Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

An Ugly Girl’s Story*

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I am fat & considered very unattractive. I am often told that I’m a dog/ugly/cow/pig/barked & oinked at by strange men in public.

Two men recently followed behind me on the street for several blocks, loudly discussing what they would have to do in order to make me “f***able” (ie. put a bag over my head, get me to go to a plastic surgeon, etc.)

I try very hard not to take these experiences to heart but this recent one was very disturbing. I realized that I have been avoiding crowded public areas because of this. It also reinforces my feeling that despite my achievements & personality, in this world what really matters is my outward appearance.

– anonymous

Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada

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.

*Note, the author of this post wrote the title, too. I think what’s ugly is the behavior of the harassing men!
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Alternative use for scissors

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Once when I was about 15 years old I was riding the subway when a man with an obvious erection weaved his way through the crowded car to stand directly in front of my friend and myself and proceeded to masturbate. As I was in the custom of carrying around a sharp pair of scissors, I pulled it out and stared at him as icily as possible until he retreated to a seat on the other side of the car.

– anonymous

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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Pioneer Motors Street Harassers

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diennastreetharassersaug09I was in Arlington, VA, last Wednesday, and while walking down Lee Highway two men who were sitting across the street in front of Pioneer Motors wolf whistled at me. When I turned to look at them they started smiling and waving. I was furious.

“No! Do you see me smiling? That’s not cute, that’s tacky! Don’t do that to me or any other woman who walks by again!”

When I pulled out my camera (from a safe distance across the street) they got quieter than it’s kept and the grins were wiped off their faces. I didn’t have the energy to report them to their employers (I deal with this nonsense too often), but I feel my yelling at them was enough.

-Anonymous

Location: Across the street from Pioneer Motors, 2510 Lee Highway, Arlington, VA

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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I am harassed every day

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I am harassed every day, no matter what route I take to walk to work. I have been followed to my home by a crawling car, jeered at, spit at, and pretty much made to feel uncomfortable in the public realm. Its been this way for a few years and now I am just as confrontational back. I have learned that telling them to eat shit usually shuts them up.

– MK

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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Jamaican Harrasser in White Jeep

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There is an Uno’s Restuarant in Brockton, MA, next to the West Gate Mall. This is where I had the displeasure of meeting “the black man”.

I had gotten out of work and wanted to get something to eat at the Uno’s. They weren’t open yet, so I sat down on a bench, took out my notebook and started to draw. A moment later, a black man with long dreads and a very Jamaican accent pulled in a big white Jeep and called to me through the passenger window,

“Hey! Wanna buy a black man dinner?!”

I made the mistake of looking up and answering,

“No.”

“Aw, come on baby, why not?”

“Becuase I don’t have the money.”

“It’s because I’m black, isn’t it? Come on, baby, don’t you love black men?”

I am a lesbian, but I didn’t want to tell him that. So I answered,

“My boyfriend is meeting me here.”

“And he a white boy?”

“He’s Indian. Leave me alone.”

To my relief, he drove away, but as I watched, I learned that he had not given up. Instead, he turned around and pulled up so he could talk to me through the driver’s window. I was getting scared, and the restaurant was still closed, so I had no place to go and no one to help me.

“Baby, you beautiful,” he went on to say, “I love white women. I would worship you like the goddess you are, baby. I would buy you things, I would love you better than your boyfriend. Come on, baby, let me worship you!”

I told him again, NO firmly, and he seemed to accept it. He drove off, and as soon as he did, I heard the resturant door’s unlock. I ran in and told the hostess there that there was a black man in a white jeep harrassing me, and to be careful. She offered to call for the police, but I decided I needed to leave the area. Thanking her, I left quickly and ran to my car and drove home, all the time looking around me to make sure I wasn’t being followed.

This was almost too terrifying to believe, because he was in a big car, and I was out of mine in front of a restaurant with no one around. Anything could have happened.

– anonymous

Location: Brockton, MA

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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