• About Us
    • What Is Street Harassment?
    • Why Stopping Street Harassment Matters
    • Meet the Team
      • Board of Directors
      • Past Board Members
    • In The Media
  • Our Work
    • National Street Harassment Hotline
    • International Anti-Street Harassment Week
    • Blog Correspondents
      • Past SSH Correspondents
    • Safe Public Spaces Mentoring Program
    • Publications
    • National Studies
    • Campaigns against Companies
    • Washington, D.C. Activism
  • Our Books
  • Donate
  • Store

Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Home
  • Blog
    • Harassment Stories
    • Blog Correspondents
    • Street Respect Stories
  • Help & Advice
    • National Street Harassment Hotline
    • Dealing With Harassers
      • Assertive Responses
      • Reporting Harassers
      • Bystander Responses
      • Creative Responses
    • What to Do Before or After Harassment
    • Street Harassment and the Law
  • Resources
    • Definitions
    • Statistics
    • Articles & Books
    • Anti-Harassment Groups & Campaigns
    • Male Allies
      • Educating Boys & Men
      • How to Talk to Women
      • Bystander Tips
    • Video Clips
    • Images & Flyers
  • Take Community Action
  • Contact

“It’s OK, we weren’t talking to you – just about you.”

June 21, 2013 By SSHIntern

A daytime shot of the intersection where this happened in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. Photo credit: Anthony Lanzilote for AM New York.

I live in a safe neighborhood.

Of course, as a woman, that’s not an unqualified statement. What I mean is, I’ve only felt a relatively normal amount of fear when I walk alone or come home late. I don’t mean safe as in, I’m not worried about being harassed, followed, or worse. I mean, I’m not as worried about being harassed and followed as I would be in some other neighborhoods.

But last night I didn’t feel safe – I felt scared.

I went to pick up take-out for my boyfriend and me. I was presumptuous enough to do this alone. As I crossed the street kitty-corner from my block, two older men entered the cross walk as well. I did have that fleeting thought – it’s only a split second, hardly articulated, but spelled out it would read, “Please don’t say anything… not tonight…”

And then I heard, “Mira.” Spanish for, “Look.” Men in New York don’t usually expect me to speak Spanish. But I understood that one of them was telling the other to look at me, and when I turned he was a foot away from me, looking me up and down, and nearly drooling. (I know, I know, so flattering.)

I couldn’t help it. This was not a moment to “just ignore it” – he was too close. I said very clearly and directly to this man, “Please stop looking at me. It makes me uncomfortable.”

He replied, “It’s ok, I was just talking to my friend.”

It’s ok, we weren’t talking to you – just about you. This street doesn’t belong to you.

The other light was green and I needed to get away. I crossed the other street quickly, in front of the last few lighted shops before my dark apartment building. But when I was halfway up the block, I saw the man who had originally pointed me out crossing diagonally through the middle of the street and heading straight toward me. I started to panic. Was he coming after me? Was he going to say something? Would he try to hurt me? Would anyone help? This is New York…

I immediately made a plan. I was carrying my cell phone and wallet in one hand and my dinner and an umbrella in the other. If anyone – a sexual harasser or otherwise – wanted to take my wallet, it would have been easy. I’ve heard so many stories, and had so many men overreact when I told them to stop harassing me, that I knew, if he was following me, how this would play out. If this man wanted to intimidate me, the easiest thing for him to do would be to grab my wallet and phone and push me to the ground. He would walk away with some cash, an iPhone, and a renewed sense of his violent power.

I put the take-out bag handle over my left wrist and with the same hand held my phone and wallet against my stomach. In my right hand, I gripped the handle of my folded umbrella, ready to defend myself.

Perhaps I should note here – I’m a peace activist. I’m a practitioner of nonviolence, and everything I do personally and professionally is aimed at reducing the amount of violence in this world. But here I was, outside my own home in my “safe” neighborhood, mentally preparing myself to hit a man with my umbrella as hard as I could to defend myself.

I was thinking it through – he had fallen in step behind me, so if I heard him get close or saw his shadow too near me, I would have to turn around. I couldn’t let him get between me and my front door or I’d never get home safely. If he put his hands on me I’d get one good whack to bat him off and I’ve have to instantly run. If I didn’t run as fast as I could and get inside that door, there would be no fending off this man twice my height. And if he happened to be walking behind me because he lived in my building of 125 units where no one talks to their neighbors, well, then, there was no hope for me.

I got inside and up four flights of stairs as fast as I could, and he didn’t try to follow me. But my boyfriend and I were both scared and angry for several minutes even after I’d dead bolted our door.

Most of the time these men don’t follow me. Compared to the stories I’ve heard, I’ve been very lucky. But this isn’t the first time this has happened, and I know it won’t be the last. Every time a man harasses me, and especially when I dare to speak back, I have to plan my self defense, my escape route, the bystander I’ll look to, and what I’ll yell. I’ve practiced, “I don’t know you! Stop it!” lest anyone think this a “domestic dispute” that they shouldn’t get involved in.

This is the city, and the world, we live in. I can march against rape, injustice, police violence, and the war, but when I go out at night… I’d better have that umbrella.

Talia Hagerty is peace economics activist and Stop Street Harassment’s 2013 summer intern. Follow her on twitter – @taliahagerty – or read her blog about making the world better at www.theoryofchange.wordpress.com.

 

Share

Filed Under: Stories, street harassment Tagged With: brooklyn, following, New York City, safe streets, street harassment

Butt-Slapper in Brooklyn

July 10, 2009 By HKearl

Since June 19, there have been nearly a dozen reports of a man slapping women on their backsides on the subway around Crown Heights in Brooklyn, NY. The cops say the women range in age from 19 to 44 years. Via wpix.com:

“The suspect is described as being in his mid-20s, between 5-feet-10-inches and 6-feet tall. He is said to weigh between 175 and 200 pounds. He has short black hair and brown eyes.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers by calling 1-800-577-TIPS, by texting TIP577 to CRIMES, or by going to NYPDCrimeStoppers.com.”

Disgusting! How many women will he have to assault before he gets caught? Not any more, I hope…

The article also mentioned HollaBack NYC for documenting this kind of harassment every week. Go HBNYC!

Share

Filed Under: hollaback, News stories Tagged With: brooklyn, butt slapper, hollaback nyc, sexual harassment, street harassment, subway

Benefit for Safe Walk

July 6, 2009 By HKearl

Come out to Silent Barn in Brooklyn on Wednesday, July 7 (8 p.m. – midnight) for a benefit concert featuring Lady Bright, the Rude Mechanical Orchestra, Old Hat, and the Eskalators! There will be music, baked goods (vegan and non), beverages, information tables, and dancing. All funds (sliding scale charge of $6-10 to attend) will go toward offsetting the operational costs of Safe Walk.

RightRides, a nonprofit in Brooklyn, NY, offers free rides home to women, LGBTQ and gender queer individuals on Friday and Saturday nights from 11:59 PM – 3 AM, (early Saturday or Sunday morning) in up to 45 NYC neighborhoods across four NYC boroughs.

They also offer anyone walking to their destination a free, safe walking buddy through their Safe Walk program on Fridays, 11 p.m. – 2 a.m., May through October, in several neighborhoods in Brooklyn, NY, including: Bedford-Stuyvesant, Bushwick, Clinton Hill, Downtown Brooklyn, Fort Greene, Greenpoint, Williamsburg. The dispatch number is: (866) 977- WALK (9255)

So come out and enjoy good music & food while helping a great program aimed at public safety continue offering services to people in Brooklyn!

Want to volunteer with Safe Walk? Find out how on the RightRides website.

Share

Filed Under: Events Tagged With: benefit concert, brooklyn, lady bright, Right Rides, safe walk, sexual harassment, street harassment, the rude mechanical orchestra

Sick Perv

June 5, 2009 By Contributor

Yesterday around 12:30PM I was walking down a narrow street in Brooklyn (61st Street, between 8th and 9th Avenue) and there was a man wearing a red tshirt walking really slowly in front of me and taking up the entire sidewalk. I was in a rush so I walked faster, hoping to get ahead of him. When I quickened my pace, he started walking faster as well (I was wearing flip flops so he could hear me walking faster) which I thought was a little odd. I kept walking faster, and he kept walking faster, but I ultimately got in front of him, but I could still hear him walking really fast behind me to try and catch up which made me feel slightly nervous. I felt a poke from behind and I turned around and the sick perv had his penis hanging out. Now that he had my attention he resumed his slow pace. I was too shocked/disgusted/angered to say or do anything so I just crossed the street and walked in the opposite direction.

– anonymous

Share

Filed Under: Stories Tagged With: brooklyn, flashing, following, groping, perv, sexual harassment, stalking, Stories, street harassment, touching

Street Harassment Round Up – April 26

April 26, 2009 By HKearl

Stories:

A contributor on Holla Back DC wrote about getting harassed by a UPS employee. She reported him and received support from the person she spoke to at UPS.

HollaBack Toronto reported that two men abducted and sexually assaulted a young woman in the Younge St-Davisville Road area earlier in the week. Visit their site to learn more — anyone with information can call Crime Stoppers at 416-222-8477.

Reports:

MBTA released information about their sexual harassment campaign on their subway system (the T) in Boston. They feel it’s been successful in raising awareness about how to deal with the problem as groping complaints went up 74 perecent from the previous year and police arrested 24 people for indecent assault and battery (up 85 percent from the year before).

Upcoming Events:

April 29: Holla Back DC‘s Official Blog Launch Party, 6 – 8 p.m. at Cafe Citron

May 2: Girls for Gender Equity’s “Hey…Shorty!” documentary will be featured at the 8th Annual Women of African Descent Film Festival at 11 a.m., in the Spike Lee Screening Room of Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus in New York. Cost: free

Share

Filed Under: Stories Tagged With: 8th Annual Women of African Descent Film Festival, brooklyn, catcalling, girls for gender equity, Hey...Shorty, hollaback dc, hollaback toronto, MBTA, sexual harassment, street harassment, UPS

Next Page »

Share Your Story

Share your street harassment story for the blog. Donate Now

From the Blog

  • #MeToo 2024 Study Released Today
  • Join International Anti-Street Harassment Week 2022
  • Giving Tuesday – Fund the Hotline
  • Thank You – International Anti-Street Harassment Week 2021
  • Share Your Story – Safecity and Catcalls Collaboration

Buy the Book

  • Contact
  • Events
  • Join Us
  • Donate
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Copyright © 2025 Stop Street Harassment · Website Design by Sarah Marie Lacy