A few years ago on Halloween I went to the street party downtown in my costume. Two men grabbed my ass and others called out lewd comments. Then a woman grabbed my ass and say she just wanted to tell me how beautiful I was. She said, “I’m not even sorry about it.”

I felt so demeaned and disgusted by all of these actions. I felt bad about myself from all the negative attention. I left after an hour of being there. It ruined my entire night.

– Anonymous

Location: Santa Cruz, Ca (Pacific st.)

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I was headed uptown on the 2 subway line on Halloween. I was wearing a long coat and my cute referee costume under it. I was sitting down at the end of the train and this guy in a suit gets on the train and stands right in front of me.

There was like no one else on the train so I thought it was weird that he did that but oh well.  So I look up at him and he is flicking his tongue and leering at me.  Ok this guy was old enough to be my dad…disgusting.

So I look down and he is rubbing his dick in his pocket.  It was so obvious I could see the vial erect thing.  I shot up and stood by the door to get out at the next stop. Right before the stop he comes up behind me and says, “Happy Halloween you little slut.”

Fully ruined my night.  Sometimes I hate this city.  I just wonder who he was going home to and why he felt he needed to do that.

I will never go out in my costume again.

– Anonymous

Location: New York City, NY

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I got whistles and other things yelled at me while on vacation with my family. I was a teenager and I didn’t know why they were doing that. I was confused, ashamed, embarrassed because others stared at me then. Not even my parents did or said anything. I still remember it and it was 40 years ago.

– AM

Location: Watching the ships in a harbor in northern Minnesota

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Drove through Taco Cabana one evening. I’d spent the day taking care of a sick relative. I was tired and I just needed to get something to eat. College-aged men on the patio felt it was important to yell at me that I was ugly. I was 48-years-old at the time. When I get up in the morning, my goal isn’t to titillate college-aged, beer-swilling man-children. How would they feel if someone acted that way to their mother? I was in a moving vehicle and I just kept going, but in retrospect I should have gone in and told the manager, or better yet, just thrown my soda at them.

Optional: Do you have any suggestions for dealing with harassers and/or ending street harassment in general?

Next time I am harassed, and unfortunately I know there will be a next time, I’ll tell the manager so they have the opportunity of making the harassers leave. If I’m in my car, I’m going to nail them with a soda.

– Anonymous

Location: Denton, TX

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I am half black, half white and people, no – men – in South Africa often give me strange looks. I live in Czech Republic, where people do that just because I have a dark skin, but they don’t approach me out of nowhere and chat.

My aunt took my older sister and me to the hairdresser’s. I was sitting in a chair while the hairdresser was straightening my hair. Three men were sitting next to me, staring at me occasionally. I got used to it a little bit over time, people do that there. But when we were leaving the place, me stepping out last, one of the men grabbed my arm, making me turn around. He let my arm go, smiled at me, waved and said ‘hi’. I froze, then almost-waved back with a stoic expression, my eyes widened in panic, mumbled ‘hi’ and ran away to the safety of my family. We laughed about it, when I told them. But wow, was I scared. It wasn’t because of my clothes, it was cold outside, but I look older than I am. Some people even mistake me for my mom’s (married) friend. But excuse me, Mr. Stranger? I’m fifteen!

– C

Location: South Africa

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