Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Really, Bowlmor?: “Getting jumped in an alley has never been this much fun”

By

This unacceptable ad was seen and photographed on the Q train in New York City by someone at Equality Now. She added the “Trigger Warning” message.

The full text of ad reads, “Getting jumped in an alley has never been this much fun.”

Clearly, the writer has never actually been jumped in an alley, nor has someone they care about. It is not fun.

Has anyone else seen this ad? I’m thinking about doing a Change.org petition to ask that it be taken down because of how offensive it is, but I want to know more about it first.

UPDATE: After the Huffington Post covered the ad, Bowlmor emailed them this response:

“We are surprised and disappointed that our recent advertisement – intended to be a humorous play on the words “bowling alley” – has been misinterpreted to advocate violence against women. Our company – consisting of hundreds of talented men and women – does not support abuse or violence in any form. Since its inception, Bowlmor Lanes has strived to be socially responsible and offer a family-friendly environment to our customers. We offer our sincere apologies to anyone who was offended by this advertisement. The campaign in question was scheduled to run throughout Aug. 2012, and is no longer in circulation. There are no plans to generate this campaign again.”

It’s too bad they don’t understand why this ad is offensive, but hey, at least they say they wont use it again.

Share

“This was violent and unacceptable”

By

Yesterday as I was walking to my parents house,  some men shouted “whore” at me as they drove by. To the group of young men in the SUV who caught me off guard, and to the silent other pedestrians and drivers, this was violent and unacceptable.

– Anonymous

Location: North Toronto, Canada

Donate to help fund a national study on street harassment.

Share your street harassment story today and help raise awareness about the problem.

Share

“Hey baby” in a stairwell

By

I was at my office today walking up the stairs and two guys came loudly tromping down the stairs at me. No one ever takes the stairs so it was sort of surprising and then suddenly one of them interrupts his conversation with his coworker to be all, “Hey baby” at me. I couldn’t believe it! I’m at WORK, for chrissakes. I was so appalled that I actually stopped walking and then turned around and said, “My name is *Aerin*” really assertively. They both stared at me like I was something they’d never seen before and then the guy actually told me his name, like we were being introduced by a coworker.

– Aerin

Location: St. Louis, MO

Donate to help fund a national study on street harassment.

Share your street harassment story today and help raise awareness about the problem.

Share

“I am being street harassed in my own backyard”

By

I live in a nice area on the outskirts of the city. We just moved here about 10 months ago and I’ve loved everything about it — well almost. Our house is next to a somewhat busy road with a chain link fence around our 2 acres. I am a very energetic person who loves being outdoors and physical activity. We have a trampoline that I use daily. It’s one of my ways to de-stress after a long day. At first people just stared, which I understood since we are new here. Then cars would slow down…which was a bit creepy but I just shrugged it off. Then it escalated to lewd hand-motions, yelling, and stopping their cars to watch all together. I can’t believe this, I am being street harassed in my own backyard.

So I just stopped jumping during the day and just waited til night. (which majorly sucks for me since it’s summer and night is when the Mosquitos come out.) So I switched my exercising to running in the mornings. Thinking no one would bother me at 6 in the morning, well I was wrong. Now I just stay inside most of the time, which is hard because I love the outdoors so much! I just don’t want it to escalate to the point that they come on my property, I mean they already know where I live, which is terrifying. The thing that really gets me is that, I do not live in a bad area, some of the houses around here are 700k-1 mil. Most of these people that shout obscenities at me are yelling from their new BMW’s.

– Marissa

Location: Las Cruces, NM

Donate to help fund a national study on street harassment.

Share your street harassment story today and help raise awareness about the problem.

Share

“You fat ass bitch!”

By

I was walking back from the grocery store, carrying two big bags of groceries about nine blocks on a hot August day. I passed a man and he starts saying, “Hi,” to me. I just sort of smiled, but I kept walking, because it was hot and all I wanted to do was get home and put away my groceries. He then starts yelling at me, “I said hi! You don’t even say anything back? You’re rude as fuck, you fat ass bitch!”

Yeah, fucking lovely start to my day.

– Anonymous

Location: Columbus, OH

Donate to help fund a national study on street harassment.

Share your street harassment story today and help raise awareness about the problem.

Share