I was visiting Amsterdam for five days and catching up with some friends. I’m from Poland. My friend and I left a cafe after a nice evening spent together talking and laughing. She was taking a tram and I decide to walk as it was just a 20 minute walk from the place where I was staying. When we were saying goodbye, a man appeared around the corner. He followed me and mumbled something, was commenting on my gloves and kept on talking to me. I was seriously threaten as it was 10 p.m. and there were not many people on the street. He was like two steps behind my back stalking me so I told him to leave me alone and stop talking to me as I do not talk to strangers on the street.

Then he got aggressive and started yelling at me, “F**k you, f**k you. I’m not following you.” I asked a person that was witnessing all that to call the police which made him even more aggressive. I had to listen to all that because I was too scared to reply. There were four other men witnessing this and only one said, “Please leave the lady alone”. Two others were smiling. He kept on calling me names and spit on me. Then left. I was too threatened to make a move. The man who was the only one to speak out said that he could walk me to where I lived if I was afraid to walk alone. I made it safe to the apartment but I was devastated by what this harasser did to me and by the way the witnesses reacted.

Optional: What’s one way you think we can make public places safer for everyone?

More campaigns raising awareness that street harassment exists and it should be condemned, girls and women are not things and you cannot do and say whatever you want

– Monika

Location: Amstredam, de Pijp, the Netherlands

Need support? Call the toll-free National Street Harassment hotline: 855-897-5910

Share your street harassment story for the blog.
See the book 50 Stories about Stopping Street Harassers for ideas.