I had just departed ways with my friend around 11:30PM. We had just finished watching the Bruins-Flyers game and celebrating her birthday. After missing the bus I decided to walk home than wait 15 minutes for the next one. I was wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt (hood covering my head), jeans and flip flops. A very casual outfit for the night.

As I was passing along Massachusetts Ave near Symphony Hall in Boston, a male in his mid-20s sped by on his bike and turned around to look at me. He slowed down almost to a stop to turn back to ask if me I spoke Spanish. I responded,” No, I don’t speak Spanish,” proceeded to keep walking.

Side note: I am not of any Spanish heritage and most people assume I am of this group and speak Spanish. Which makes me annoyed. I am Native American and I do not speak Spanish.

So this individual stops at the crosswalk, waiting for me to catch up. I was just merely walking to cross the street. It was a red light so the man on the bike keeps probing questions, asking if I was Mexican or if I like Mexicans.

I told him no and to leave me alone. He followed me on his bike across one crosswalk and said that I had a nice ass and it would be better if I was a dirty mexican.

I was infuriated at this point because I was not looking for attention, did not want to be followed or harassed about ethnic backgrounds.

I yelled at him (in front of other people at the crosswalk) to stop following me and to fuck off. Probably not the best reaction. I sped walked to a nearest bar entrance and darted across the street. People looked at him and he rode his bike in a different direction.

I kept walking down a street, in the opposite direction of my apartment, cut down an alley to take the longer walk home to avoid running into him. I stopped walking and started to run down the street to my building occasionally glancing back to see if anyone was behind me.

I felt violated, grossed out and pissed off. I do not understand why some men feel they need to make remarks like that to a women. I am not sure if he thought I would respond the way I did. But I was flabbergasted and upset. I informed my friends of the incident and let them know i was home safely.

This is not the first time someone has tried to hit on my due to my dark complexion. I have now stopped dressing cute because I don’t want people to approach on the street. If I do dress up, I make sure I am with a group or people or a man. I wish I were not like this but I feel much better when people don’t hit on me.

– JL

Location: 301 Massachusetts Ave., Boston, MA

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Well here’s another update of my experiences with street harassment. It’s a shame that I need to post these ‘updates’ so often.

Since my last story, I have been harassed several times. All are pretty minor but again the affect it had on me was more than trivial.

1) This happened the day after I was called ‘fat’ by some silly little boys (see ‘look how fat that girl is‘ post) I was going up to my boyfriend’s house, but instead of walking, I took a taxi. Yes, I took a taxi because most of the harassment I get happens when I’m either walking to or from his house. Today I just wasn’t in the mood. Yet I still coudn’t escape it. When the cab drove up my boyfriend’s street, the work men who had leered at me before were there again. And they noticed me in the taxi. They all looked at me and watched as I got out of the car. Then I saw that they were grinning to each other. I did the same thing as I did the last time, give them the middle finger. I was fuming inside though. I couldn’t even catch a cab without being harassed in some way!

2) It is not just men who harass. Sometimes girls or women can be just as bad. And to prove this, I was snickered at and called a ‘minger’ by some girls as I walked back home later on. My boyfriend told me that some girls had also laughed at him when he walked out of the shop. We believe they could be the same ones.

3) This Saturday, I had just nipped out to grab something to eat (I was staying in a guest house) and whilst walking back, a middle aged man sitting on a bench shouted, “Hi how are you?” I stopped in my tracks and confused, asked him if he was speaking to me. “Yes, I was asking you how you are” he responded. I said that I was fine and he then asked me my name. I gave him a fake name before he asked if I could come and sit with him and have a chat. I politely explained that I was in a rush to get home before speeding off. When I got back to the guest house (I go there often and am friendly with the family) I told the wife what had happened. She then told me that a similar ordeal happened to her daughter earlier on that day! Two men had bluntly asked her for sex.

4) This again happened when I was walking to my boyfriend’s house. Two men were walking on the opposite side of the road to me and were both staring and grinning at me. I scowled at them and I think they noticed I was intimidated because they kept looking back and chuckling.

So those are my recent experiences. All in the period of two weeks.

I have tried everything. Ignoring them, responding to them non verbally e.g. middle finger, a ‘look’, verbally e.g. “grow up and have some respect”, avoiding places where I’m more likely to be harassed, using transport to get to places instead of walking to avoid being harassed, changing what I wear. But nothing works. I now use a different route to get to my boyfriends house which avoids the main road and near the shops. I am losing weight because of street harassment. I just don’t know what else to do.

THIS HAS GOT TO END.

– Clarice

Location: North Cornelly. Wales

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