Around midnight on Saturday, a new female friend and I walked one block to a pub in Elmswell, UK, so we could use the restroom. We were back early from a wedding reception to “decorate” our friend’s (the bride) camper and we were locked out of the house until everyone else returned.

We chatted and laughed as we walked until a group of 10 drunk teenage boys loitering along the road talked to us. At first all they said were hello’s and even though I felt like they were about to harass us, we politely said hello back. And then of course they harassed us. It was the typical “yeah baby,” and “ooh sexy” crap.

I paused and shouted, “Hey, don’t harass us,” and then there was silence. But then one of them said (I think), “That’s a shit haircut.” Which is funny since our hair looked great since we’d just left a wedding (though we were no longer in wedding attire, just sweatshirts and pants). Maybe he said something else. I don’t know. We just kept walking.

After using the restroom, we met up with three other friends who’d walked to the Pub separately, including two men. When we told them what happened (and I said, see, that’s what I’m always speaking out against!) they said we needed to walk back together in a group, strength in numbers, blah blah.  So we did.

The harassers started off with their hello’s again, but this time we did not fall for it and ignored them and they basically left us alone. Oh except one of them started following us. We turned into our friend’s long driveway and watched from the shadows to make sure he kept on going.

I studied abroad in the UK seven years ago, and I eventually stopped going out with my flatmates to pubs and clubs because I got so sick of the harassment. At the clubs, many men had no problem grabbing you or grinding on you without warning or asking for your consent. I was in the UK just over 48 hours on this visit and I was disappointed I had to deal with some of the same crap.

I was also sorry that the woman I was harassed with (a very nice mutual friend of the bride I had not met before), who runs and travels alone a lot, was so resigned to the behavior. “There are places I know I can’t go alone as a woman,” she said. And I said, “But isn’t that messed up? Shouldn’t we be allowed to go anywhere and not have to worry about harassment or assault? Why is that just accepted?” And she thought about it and agreed.

– Holly

Location: Elmswell, Suffolk, UK

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I was walking home from the tube today, a street away from my house. Summer’s finally arrived in Britain, and I was wearing, for the first time in months, a T-shirt outdoors. Either this fact or that I have half sleeve tattoos was reason enough for the two huge guys walking on the opposite side of the street to start shouting aggressively at me across the street.

This was one of those rare occasions when I wasn’t mad at myself for not saying something in retaliation: I kept walking, headphones in, pretending I hadn’t even noticed them. Because really, how do you think you look as two large men shouting at the tops of your voices at a tiny girl across the street?

– Jen

Location: Turnpike Lane, London

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I was leaving work, and there was a Street Sense newspaper seller standing at McPherson Square Station. As I pass, I hear him say, “Hey, Boo-Boo, how are you?” I turn around, and he’s looking at me.

“My name is not Boo-Boo,” I said. “If you want to address me, it’s Miss or Ma’am. Show me some respect.”

“Man, I wasn’t talking to you!” he said. Sure he wasn’t.

“I don’t care,” I said. “You need to show respect to women.”

“I ain’t say nothing to you!” he said. “Get on, I ain’t say nothing to you!”

“But when you disrespect women around me, it becomes my problem,” I said. “Show some respect.”

He kept denying saying anything to me and kept telling me to go away, and that he didn’t need to do “shit.”

“If you want to sell those damn papers, you need to respect me and other women,” I said. I was a broken record. Respect me and other women.

He kept talking junk, and when seconds before the light changed I pulled out my cell phone (I had my camera on me which would’ve gotten a better shot, but he would’ve known what was coming if I pulled that out) and took his photo. He acted like he wanted to cover his face with a paper, but my cell phone got the shot when he was pointing at me, seconds before he attempted to hide his face.

There are good people who sell Street Sense papers who are professional and respectful and I support them and buy their papers, but I’ve encountered too many guys like this who are unprofessional, rude, and very sexist when it comes towards their interactions with women. I will be contacting Street Sense first thing tomorrow morning. They really need to train their salespeople better because this is beyond ridiculous.

– Anonymous

Location: McPherson Square Metro Station (14th Street N.W. & I Street N.W.), Washington, DC

Date & Time: 7/19/12, 5:05 PM

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I was boarding the train with my bike, and I accidentally turned to the car in the very back. When I entered, I felt weird, and I couldn’t pinpoint why; suddenly, I saw a man get up, stand in the aisle, stare me right in the eye and start rubbing his crotch. I like to think of myself as someone who doesn’t get scared easily, but the way he looked at me made me feel like he was legitimately about to attack me, even though there were people in the cart nearby. I felt like prey.

I clumsily stumbled away from him and into the next car. I saw him sit down close to the window, so I went off to the other side of the train. I’m relieved that nothing happened, and there’s a part of me that feels like I’m overreacting, but rape is one of my biggest fears, and today, I think I met a potential rapist. I don’t know how to report the incident, so I’m posting it here.

– Anonymous

Location: Caltrain, California, USA