I was walking down the street in the evening, and a car rounded the corner. The guy yelled something out his window at me (“hey babe” or something similar. I don’t remember). He then rounded the corner again and did the same thing. The third time, I told him I’d call the police, and he actually asked if I was serious. Apparently he didn’t think this was a big deal.

– Sandy

Location: Paterson, NJ, USA

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I was walking home in summer wearing a pretty summer dress, I was 16 and quite obviously very young.  A car full of older men, probably in their late 20s, drove by and asked me “how much” I was.  When I ignored them and walked quickly away, they proceeded to curb crawl me and ask me things like whether I am ‘working’, and asking me what I would do for certain amounts of money.  I’m usually the kind of girl to bite back when faced with street harassment, but this left me stunned and speechless.

– HH

Location: Rochdale town centre

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My most memorable street harassment experience was walking my two dogs about 3 blocks so they could pee. Two houses down a man started yelling things like, “Hey baby girl” and a few others joined in. I felt rattled but determined to not respond in any way.

On my way back he started yelling at me again and I felt so angry and fed up with him that I turned around and yelled “has that EVER worked for you? F***ing loser,” and then I felt panicked.

Then I passed my neighbor, who had sexually assaulted me two weeks prior, and he was calling out to me.

Another man told me to go on and respond and say hi to the nice old man. I didn’t call authorities because I live in a mostly black neighborhood including that neighbor, and I’m white so I was scared of how police would react and how the media might play it (if they got involved). But I also hated having to live my life like he’s any other decent person that I should get along with. So with the angry outburst I had already let out I yelled that I do not associate with rapists and neither should he and that my neighbor is lucky I didn’t call the cops on him, and he’s certainly not entitled to my time.

I finished the walk home by running and I locked the door and set the alarm panicked that he’d try to “talk about it” and harass me some more. He didn’t but I had a nervous breakdown and I was crying off and on for the rest of the night. I was shaking and felt very unsafe.

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

Denormalize public flirtation, pick ups, etc that people say is what (street) harassment is.

– Lexi

Location: Oklahoma City

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Last summer, I was walking down to the dollar store with my 2 year old son to enjoy the sun and get him a toy. Our apartment is only a couple blocks away but on our walk, I got catcalled at least four times with one guy rolling his window down a couple inches and screaming “WHORE” at me. Unfortunately, I often get called a whore or slut when I’m walking with my son.

One man made some rude comment while I was walking with my son and the idiot parked his truck pretty close to where we were going. When he saw me walking up to confront him, he hopped back in his truck and sped off faster than if I had been a cop!

Oh, and I wasn’t wearing skimpy clothes either. I was wearing a baggy long sleeved top and thick leggings when the first event occurred.

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

Educate men and boys by making our stories known. If we can even reach 25% it will be a marvelous success.

– Victoria Barnett

Location: Snohomish County, Washington

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