The other day I left my friends house at around 1 a.m. and I wanted to take a taxi back home. Unfortunately I found the road blocked (welcome to Egypt) and so I had to walk a bit to reach another street. The streets were empty and all of a sudden there was this car that started driving next to me and then a guy got off. There were two more in the car. He started walking next to me, talking to me in Arabic, I ignored him and told him to leave me alone. Of course he didn’t, so I decided to change the roadside, but he followed me.

He tried to grab my hand and all I thought was, “Please, you damn taxi, where are you?!”

Meanwhile his friends in the car made a U-turn and came driving towards us, all laughing and whistling. I was really scared. Finally in the last second a taxi came and stopped. I rushed inside and the guy grabbed my ass from behind. I was in total shock and fortunately my taxi driver was super helpful and realized immediately, that these were NOT my friends. He shouted something at the guys and then drove off and brought me home safely.

– Kerstin

Location: Around Behooth Metro station, Dokki, Kairo, Egypt

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One night I was harassed three times within 20 minutes.

I’m a student and I recently went out for some drinks with friends and they carried on after I left at around midnight. I walked home alone because it was only 20 minutes from my house and I cant afford to get taxi’s everywhere.

I had just left my friends (wearing a coat and jeans) and walked past some men who cat called me, then it happened again with another man I walked past, and then a student stood drunk outside of his house.

It makes me feel incredibly scared, every time I walk past any males at night I put my head down and wish for them to walk past silently.
I feel so awful about this!! In the day I feel perfectly safe and if anybody talks at me, even if I don’t like it, i feel comfortable and calm. At night it seems like these men really would do something to me if I replied in the wrong way, I would love to shout back at them the same way they do to me but I am terrified of what would happen.

Please let this stop soon!!

– Chloe

Location: Swansea, Wales

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Since I was in middle school, I’ve been honked at, stared at, and had vulgar things of a sexual nature yelled at me. In high school, my friends and I would count how many times we got honked at during the 7 minute walk from our campus to a restaurant nearby- if I remember correctly, our record was 17.

Today, I was walking from my college campus to my apartment in broad daylight, and a delivery truck driver began honking and staring at me, and when I went to cross the street he began yelling lewd things at me. I felt embarrassed, ashamed, and vulnerable- and it was only 2pm.

I’m currently writing a letter to the company the truck and driver belonged to inform them of the incident and that, as a result, I will always have a negative connotation of their company. Things like this need to stop. I should be able to walk down the street without being treated like this- it is scary and disgusting.

– Anonymous

Location: Boston, MA

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This is not my story, but a friend showed me that she found this on Craigslist’s “Missed Connections.” This man’s perspective on what he can do to a woman and his thinking that she liked it is NYC street harassment epitomized. The full text has been copied below, and is also available here.

“You caught my attention when i saw you at w4 station when i was waiting for the F train. you walked by me and think you knew i was looking at you. we got in the same car n at some point of the ride i happened to be behind you. you had a hat, underneath (curly) hair parted around your neck. could see the bare back of the neck. it looked beautiful and i wanted kiss it so bad…. i couldnt. instead i blew my breath gently on it. i knew you could feel it and i think you liked it. we both got off on 2nd ave. i saw you climb the stairs cross the towards east and disappear. this is a looooong shot. hope you are reading this.”

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

I wish NYC had a campaign to raise awareness about the illegality of street harassment. Multiple times, I have responded to men who have harassed me or friends by calmly explaining that their behavior is sexist and illegal, only to be met with, “It’s a free country” followed by some derogatory term, usually “bitch” or “slut.” Men need to feel the pressure that this is punishable.

When I was 12, I was at a deli paying for my items. The man behind the counter asked for my “digits.” I froze and finally said no. He persisted and wouldn’t let me check out for a few minutes. I went home, extremely shaken and told my mom what happened. She went down and spoke to the manager and he assured her it wouldn’t happen again. Even so, I avoided that store like the plague… I was scared it would happen again; I wouldn’t even look in the window. I had been shopping there all my life and suddenly felt afraid to set foot inside.

– RE

Location: Upper West Side, NYC

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