Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

I don’t take orders from strangers

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Well, I now have a harassment story from Vancouver. I was walking down Commercial Drive yesterday. I walked past a group of men who looked like bikers. One of them shouted at me to ‘smile!’ I know that isn’t as extreme as many of the other stories on this blog, but it really pissed me off. I mean, what gives this guy the right to order me to change my facial expression for his amusement? Don’t I have the right to walk down the street with a neutral expression on my face without being ordered to appease the menfolk?

I shot him a glare. He responded by telling me my dress was beautiful. I just kept on walking. I wanted to tell him off, but I didn’t want to risk a confrontation with ten big guys. I’m pretty tough, but I just wasn’t interested in putting myself in danger to try and teach this guy how to respect women. Gross.

– Margaret

Location: Vancouver, BC

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Daily street harassment needs hidden camera revenge

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i suffer from a social phobia as a result of the amount of harassment i get when i leave my front door. There isn’t a day goes by when i’m out on the street and there isn’t some idiot hollering out of a car!

Men appear to have the need to project the fact that you’ve given them a “thrill” or that they approve of how you look! its ridiculous! and the mentality is pathetic! its even more apparent if i’m with my girlfriend, my personal life suddenly becomes the “highlight of everyone’s day” and because they are threatened that i have no desire to please them, they turn their hurt masculine pride into derogatory abuse!

i live in a small town, and the extent of this is literally controlling my life. One of these days i am going to take a hidden camera out with me, to reveal how much this actually happens, to show up the ” men” who appear to make it their day’s objective to bully women!

– Anonymous

Location: “My hometown”

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Silly women, you don’t own the streets!

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My very good female friend lives just two doors down from me and I was leaving her flat tonight – we stood on the steps together and were laughing raucously as we said goodbye. A guy walking past started to shout something up at us, which we couldn’t hear, but he kept at it and was determined to interrupt our laughter.

I left my friends to enter the front door to my flat – which is opposite a bus stop – and was carrying a pizza box. Some guy standing at the bus stop waited until I was just going through the door (coward!) and shouted ‘You want someone to share that pizza with?’ (Er, yeah – I just shared it with my friends. You know, friends, not seedy older men who shout at women in the street…)

So a nice double whammy for me there. What I find very interesting about this harassment is that in the first instance my friend and I were laughing very loudly, and in doing so were noisy and in ownership of the street were we live. I think the man walking past just couldn’t bear to let that go unchallenged. He had to remind us that the street was male space – and only ‘manslaughter’ should be heard, not the laughter of women.

The second instance was just the usual, but I think there was an inference of ‘you shouldn’t be eating a whole pizza by yourself, you should be starving yourself for the sake of making yourself tiny and skeletal so men will find you attractive’. I don’t think he seriously expected me to invite him in for pizza, so the only motivation for him to shout was to intimidate and weirdly ‘guilt-trip’ me.

– CB

Location: Newcastle upon Tyne, England UK

Share your street harassment story today and help raise awareness about the problem. Include your location and it will be added to the Street Harassment Map.

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Street harassment is psychological intimidation

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The ‘drive-by’ —

Coming back home by myself after coffee at a a cafe, it had started raining. I was wearing cut-offs and a t-shirt. Just about to cross a road, some guys in a van shouted ‘wa-hey’ as it sped past. Because I was by myself, they couldn’t resist the opportunity to reinforce their ownership of the public space. It’s interesting how I felt I should ‘explain’ what I was wearing to recount the story… I think that is a big part of the psychological intimidation – you are expected to reflect on and evaluate how you appeared to the men.

– Anonymous

Location: Newcastle upon Tyne, England, UK

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“The bus stops are horrible for me”

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It’s finally the summer, and just when I want to go out, have fun, and do what i want to do, I am consistently reminded of careless no-life perverts in my area. I can’t step out of my house without knowing if there is going to be a bunch of guys posted outside & ready to attempt to spit game and start a conversation.

I keep thinkin to myself, “DONT THESE MUTHA FUCKAS HAVE JOBS?!” I mean, come on! The economy can’t be that bad for there to be hella big ass groups of dudes surrounding me at each corner of my area, doin nuthin but smoking and looking for trouble. The bus stops are horrible for me especially because of the fact I have to wait for the bus leaving me vulnerable to street harassers and wanna-be thugs.

There’s nothing wrong with a simple hello, but if I feel i just wanna be left alone….Then all i want to do is be left alone. That’s ALL.

I try to use my phone and ipod to keep me distracted, but I cant always count on that. One guy in his car slowly pulls up while im waiting, and I just let him know on the spot, displayed the promise ring my boyfriend gave me, and told him that it was ALL BAD….but in an assertive way. It’s so hard to be assertive when you really just feel like cursing up a storm at whack ass dudes these days. But to be safe, and knowing how violent my community is these days, I have to be assertive in a polite way and know to keep repeating my standards. Usually I have my best friend or boyfriend help me, but I have to learn how to take care of myself and also protect myself as well.

– “Fedup with cat-callers”

Location: “Bus Stop (in general)”

Share your street harassment story today and help raise awareness about the problem. Include your location and it will be added to the Street Harassment Map.

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