Yesterday I was walking along a street and then this boy started staring at me and he smiled also!! I turned my head after a few minutes I saw him following me I was so scared. My father was a little bit far and I went to him and turned to see if the boy was staring at me and he was!! Then I was like this is life and turned my head!!

But this has to end always the same problem with boys.

– Anonymous

Location: Lebanon

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

My story starts with me walking downtown in Saskatoon from my car to the mall for my shift at work. In an ugly uniform, broad daylight, two o’clock in the afternoon. I had to cross a parking lot and an alley between a couple of businesses and a car with five young but big guys rolled into my path blocking my way. They were laughing and telling me how hot I was and telling me to come party with them. I politely declined and tried to laugh it off, saying I had to get to work. And they wouldn’t let me by and after some more banter they got out of the car. Five men. All much larger than me surrounded me and making the sexual comments and grazing me while joking amongst themselves of how much fun I would be.

I’m Caucasian, 5’9 but skinny, 130 pounds, and suffer from Lupus, so I wasn’t any match for any of them. And I started to get scared and more vocal in telling them no and to let me go. One of them grabbed me and tried to move me towards the car while I struggled and screamed every curse I could think of and they still just laughed. There were two customers that came out of the restaurant and saw what was happening, and an elderly homeless man who had been rightfully hesitant to get involved being so clearly outnumbered.

The guys let me go and got in their car and left after being confronted. The two men from the restaurant walked me to work where I sat down and sobbed over what had taken place. I was late and my boss was angry with me until I explained what had happened. And she uselessly offered to get her female employees rape whistles.

I began carrying a knife with me after that, knowing that it wouldn’t be much good against a large crowd. It would be wrestled away from me before I could do enough damage and more than likely end up on the receiving end but I swore I would never go down without a fight. Since that incident, I’ve become hostile and challenging instead of the joking way I tried to play it off to begin with and I’ve not had any serious problems since.

Street harassment is a real issue facing women but we have to take a stand for ourselves if we ever want it to stop. Don’t be a victim.

– Anonymous

Location: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

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I was returning to the parking lot where I parked my car and I saw a man standing right near my car. When I got closer, he told me he was homeless and asked if I could give him some money for food, and I gave him some money. He thanked me, but then it gradually turned into sexual harassment.

After he thanked me, he hugged me, which at first made me feel slightly uncomfortable but he prolonged the hug so long I started to get more and more uncomfortable. He said I was beautiful in a way that made me a little uncomfortable and I started saying over and over that I needed to go. I managed to get in my car, but as I was getting in he made a kissing face and said something about how he wanted to kiss me, and at that point I started to feel scared. He stayed so close to the car that I was worried I wouldn’t be able to drive away without hitting him. I managed to leave in my car but felt icky and uncomfortable my whole drive home.

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

Teach men in particular about what sexual harassment is, why it’s wrong, and what it does to women. Teach them how to intervene in these situations and create situations where men start talking with each other about sexual harassment. Make it more socially unacceptable to harass women than to talk about being harassed.

– CD

Location: Parking lot near H Mart, corner of Essex Street and Bishop Allen Drive, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

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I got off of the bus on the way home. As soon as the bus left my stop I was waiting to cross the street, but a black car went flying by. The guy on the passenger side had his window rolled down and he yelled, ʺF***ng Whore!ʺ I was shocked it took me an entire 2 minutes to unfreeze my body. I refused to cry until I got home.

– Anonymous

Location: State College/PA/Centre

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Whenever I go shopping in a supermarket, or a mall, I find myself being followed by crude, loud people. In fact it seems that everybody – especially hard-faced women – are giving me evil stares, coughing at me etc. This evil harassment makes my life intolerable. It is bullying and happens even if I am with my young children.

– Anonymous

Location: England

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