Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

“I was extremely confused and a little scared”

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I was about 18 when this happened and still in high school. I lived close to the school so I walked to and from it.

Well, one day I was walking along, just minding my own business There were a few boys ahead of me who were being really slow, so I went around them as I was walking. Well, one of them threw a glass bottle at me and it shattered on the road maybe an inch away from my feet.

I was extremely confused and a little scared because I had no idea that merely walking in front of someone could justify a reaction like that.

Luckily, a classmate had seen what happened and she stopped her car next to me to give me a ride home.

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

We need better awareness People need to be told about this and need to learn that behavior like that is not acceptable.

– MB

Location: Illinois

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

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“Realize that catcalling women won’t benefit them”

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I’m a first year college student and the apartment I’m currently living in is near a construction site (actually it’s a house that’s being renovated). Ever since the construction began, I feel uneasy and unsafe when walking on our street because there are a few men who stare at me and sometimes make kiss sounds or whistle or make any noise.

I just ignore them.

But there’s this instance when a large group of men were laughing and calling me a girlfriend of one of their members. I felt so angry I thought I would shout at them or curse at them, but I just walked away and ignored them. But as I arrived at my apartment, I realized that this has to stop. I have to stop this.

I know I’m not the only one experiencing this. There are a lot of us feeling angry, sad, unsafe, and threatened. I have decided and promised to myself that if they won’t stop, I will tell the authorities and probably make them leave the area even if that means that they will lose their job. I don’t care. They should know and feel the consequence of their actions.

It’s time for them to feel sorry for what they do and maybe realize that catcalling women won’t benefit them.

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

I think it’s time to have a kind of government who will actually address this kind of situation. It should be part of the law. This act should be punishable. It’s time to make catcallers feel scared and guilty.

– I

Location: Philippines

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

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“I heard him say all kinds of perverted things”

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It was early in the night, I was minding my own business, riding my bike home (with my body entirely covered, not that it matters), when one of the guards in my neighbourhood saw me pass by his side. I was about to wave/nod at him since I’ve “known” him for years when I heard him say all kinds of perverted things at me, plus give a very dirty and unnerving look.

I turned around and kept my speed as I looked at him with an appalling look on my face so that he saw who I was (one of the people who pay him for making sure streets are safe, ironically).

I’d been greeting him with a smile on my face for two years and now I avoid walking past that block since I feel so ashamed for what he did and… he’s still there!

This is only one case out of an uncountable amount of harassment I cope with on a daily basis, which is very consuming of my time and energy and comes from both familiar and unfamiliar faces around where I live (which is a highly-regarded neighbourhood by the society…)

Optional: Do you have any suggestions for dealing with harassers and/or ending street harassment in general?

Unfortunately, due to the amount of insecurity in the streets of Buenos Aires, I’ve been told by professionals to keep minding my own business so as to preserve my physical safety. I don’t know how to react anymore, which has negative effects on my mental health

– Anonymous

Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina

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

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“These particular occurrences stuck with me’

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I have two distinct separate stories that stood out to me more than all the other incidents of harassment that I’ve dealt with.

The first one happened around the end of July of last year. I was walking to the shop on my dinner break from work whilst on my phone (literally tending to my own business) and this, I would say, 20 y/o guy in a car drove to a traffic light ignorantly playing his music way too loudly. I turned to look at the commotion briefly and then looked back at my phone. The next minute I heard the loudest wolf whistle at my direction (apart from a few maybe 10 y/o boys running past me and an old couple sat on a bench I was the only one there so I knew it was directed at me), I looked back at the guy with a blank expression, clearly with lack of interest and again tended to my own business.

The second story occurred quite recently. I was in Ibiza and stood in the terminal of an airport waiting to board my plane back to the UK and I was looking at nothing in particular when I glanced at this guy who was looking at me. I looked away thinking we had just awkwardly made eye contact and left it at that, five minutes later I caught the guy again, just looking me, and he made absolutely no effort to look away and he continued to just gawk at me for a good and heavy thirty to forty minutes or so. It just baffled me as to how, according to him, it was completely okay to just f*****g look at me up and down with a small grin, like as if he was enjoying it.

I know these stories aren’t that big of a deal compared to other bigger harassment incidents that happen, but these particular occurrences stuck with me more for whatever reason.

– Anonymous

Location: UK and Ibiza airport

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

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“Come here gorgeous”

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I was walking home from a friends house when I was about 13 and I was in my school uniform; shirt, trousers and blazer, when two middle-aged white men came up behind me and started talking about my arse. They started getting closer to me until they were right behind me and they were trying to touch me. Needless to say, at 13 I was terrified, having never dealt with this before, and not in an area where I was familiar, and so I started walking faster, turning every time I could, but they continued to follow me.

I then ran down the street and ended up knocking into a lady walking home with her shopping bags and asked her for directions back to my school so that I would know where I was going to get home. This made the men behind me drop back and eventually I got away from them.

I then arrived on the road opposite my school and as I was walking down (it was a dual carriage way) a man in a van started yelling at me from his window and leaning half of his body out of it, trying to grab at me saying, “Come here gorgeous”.

That was the first time I was ever harassed on the street, but from the age of 11, men I didn’t know catcalled me.

Optional: Do you have any suggestions for dealing with harassers and/or ending street harassment in general?

It depends on how you feel at the time. At first I was too scared to do anything and so I ran away, but when it was boys from my school doing it, I reported it to my head of year. The next time it happened on the street I kicked the man and ran away because he had his head in my boobs. After a while you get used to having to deal with it, but the best you can do is to report it to someone who can actually do something about it.

– SKA

Location: London, UK

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

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