my phone number and calling after me as I walked around them and into my house. I could hear chuckles and fits of laughter. Yuck. Sad to say that I still hang out with that kid. He doesn’t normally act like a jerk, but around his friends he turns into some kind of misogynistic monster.

– M.

Location: Cincinnati, OH

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