Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

“Stop making racist and crude sexist remarks”

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I was at the park with my dad and a (female) friend of ours. We were there doing Acro yoga and minding our own business when these three young guys came and got in the water. At first it was fine then I started hearing what they were saying. I am thirteen years old and they couldn’t have been two years older than me. They were calling each other n****** and were saying very crude sexist things. More than pissing me off it made me sad that they were raised in an environment where they found that they could get attention by doing things like that.

I ignored them as I didn’t want to give them the pleasure of gaining my attention. I felt like going over there and slapping or punching them but I refrained. I also felt like saying, “Hey assholes, stop making racist and crude sexist remarks before I call the police for harassment and they can tell you to stop,” but I refrained. Now I feel bad that I let them get away with it but I know that I did the right thing.

– Claire

Location: Round Rock, Texas

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See the book 50 Stories about Stopping Street Harassers for more idea.

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“Not act like a perv”

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One day I was just walking because it was a nice day so why not take a walk. I was in Arizona at the time and it’s usually pretty hot but not on this day. This guy drives up to me and asks me where was a certain place and I gave him directions because I’m a very nice person and I wasn’t just gonna say f**k off because I’m a very friendly person.

After I give him the directions he asks me for my number, what size my boobs are, and if I was interested in intercourse. I politely said no thank you and walked away. He continued to try to get my number but he eventually left. I felt sad, mad and angry because a real man shouldn’t be saying that to a woman and should respect her not act like a perv.

– Ashleigh Johnson

Location: Phoenix, AZ

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See the book 50 Stories about Stopping Street Harassers for more idea.

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“It’s about silencing them”

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I was walking/running to the bus stop to go to campus for classes. I had my yoga mat under one arm; I’m taking yoga to fulfill my university’s Health & Wellness credit. A middle-aged man standing with two others (one man, one woman) calls out to me, “Oooo girl, body lookin’ ready for yoga class” to which I gave a quick reply with my middle finger. Then I hear this: “Yeah, watch what I do to you and that finger bitch”. I look back and see his friends, including the woman, laughing. It was infuriating. It was dehumanizing. It was pure disrespect and sounded like a barely-veiled rape threat.

I began carrying a knife in my bag the next day.

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

From childhood onward, teach respect for all people in the home, schools, government, everywhere. Teach fathers to raise sons who won’t grow up thinking it’s okay to yell/whisper intimidating things at women. Street harassment is not and never was about “complimenting” women. It’s about silencing them.

– Emma

Location: Walking to a bus stop

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See the book 50 Stories about Stopping Street Harassers for more idea.

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“It could’ve been worse. But UGH!!”

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I was walking out of a yoga studio and went straight to unlock my bike. I glanced at a short guy with a black eye swollen shut. He made a beeline to me mumbling something like, “Hey, you white, you black.” I say, “Goodbye” firmly several times and ignore him while proceeding to in lock my bike. He doesn’t stop talking and keeps moving toward my bike. I tell him to f*** off and he ends up yanking out my break cable. Three guys across the street yell “Hey! Hey!” and start to cross. Dude with black eye runs off and I jump on my bike and make my escape.

How it made me feel: not super threatened because I was in a street in daylight with people around. It could’ve been worse. But UGH!!

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

Map instances of harassment and provide descriptions of harassers

– Sarah Hausman

Location: Petworth neighborhood in Washington, DC – Lamont and Kenyon

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See the book 50 Stories about Stopping Street Harassers for more idea.

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“Nothing can change in a world under capitalist rule”

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When I was around 18, I was often harassed by older men at night, once one of them took me forcefully by the arm and tried to convince me to follow him to a “party”. After refusing several times he still wouldn’t let go of my arm, so I had to shove him to free myself. This event was particularly disturbing.

I get “catcalled” by women sometimes but it’s rare, less than once a month or perhaps every other month. Things like “come fuck me, it’s my birthday! *giggles*” and stuff like that. It doesn’t affect me very much (actually usually I find the situation funny, although I know I shouldn’t and I don’t approve of their behavior).

When I was 19, I worked a summer in a hospital and was frequently harassed/lightly assaulted by female patients, although usually very old or suffering from some form of mental disorder (I assume).

I was groped a few times on dates as I was trying to leave. I usually find that extremely rude but it didn’t affect my dating life much (except for never wanting to see those people again).

The scary harassment events are of the “non-sexual” kind, when people, often drunk and sometimes in groups, in public transportation or in the street, act aggressively and try to intimidate me. These happen about once every other month. The perpetrators are usually men but women are involved around a third of the time. I noticed when they are men they tend to be young, when they are women they tend to be middle-aged.

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

Perpetrators of street harassment are for the most part not on the privileged side of the social spectrum. People living in poverty, people marginalized for such or such reason (immigrants from developing countries, people with alcohol or drug abuse problems, people suffering from mental issues etc.) are much more likely to resort to anti-social acts. There is no feasible solution to street harassment, the problem is with people lacking the means to live a decent, dignified life. Like most societal problems, street harassment can’t be beaten unless we change the structures of society to be fair and equitable. Nothing can change in a world under capitalist rule.

– Anonymous

Location: Nantes, France

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

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