Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Pioneer Motors Street Harassers

By

diennastreetharassersaug09I was in Arlington, VA, last Wednesday, and while walking down Lee Highway two men who were sitting across the street in front of Pioneer Motors wolf whistled at me. When I turned to look at them they started smiling and waving. I was furious.

“No! Do you see me smiling? That’s not cute, that’s tacky! Don’t do that to me or any other woman who walks by again!”

When I pulled out my camera (from a safe distance across the street) they got quieter than it’s kept and the grins were wiped off their faces. I didn’t have the energy to report them to their employers (I deal with this nonsense too often), but I feel my yelling at them was enough.

-Anonymous

Location: Across the street from Pioneer Motors, 2510 Lee Highway, Arlington, VA

Share your street harassment story today and help raise awareness about the problem. Include your location and it will be added to the Street Harassment Map.

Share

I am harassed every day

By

I am harassed every day, no matter what route I take to walk to work. I have been followed to my home by a crawling car, jeered at, spit at, and pretty much made to feel uncomfortable in the public realm. Its been this way for a few years and now I am just as confrontational back. I have learned that telling them to eat shit usually shuts them up.

– MK

Share your street harassment story today and help raise awareness about the problem. Include your location and it will be added to the Street Harassment Map.

Share

Sexist searching for a nutritious meal

By

I am 95 percent sure that a homeless man said either, “I need a wife to cook me a nutritious meal” or “Be my wife and cook me a nutritious meal” while looking right at me. I was walking from my office to the metro station in Washington, DC, this evening.

I noticed he said something to the man walking ahead of me too. I feel 100 percent certain that if he mentioned wanting a meal to him, he didn’t say anything that would suggest that because it was a man passing by, the man should cook him a meal the way he did with me, a woman.

Location: L Street NW and 16th Street NW, Washington, DC

Share your street harassment story today and help raise awareness about the problem. Include your location and it will be added to the Street Harassment Map.

Share

Jamaican Harrasser in White Jeep

By

There is an Uno’s Restuarant in Brockton, MA, next to the West Gate Mall. This is where I had the displeasure of meeting “the black man”.

I had gotten out of work and wanted to get something to eat at the Uno’s. They weren’t open yet, so I sat down on a bench, took out my notebook and started to draw. A moment later, a black man with long dreads and a very Jamaican accent pulled in a big white Jeep and called to me through the passenger window,

“Hey! Wanna buy a black man dinner?!”

I made the mistake of looking up and answering,

“No.”

“Aw, come on baby, why not?”

“Becuase I don’t have the money.”

“It’s because I’m black, isn’t it? Come on, baby, don’t you love black men?”

I am a lesbian, but I didn’t want to tell him that. So I answered,

“My boyfriend is meeting me here.”

“And he a white boy?”

“He’s Indian. Leave me alone.”

To my relief, he drove away, but as I watched, I learned that he had not given up. Instead, he turned around and pulled up so he could talk to me through the driver’s window. I was getting scared, and the restaurant was still closed, so I had no place to go and no one to help me.

“Baby, you beautiful,” he went on to say, “I love white women. I would worship you like the goddess you are, baby. I would buy you things, I would love you better than your boyfriend. Come on, baby, let me worship you!”

I told him again, NO firmly, and he seemed to accept it. He drove off, and as soon as he did, I heard the resturant door’s unlock. I ran in and told the hostess there that there was a black man in a white jeep harrassing me, and to be careful. She offered to call for the police, but I decided I needed to leave the area. Thanking her, I left quickly and ran to my car and drove home, all the time looking around me to make sure I wasn’t being followed.

This was almost too terrifying to believe, because he was in a big car, and I was out of mine in front of a restaurant with no one around. Anything could have happened.

– anonymous

Location: Brockton, MA

Share your street harassment story today and help raise awareness about the problem. Include your location and it will be added to the Street Harassment Map.

Share

CVS Creep in Philly

By

I live in Philadelphia, PA, and when I walk to the CVS, there is this one guy who always, always always, whenever he sees me, goes, “Hey beautiful, how’s it going?” It creeps me the hell out! His tone is predatory and since I see him in on this one block on the way to the store about every other week (not in the winter, just in spring/summer and maybe fall, but less frequently then), I’ve been too scared to say anything. I live close by and don’t want him following me! Every time I think about it, I think about how I’m going to tell him to fuck himself, or I’m going to get the cop that’s usually by the CVS to do something or something––but I never do. I just walk by, eyes straight ahead. And feel like shit for letting him make me feel like prey.

-anonymous

Location: Philadelphia, PA

Share your street harassment story today and help raise awareness about the problem. Include your location and it will be added to the Street Harassment Map.

Share