I was headed home on the Lexington subway line this summer in NYC. There was a white male 40ish leering at me and I think he was also filming me with his phone. He followed me off the train and up the stairs. A few seconds later my jeans felt wet so I reached my hand around to feel and they were. I smelled my hand and instantly knew it was semen. I contacted the police right away.

They kept my jeans and the top I had on. It was confirmed that it was semen that was sprayed on me but there was no match in the system. The detective told me that this is pretty common. Males save their semen and get sexual gratification by spraying it on women.

They also film it to have a keepsake and relive it. Repulsive…Now whenever I see a women with a stain on the clothes or a man leering at me, I feel terrible.

– Anonymous

Location: Lexington subway line, NYC, USA

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

A heart wrenching story: Underprivileged women threatened for protecting her daughter.

Monica Das, 32 lives in Faridabad, works hard as a domestic help/cook to earn a living; both her husband & she come from a less privileged background. Due to her poor financial condition she is not being able to provide education to her two daughters Simran 14 & Anamika 16.

The mother of two has spent last 100 hours in utter horror and anxiety because of a stranger who has been harassing her and her young daughters in vain & threatening them with dire consequences. The stranger (+91-7840992668) named himself Suman (evidently fake) has been calling her up repeatedly, stalking her and even threatening that he will kill her if she doesn’t get her daughter married to him. Heinous as it may sound the stalker even got up to the extent of chasing the elder lass on bike & threatened her to get abducted in case her mother denies to tie the knot.

Petrified to the core, she went to the police station seeking for justice & safety but much to her surprise the authorities didn’t file a complaint instead used derogatory terms like “are you a prostitute” to refrain her from filing a complaint. IWIL (Indian Women Institutional League) heard her plea for justice and stepped forward to provide legal and professional help. IWIL is guiding Ms. Monica Das step by step to fight for justice & approach the right channels. Not only IWIL provided a lawyer to file a complaint against the harassment & threatening but also funded for the tuition fees of her young girls. The women is petrified by the incident but a fighter at heart she is ready to do whatever it takes to protect her daughter from the evil intentions of the pervert. Whilst we keep you posted for the further status we request your support in terms of promoting & sharing to spread awareness for many more such Monica’s who might be innocent& still falling a prey to the moribund system.

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

Police should be more helpful to everyone not just to rich people.

– IWIL India

Location: Faridabad, India

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

This happened years ago, but I still remember it clearly. I was about 16. I was wearing a skirt that came a little above my knees. I boarded a bus in Northeast DC by Benning Road to go to my summer job to pick up my paycheck. Well the bus driver covered the fare machine when I boarded as if to say don’t worry about it. I thought he was being nice because other drivers had done the same in the past. So I said thank you and sat down. As soon as I sat down the driver started making tongue flicking gestures at me. Licking his lips and making sexually explicit tongue gestures. Pretty much he was imitating oral sex acts. I was so uncomfortable. I could see him in the rear view mirror. He continued to do this for the whole bus ride. And when I got off he did it as I walked by. I don’t know if anyone else noticed. It was so gross. I was only 16 and looked like a 13 yr old at 5’2″, 95 lbs. He looked to be about 40.

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

Teach our sons and fathers, uncles etc that this is inappropriate and makes women feel less than human. Maybe they will be more aware.

– Anonymous

Location: Northeast Washington, DC

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

My mom’s car had broken down earlier that week, so we had to walk to the library that day. It was a few blocks down, so we had left early in the morning to beat the heat. As we were walking, no cars passed the majority of the time. I had music playing and wasn’t paying much attention to what was going on until I heard a honk. Three men stuck their heads out the window of their green van and proceeded to make kissing noises and whistled at my mom and I. I was 14 years old. Being the strong (maybe a little bit crazy) woman that she is, my mom threw a rock or two at the moving van.

I remember standing there feeling violated and plain out dirty. I just wanted to get to the library and hide forever. Years later, I still feel like the girl who got harassed on the street with her mom.

– Anonymous

Location: Las Vegas, Nevada

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

This was one of the scariest street harassment experience that I’ve ever dealt with — I was in high school at the time. I was running late for school one morning and had to walk a few blocks to school from the metro bus stop. Well as I was walking, a car slowed up beside me. There were about 5 young guys in the car. They kept yelling out trying to get my attention. I told them I had a boyfriend. They didn’t care. I tried ignoring them, hoping they would just leave. The harassment continued for about a block. I wanted to just hurry up and get inside the school.

Suddenly I heard the car stop. And the door opened. I saw one of the guys step out angrily. I started walking faster and he caught up with me and grabbed my arm really hard and forced me to turn around. I was terrified. I didn’t know what he was going to do to me. He said something like, “You ain’t going to just keep walking away like you don’t hear us.”

I told him I had to get to school and pulled away from him and ran the rest of the way to school. I never looked back. I felt so helpless. I’m a pretty vocal and tough girl, but I felt like I had no voice. Like I had to tell him what he wanted to hear as to not provoke him to hurt me. I wanted to say, “Get the hell away from me and get your filthy hands off of me!!! I don’t want to talk to you!”

But instead I had to tell them that I was someone’s girlfriend in hopes that they would at least respect him because it was obvious that they didn’t respect me.

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

I think more women should report these crimes and if possible record the harassers. The police should take it serious too. We are taught to feel that this is a normal part of being a woman. And this is not normal at all. We are victimized for going about our daily life activities.

– RJ

Location: 4TH Street, SE, Washington, DC. In front of Ballou High School

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