Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

“He didn’t stop until I threatened to scream”

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Well I was on the bus going to school and this guy sat diagonally from me. He typed something in his phone and gestured for me to look at it. I was confused at first but I eventually looked. He was asking me my name. So I humored him, what could happen we were on a bus going to school, and told him my name.

He told me his and soon it got to the point where he asked to sit with me. I didn’t mind because I wanted to get along with my new friend. He asked me if I would go out with him, I politely declined. But this guy was so persistent.

When I would type in his phone he would run his hands over my thighs, getting closer and closer to my no zone. I kept pushing his hand away but other than that I didn’t know what to do.

When I told him to stop he said that as his girlfriend he can do whatever he wants to me. He touched me in my no zone. The entire time he would call me beautiful and amazing, the best girl he’s ever seen. Another thing he told me was that my pussy was so fat he’d died and gone to heaven. He didn’t stop until I threatened to scream and hurt him….but even then it was only because other people got on.

Days later he tried to apologize and make sure we were going out. I had to try and make him understand that it would never happen. I felt helpless…and even though I did Tae Kwon Do, I did know what to do. I was so scared that he’d try worse the next time I saw him. It took awhile before I even let my male friends and family even hug me….not that they noticed. I still don’t like it if anyone calls me beautiful or amazing, though they are nice compliments. They just take me back that time on the school bus.

– CASS

Location: Cumberland County School Bus

Need support? Call the toll-free National Street Harassment hotline: 855-897-5910

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See the book 50 Stories about Stopping Street Harassers for ideas.

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“He is videotaping me with his phone”

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It was a nice sunny day. I was just putting stuff in the back of my car trunk when all of a sudden a car rolls up really slowly next to me. Profane music is blaring and a man is yelling things at me (mostly on the subject of “that ass”) and is videotaping me with his phone. My mouth is wide open at this point and I’m just standing there, frozen. Finally he drives away and I get in my car and just I’m shocked. Then I start crying and breathing really fast. I’m not usually the type to get flustered or nervous but this was just. wow.

– EM

Need support? Call the toll-free National Street Harassment hotline: 855-897-5910

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See the book 50 Stories about Stopping Street Harassers for ideas.

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“He ‘owns’ the streets”

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I have been through a lot of harassment since I moved to the UK. I live in a multicultural city with various kinds of people therefore I feel like everyone should be respected no matter what they wear or look like. However, this isn’t the case. I am 18 and I have been harassed/cat called etc since I was about 14. No matter what I was wearing, whether it was a big parka coat in winter showing nothing but my face or a dress (below my knees) showing a bit more skin in the summer because I would feel scared to go out in something short.

I have not been alone with this situation as my best friend experienced the same thing and so did probably 95% of girls in this area. The men that often stop or say things are normally over 25, sometimes even nearer 30 staring with a ‘hello’ or blocking my way in which direction I am trying to walk to. I do not respond any times when I’m alone because I’m always scared and I know that I won’t have the strength to get away from a grown man or someone in a vehicle.

Today was a nice hot day and I experienced the most shocking situation ever in my life. A man no older than 20 had been riding on a bike on a nearby road where me and my best friend were walking to a shop and he started with a ‘hello’ just as most do. However we didn’t reply so he got angry and tried to block our way by stopping us with his bicycle. He asked us if we smoke. My friend replied ‘no’ and then we carried on walking. Then he started to follow us and ask us our age and when we didn’t reply he started to shout at us.

I could not hold back my anger no longer so I started to talk back which then resulted in me in the heat of moment shouting back at him. Luckily I walked away but he said to my friend that if I was a man he would have ‘stabbed’ or ‘punched’ me since he ‘owns’ the street. Honestly, that has been the worst experience of my life- it’s like what happens in movies because he looked dangerous and I knew he wasn’t joking as my area is quite dangerous and there is a lot of stabbing stories going on in this moment. In fact on the same day, a person was stabbed two streets away in broad daylight where the harassment had taken place.

This had made me so fearful and angry that I cannot do anything about it. Every time I go out I face minor situations like this roughly 3-4 times when I’m casually walking on the street. I feel like the anger is actually building up and today I could not control it and who knew the guy might have hurt me but luckily he didn’t.

The saddest part about it is there were people around us that saw the guy was trying to talk to us and no one even tried to help us. I feel really frustrated and scared that this will happen again so I will not risk going out again. Most importantly, never alone. I just sometimes wish I was a man so I wouldn’t ever get to experience such disrespect from people. Unfortunately you don’t choose your gender.

– Anonymous

Location: Handsworth, Birmingham, UK

Need support? Call the toll-free National Street Harassment hotline: 855-897-5910

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See the book 50 Stories about Stopping Street Harassers for ideas.

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“When he finally stopped I got the hell out of there”

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When he finally stopped I got the hell out of there.I had just left the store and was walking to my car. As I got close to my car this other vehicle pulled up very quickly next to mine. I jumped a little because it was really close to me. The driver rolled down his window and said, “Don’t worry baby, I wouldn’t hit you”.

I ignored it and got into my car. I turned my car on and heard him tapping his fist on my window. He was looking in my car, saw I had my change in the cup holder and shouted, “CAN I HAVE A DOLLAR” ? and kept tapping my window. When he finally stopped I got the hell out of there.

– Anonymous

Location: Pennsylvania

Need support? Call the toll-free National Street Harassment hotline: 855-897-5910

Share your street harassment story for the blog.
See the book 50 Stories about Stopping Street Harassers for ideas.

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Kenya: Death Penalty Ruling in Stripping Case

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By: Naomi Mwaura

In November 2014, hundreds of people joined the #MyDressMyChoice protest in Kenya after three men (including the bus driver and bus conductor) robbed, stripped and sexually assaulted a woman in September in an empty public bus at the Millennium petrol station in Githurai 44, Nairobi county. They video recorded the attack and the video subsequently went viral, sparking outrage.

Since 2013, Flone Initiative has been working to create safe commuter spaces and professionalism in the public transport industry in Kenya. To advance this mission, I was among the lead organizers of the 2014 protest. Our goal was to stop the increased number of cases of stripping of women and girls in public transport vehicles and terminals.

Now, nearly three years later, on July 19th 2017, the three men involved in the Sept. 2014 incident have been sentenced to death as well as to 25 years each in prison. This is one of the two landmark cases in court involving the sexual assault and robbery of women in the public transport industry. The other case being held in Makadara law court involves a woman hawker who was robbed, stripped and sexually assaulted in Kayole.

No executions have been carried out in Kenya since 1987, when Hezekiah Ochuka and Pancras Oteyo Okumu were hanged for treason. In 2009, Kenya commuted all death sentences to life imprisonment, impacting over 4,000 death row inmates. Despite the lack of executions, death sentences are still passed in Kenya.

I believe that life is precious. Hence, I feel uncomfortable with the possibility of loss of life. However, I can not ignore the heinous acts that the accused committed, the scars and trauma that the victim has to live with and the dangers that the accused pose to public transport users (especially women who make up the majority of public transport users).

Public silence and judicial inertia have ensured that rates of violence against women are often vastly under-reported and that offenders often go unpunished. This ruling changes the norm and, as such, plays an important symbolic role, by indicating that such behavior is socially unacceptable and will not go unpunished. This sentence serves a deterrence function to perpetrators and encourages victims to report. I commend the judicial system for being responsive to the victim by providing protection and handling the case with appropriate sensitivity. The ruling may be appealed but it is our hope that the judicial system will not falter. We look forward to a similar ruling in the Kayole case.

As the magistrate in this current case noted, “What you (the accused) thought was a joke should not be taken lightly, as a woman’s privacy and decency should be respected at all times.” This ruling is the strong message needed to criminalize violence against women and reaffirm the rights of women to live free of violence in public spaces, especially the transport industry, which has been plagued with various forms of violence against women.

I feel honoured to have supported the cause and, most importantly, to see justice in my lifetime.

As the rule of law takes it’s course, Flone Initiative will continue addressing the underlying norms and behaviours associated with violence against women in the transport system by training PSV operators on customer service, prevention of sexual violence and professional development, as well as working to increase the number of women employed in the industry.

Let’s make a toast: To Justice! It’s been over three years of waiting but it’s been worth the wait. Cheers!

Sending a life free of violence and love your way,

Naomi Mwaura
Founding Director, Flone Initiative

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