Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Harassed, groped, and affronted in front of her own apartment door

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I don’t feel safe at home anymore.

It was Monday, Dec. 20, when this happened. I had just gotten home from a night out with my friends and I walked up to my apartment. I was digging my keys out of my purse when I noticed a couple of guys walking up the stairs. I thought nothing of it as my neighbors are quiet and keep to themselves.

One of the guys started talking to me and I hadn’t gotten my key into the door, and I realized that at this point I was trapped between my living space and two guys I didn’t know. He was asking me if he could come ‘hang out’ and I said no. He touched me and tried to kiss me and at one point ran his hand over my crotch. He then grabbed my keys and opened my door. I went inside, shoved him and shoved my door closed.

I was in shock and I felt stupid that I didn’t call the police. I was too freaked out, and I was just glad that I got into my apartment by myself.

It’s been a few days and I still don’t think there’s enough water to wash all this disgusting off of me.

– DL

Location: Katy, TX (Houston Suburb)

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“Merry Christmas, baby! Happy holidays!”

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Not again!

The same man, who has harassed me on a few occasions (http://streetharassment.wordpress.com/2010/07/29/long-hair-lewdness-short-hair-rudeness/, http://streetharassment.wordpress.com/2010/09/09/guess-who/) and who implied I was “ugly” because I had very short hair was back out on the street again! But get this—he SMILES at me and says, “Merry Christmas, baby! Happy holidays!”

No, I don’t like being called “baby,” but I was shocked at his 180 regarding me. Then I realized that my hair has grown out significantly, making me more “feminine-looking” again and thereby in his warped mind “attractive” now. This mentality has me shaking my head.

I was not in the mood for conflict this morning so I said absolutely nothing and kept walking.

– Tired of Being Harassed

Location: M Street & Wisconsin Avenue, Washington, DC

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“I just can’t…can’t leave this spot without a smile”

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I was sitting at the bus stop in front of the San Francisco Main Branch Library with my boyfriend. Another gentleman was sitting, reading, next to me. We had just missed the bus so we had about ten minutes to wait.

A short, (possibly) homeless man with devil horns tattooed on his forehead slowly wandered in front of the bus stop, laughing to himself. He wandered over, standing too close to my boyfriend, still laughing and laughing. He gestures to my boyfriend and calls him “Prince Charming,” and says some other things I couldn’t understand. He was kind of wandering in and out of laughing to himself and annoying my boyfriend, until he started talking to me. First, “Happy holidays, merry Christmas, God bless ya,” which I responded to with, “You too.”

Then he stopped wandering around, stopped far too close to where I was sitting, pointed to me and told my boyfriend, “You know…I can’t leave this spot…can’t leave this spot without a pretty smile from her.”

I rolled my eyes and my boyfriend told him to leave. “I just can’t…can’t leave this spot without a smile,” he says to me.

I told him, “No. You don’t get to demand things from me on the street just because you feel like it.”

He protests and I tell him that he doesn’t get to demand things from women just because he’s drunk and feels like it. He starts to protest loudly and at this point the man next to me and another man nearby were staring at the offender. The offender noticed them staring and started to walk away when I used the phrase “public sexual harassment” and by that time everyone was staring at him.

He must have felt intimidated because he made a punching gesture at me as he left.

– Jen M.

Location: San Francisco, City Hall

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“I was street harassed twice within a 15-second time frame today”

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I was walking across the street and this car started to turn while I was still in the crosswalk. He came up really close to me, to the point where I thought he was going to hit me. Instead, he rolled down his window and yelled, “Hey sexy!” and then drove off very quickly — before I even had time to register what was said. I was scared at first, too, because I thought he was going to hit me, and then I was afraid of being pulled into the car. I was so startled it took me a second to react. I was shaken and angry.

Then, just as I got on the sidewalk and the other light turned green, another car honked at me as it went by. I was street harassed twice within a 15-second time frame today. It’s incredibly upsetting and unnerving.

I’m tired of feeling degraded.

– Anonymous

Location: Friendship Heights, DC

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Violated at the Seattle DMV

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I was in the Seattle DMV on 2nd and Spring and a man bent over as he was leaving, then stood up and said, “Thanks for that.”

It took me a few seconds to realize he had been looking up my skirt and was now thanking me.

I started shaking and yelled after him “fucking dick.” I didn’t have a cellphone and I was frozen.

He came back in and said, “Are you laughing at me?” and I said, “Get the fuck away from me now.”

After he left I went to the bathroom in tears thinking, “Call the police they will have his name. Call the police.”

I will forever hate myself for walking back out into the waiting room and not calling the cops. I feel like that is too high a price to pay for one man getting five seconds of his jollies. I wish I had done everything different. Next time I will.

– Sarah

Location: DMV on 2nd and Spring, Seattle, WA

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