When I walked to work, I would take long detours to avoid road or building works, as this usually meant braving a barrage of cat calls (‘complimentary’ and insulting). Once a bunch of builders all blew raspberries as I walked past, although one of their colleagues working away from them had forewarned me to avoid them. This doesn’t happen so much now, which might be because I’m older (result!) or because site managers are more aware that this behaviour is being seen as unacceptable. It’s intimidating and just makes me really angry.

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

Just continue with the campaign to make it seem less acceptable and allow offenders to be named and shamed if they are caught on film.

– Anonymous

Location: Nottingham, UK

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.

I had just gotten off from work after a 2-9 shift at a local restaurant. I stopped at the atm up the street from my house to deposit my tips from the day. While I was finishing up the deposit, a man walks in behind me and says “big winner,” to which I reply “yeah” without looking back. I retrieved my card and made for the exit, but the man was already standing to the side of me and goes “my turn” and then a few seconds later when I was at the exit he calls me a dick.

Not wanting to engage any further, I said nothing and made for my car. When I was about half way to my car, he runs into the parking lot and yells, “F**king c*nt!”

I sprint to my car and drive off as quickly as possible, thinking he is in pursuit. I drove to the exit of the parking lot and stopped to call the police. He saw me stop and was banging on the glass pointing at me from inside of the ATM. He must have figured I was calling the cops because he ran to his pickup truck and drove off. I decided it was not worth it to speak to an officer as I had no idea who this man was.

This incident made me feel unsafe in a place where I usually feel safe, it made me feel confused as to what set this man off, and it made me feel angry that he was able to get away with it. It also makes me feel bad for his next victim, as I’m sure there will be one.

Forgive me for not jumping up and down to befriend you at 10 p.m. while I’m completing an ATM transaction after a 7 hour shift. I will definitely be more cautious the next time and hope I am never caught in a situation like this again.

– BC

Location: Milford, CT

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.

Street harassment happens to me on the daily. Being underage and harassed by old men makes me feel so uncomfortable. Today , a delivery guy for a big company said very inappropriate things, so I called the company and made a report.  While, no it didn’t help me feel better, I figure it may stop him from making other girls feel uncomfortable and unsafe in the future.

– Anonymous

Location: New York City, NY

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.