I’d just moved to Chicago from Houston so I was adjusting to walking and taking public transportation as opposed to driving everywhere. Anyway, the weather finally broke that summer and I decided to break out a pair of shorts. These were not tight fitting shorts or “short” shorts, but apparently, they accented by behind and hips in a way that drew unwanted attention. I thought this was a fairly normal thing to do. I was subjected to lewd and inappropriate comments everywhere I went that day from the time I boarded the “L” train until I got back home that afternoon.

The worst of it came when a man in a car followed me for a whole city block trying to engage with me and then drove his car into the alley so he could block the sidewalk so I couldn’t pass. He asserted that he wouldn’t move his car until I gave him my phone number. I finally convinced him to move his car and let me pass by making up a story a bout being married and knowing that my (fake) husband would be mad if he knew I was talking to another man. That seemed to resonate with this man and I was allowed to continue walking home.

This was five years ago. I’ve not worn shorts again since then unless accompanied by my now husband.

– Lisa

Location: Chicago, IL

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I was walking with a friend on a nature trail next to a parking lot. There was a tour bus full of men that saw us and started banging on the windows yelling, “Dibs!” at us. One of the men stepped out of the bus and shouted at me (addressing me by my clothing): “Hey, orange sweater! Wanna have sex with me tonight? I’ll wear your legs like a scarf!”

My friend and I ignored them and continued walking.

– Lindsey

Location: Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin

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I need your help! I was just at a CVS in line and the guy behind me said to the woman in front of me, “Has anyone ever called you Peg?” and she looked at him and paused. I guess this woman looks like an actress with the name of Peg from a TV show (that I am not familiar with). He went on saying something like, “She’s the one on that show….”. The woman, still hesitant (maybe she really was the actress in question, she had on her sunglasses!) said something to acknowledge that she knew of the actress and that yes, in fact, people had asked her this question. He came back (and here is where I need your help) with, “Well I mean that as a compliment, because I think she is HO-OT!”

The woman had completed her check out and didn’t say much and just moved on out the door.

Ugh. I was tongue-tied, but felt badly. I wondered if I should have said something to the woman, like, “Is this conversation ok? Would you rather not be the object of this guy’s fantasies?” of course loudly. I didn’t. Maybe because I’m pretty low key and whenever I’ve made a scene it always seems to backfire on me. But maybe I should have….

– Alan

Location: West Palm Beach, FL

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This just happened a few minutes ago. I was walking to the store to pick up some groceries. It’s exactly one block from my apartment. I live near Pike Place Market. I managed to make it exactly half a block when I made the mistake of looking both ways when near a busy-ish parking garage. A man, who I only got a glance at noticed me and started with the smile routine. When I ignored him he escalated saying things along the lines of me “wasting” my looks, that some day they’ll go away (as if my value as a human being is based solely on my appearance), and when I continued to ignore him started ranting about it to people passing by. I managed to go into the store without the creep following me. It took sooooo much effort not to lose my temper. I often feel that I have to wear headphones in order to be left alone, and sometimes that doesn’t work.

– H.M.

Location: Seattle, WA

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This afternoon, I was with the little 2-year-old I nanny for. I had pulled the stroller over to the side of the footpath and I was giving her some apple. We were on a nice street in a nice, posh neighbourhood. I saw in my side vision, a man walking towards me and past me but I didn’t look at him on purpose because he was shouting, “Hi bitch! Hi bitch!” over and over again.

When he had continued walking down the road, (still shouting it), I turned and he was walking backwards watching me and shouting. When I caught his eye and he saw I had looked at him, he gave me ‘the finger’ and kept shouting “hi bitch!”

He was shouting it so loudly that women started coming out of shops and buildings to see what was going on. Since I was really the only person there they asked me what was happening and I said, “Apparently he’s talking to me.”

He was still shouting it and staring at me and giving me the finger, and all the women said, “Oh, okay” and went back into their buildings.

I just walked away…

– Anonymous

Location: on a street in Paris, France

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