I was walking in a parking lot from one store to another, alone at like 9 p.m., and a car full of guys in their late teens/early 20s pulls up. A guy in the back rolls down his window, shouts, “Hey there, Cuteass,” laughs, and then the car pulls away. I felt pretty powerless and objectified, like yeah, nothing actually happened to me, but if they had decided to, what would have been able to stop a group of strong guys from hurting me or acting on those kind of comments?

I also felt guilty, racking my brain for what I could have done differently, angry for the thousands of women who are actually oppressed daily. My instance was little, but it points to something bigger than itself.

– Grace

Location: Wheaton, Illinois

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I take the public buses often. He sat directly in front of me and kept staring. For those 20 minutes he did not say a word, but he kept raising his eyebrow at me suggestively. He fidgeted with his legs and touched his foot to my knee. And stared. And smiled. A few stops later, I got off and headed straight for transit security. I noticed he got off the bus as well. I told security and they had me file a report for the guy with the police. It might not be enough, but if he is a repeat offender, they will be able to take action.

Optional: What’s one way you think we can make public places safer for everyone?

Have police trained to deal with this. Be able to report it and have police take action, even if only repeat offenders. It was a relief to be taken seriously and to have my story documented for records should that man be a repeat offender.

– KT

Location: Seattle WA, King County Metro

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I was walking on the street and this guy, white, middle-aged and bald, green tshirt. who were talking on the phone and getting out of the car called to me. I don’t remember well but I think he said excuse me at first, which is why I turned around because I thought he might be looking for directions or something. But he was not, and I kept on walking and he kept shouting at me saying, “You look like my friend, do you want to work at restaurants?” Etc.

I kept on walking and he stopped after awhile, but I felt angry and thought the guy was stupid. Why do men do this? Do they really think they will be able to get a girl by saying stupid random things? And do they think they appear to have some kind of power when they harass people? Honestly they just seem like a loser with low satisfaction in their life, and get no attention from people, which is why they yell out to people on streets desperately.

I wish it was legal to pepper spray street harasser.

– Anonymous

Location: Queens, NY

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I was waiting at the bus stop at the mall and a creepy man of about 40, smoking, probably hadn’t showered for weeks, came up to me. Well, he roamed around a bit but he walked very close to me and said, “Hey.. you’re lookin pretty good.” I’m 13. I just said, “Um ok bye” and walked away.

As I was walking away he said, “Do you wanna dollar for .. ” and I didn’t hear the rest. I expect it was something vulgar. As I left the bus stop I saw he had binoculars, and he was looking at other women. It was really scary and I felt so violated.

– Anonymous

Location: Westfield Belconnen bus station, Canberra, Australia

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I was walking home from downtown Durham and I’m new to the area so I took a wrong turn. I was uneasy. As I was walking, a man yelled to me. He asked me how old I was or whether I could hear him and some other things I couldn’t understand. I kept walking. He followed me at a distance, for around ten minutes. I was in a neighborhood. I started crying and jogging and trying to flag down cars. I know that’s a stupid thing to do, especially in what appears to be a really bad neighborhood. I can’t tell my family this because I know how stupid it is but I was so fu**ing scared and I got in this couple’s car and they took me to about a block within my house.

– DC

Location: South Street, Durham, North Carolina

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