Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming
I was shouted at by two men going past me in a white van as I was walking on the pavement.
– Anonymous
Location: The Green, Twickenham, London
Share your street harassment story for the blog.
See the book 50 Stories about Stopping Street Harassers for more idea.
Tunisia Live interviews women in the streets of downtown Tunis about sexual harassment in public spaces (English subtitles).
I am African, but my skin tone is very light. Men here are inclined to harass these type of women (light-skinned) because we are seen as being “more attractive, and more desirable” than a dark-skinned woman (grossly untrue, but it’s how our society is framed to think). Even though it happens to me often, March 4th was way worse than the other days.
I had gone to shop for groceries, and I had to walk for about 20 minutes. I got harassed by at least 15 different men for that 20-minute walk! The harassment ranged from cat calls, my arms being stroked by strangers (very disgusting, I must say), men asking other men to stare at me… Others yelled across the streets asking if I could get pregnant. For those that felt really irked by me ignoring them, insults such as “stupid whore” were hurled at me. It was so mortifying, frustrating, and plain disgusting.
– KWA
Location: Nairobi, Kenya, along the streets
Share your street harassment story for the blog.
See the book 50 Stories about Stopping Street Harassers for more idea.
At the age of 12 (I’m now 14), I was walking down the street wearing a short dress, and a grown old man came to me, and he told me: “You girl, wanna play?”
And I just stared to run and run. I came home, but I didn’t said anything because I didn’t think it was bad enough.
I think that we need a radical change. Places can be safer for women if we’re informed about these sexism and feminism stuff. And I will start to speak out, because this is a big problem.
– Jessica Atencia
Location: Colombia
Share your street harassment story for the blog.
See the book 50 Stories about Stopping Street Harassers for more idea.
Being a student studying at an art school in downtown San Francisco, I always dread slow tourists as I try to get to class. I overtook a slow-walking tourists without even touching his shoulders or having contact with him. I literally just passed on the left side and kept fast walking. He started shouting insults to me and I was shocked as I never did anything to get such reaction. Now I get such insulting reactions almost once a week.
Optional: Do you have any suggestions for dealing with harassers and/or ending street harassment in general?
Fight back. Tell them when they insult you.
– Alek Picardal
Location: Union Square area, San Francisco, CA
Share your street harassment story for the blog.
See the book 50 Stories about Stopping Street Harassers for more idea.