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High school boys terrorize 7th grader

April 19, 2011 By Contributor

Hi, I’m Eve. I’m 13 (grade 7!!), a bit curvy, 5’4, and latina. about two weeks ago i was walking home from King Soopers. At the intersection 4 boys appeared from the high school and we crossed the street together. I was a bit ahead of them when we were done crossing. One of them yelled out, “What a cutie,”. but another said, “I wouldnt pay $50 to pop her cherry!!”

I started walking faster. i didnt once look behind me at them. they sped up. one yelled out, “That tiny, fat slut. Nah i do some things, but get rid of her quick.”

I wanted to run, or at least spin around and kick them in the crotch. but they would just follow me more. let me just say i was just wearing jeans and a t-shirt so i wasnt asking for trouble.

Another one laughed and giggled, “Lets follow her and give her rough time.”

I walked even faster. but they sped up as well.

“Baby, i cant tell what you are by your juicy a**. we dont know how hard to go on you!!”

Now i started walk/jog away from them. They started joging as well. One of them yelled out, “Damn, your packing a**. We’re going to calling you speed racer!! hahaha!!”

After two minutes they stopped by another intersection and i went the other direction. Of course they yelled out, “See ya sweetie. next time we’ll make sure to know ya!!!”

That time i looked at them. i ran home and made sure to use the other way home for now on. Every day i worry about meeting up with them and possibly geting hurt by them. yesterday, i actually saw one of them in King Soopers. he followed me outside and yelled at me, “I miss you!”

Why cant they leave me alone?

– Eve

Location: Englewood, Colorado

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Filed Under: Stories, street harassment Tagged With: colorado, sexually explicit comments, stalking, street harassment

College in Colorado

May 7, 2010 By Contributor

Though I grew up familiar with harassment I was still surprised how present it was at college. Durango, Colorado, is a small college town in the mountains full of people who want to change the world and Fort Lewis is an extraordinary college. However, within a year I had been followed across campus for asking a guy to move his truck so as not to take up two spaces and my roommate had a guy who called and texted her regularly, calling her sexy and whistling whenever she was near.

The one time I actually felt like I was in danger or the people near me were was driving through the nearby Cortez. A souped up truck with a loudspeaker on the top began following us, staying beside us and not letting me pull ahead or behind, all while shouting from their loudspeaker.

My usual way of dealing with sexual harassment is to get in the person’s face and show them that I’m anything but scared. This isn’t an option in a car and I had passengers who were in a delicate state. If it happens again I plan to pull over and see how tough they are outside their car.

– anonymous

Location: Cortez, CO

Share your street harassment story today and help raise awareness about the problem. Include your location and it will be added to the Street Harassment Map.

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Filed Under: Stories, street harassment Tagged With: colorado, cortez, durango, loudspeaker harassment, Stories, street harassment

Weekly Round Up – July 19

July 19, 2009 By HKearl

Stories:

Share your street harassment story today and help raise awareness about the problem. Include your location and it will be added to the Street Harassment Map.

  • On this blog, an American woman living in Tunisia talks about the harassment she faces, a woman shares a harassment experience she had in Denver, CO, and another woman talks about a creepy neighbor who keeps her and her daughters afraid to leave their house in TX.
  • On Holla Back NYC a woman took a photo of a man masturbating on the beach while staring at an unsuspecting woman
  • On Holla Back DC! a woman talks about being told to smile, another shares a story about harassment she received at a grocery store, a third discussed being grabbed on the sidewalk by a man, and lastly a fourth shares how she was called cutie by men on the street.

In the News:

  • The Chicago Sun Times had a front page (online) story about how women activists in Chicago prompted changes to the sexual harassment policies of the Chicago Transit Authority!
  • A group of women in Sudan were arrested and several were flogged for the crime of wearing pants in public.
  • An article in the Miami Herald about changing attitudes in policies in Saudi Arabia highlights the attitude that if women were allowed to drive, they would experience more sexual harassment in public, so it’s better not to let them drive.

Announcements:

  • In partnership with local activist, including the facilitators of Holla Back DC!, I am helping to organize a free, one-day summit on street harassment, to be held in October 2009 in Washington, DC. We are holding a photography contest right now for photographers who capture or depict street harassment, particularly in the DC area. Selected winners will have the chance to show/sell their work at a reception the evening before the summit.
  • RightRides in NYC recently has expanded their services of a free ride home from Saturday nights to include Friday nights too! They offer this service from 11:59 p.m. – 3 a.m. in 45 neighborhoods across four boroughs. To call for a ride, the dispatch number is (718) 964-7781 OR (888)215-SAFE (7233).

Street Harassment Resource of the Week:

Gardner, Carol Brooks. Passing By: Gender and Public Harassment (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1995).

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Filed Under: Events, News stories, Stories, street harassment Tagged With: carol brooks gardner, catcalling, colorado, creepy neighbor, demanding a smile, gender-based public harassment, holla back, rightrides, safe ride home, saudi arabia, sexual harassment, street harassment, texas, tunisia, weekly round up

It's time harassing men faced real consequences for their actions

July 17, 2009 By Contributor

I was walking down the street in downtown Denver, Colorado, near the State Capitol, in July 2008 minding my own business. I know people love to blame women and what we wear for the rude, threatening and harassing behavior of men. Because of course, men can’t in any way be held responsible for their actions and reactions to women, right? It’s always the woman’s fault. Well, I’m tired of being blamed. So, I’m not even going to mention what I was wearing because it is irrelevant. I was wearing what millions of American women wear every summer. I will leave it at that. I’m sure someone else will want to blame me for where I was walking, as if I had no right to walk freely where I want in my own city in broad daylight. I’m not going to take any blame for that either. The men in this scenario are to blame.

I was walking down the street and there were two men ahead of me. I didn’t think anything of it. But suddenly, they must have heard me walking behind them, even though I was still quite a distance away. Then, they both stopped and stood there in the middle of the sidewalk, staring and leering at me. Two men against one woman. I despised them at that moment.

I slowed down to assess the situation. Even though it was the middle of the afternoon in broad daylight, there was no one else around at the time. I felt scared and nervous because they just kept standing there staring at me as I walked toward them. As I approached them, one man extended his arms, asking for a hug, the other just stood there and glared at me with this mean look. I walked a wide half-circle around them and I said “Stop staring at me and leave me alone!!! Stop harassing women!!!” The one who held out his arms acquiesced and said, “Alright, we will.” Just like that. I continued to watch my back as I walked further away from them. The other man continued to give me a mean stare as I walked by. I stared right back at him.

I continued on until I got to a place where there were a lot more people and got on the light rail train I needed. But the feelings of anger and injustice of that event remain to this day. These jerks got to harass, disturb my peace of just walking down the street, minding my own business. What right did they have to stand there and stare at me, making me feel unsafe? Who are these men, who think they have the right to disrupt women’s lives like this without consequences.

But there are consequences, more than they’ll ever realize. These types of men make women HATE them. It makes us want to take action against them. I should never have had to deal with that. No woman should. Yet, we are forced to day in and day out by a culture that sees women primarily as sex objects with body parts that are toys for immature, stupid men to play with.

So, I ask you, what did I do to deserve being treated this way by 2 men I’d never seen before in my life. I was female, that’s what. Guilty as charged. Because these men are so weak and selfish and powerless, they feel a temporary rise in a feeling of false power by harassing women who are strangers to them. Mature men know that power can never come from harming another person, by demeaning them with disrespectful behavior.

I’m writing this because this is only one of many occasions of harassment I have had to deal with in my life. I’ve been harassed when wearing summer clothes. I’ve had men make unwanted comments to me wearing winter coats and clothes. I’ve been followed in grocery stores, had men I didn’t know stare me down in parking lots as I put groceries in my trunk. I’ve had men “hitting on me” on the train and while I waited for trains, to the point of being intrusive and rude. I’ve been sexually harassed at work, having pornographic emails sent to me on company email. I’ve had men make rude, unwanted overtures to me as I walked into my apartment complex. I’ve had men stare at my breasts through binoculars. Need I say anymore?

I’ve had it with men. I’ve heard men say out of anger, when they hear of women filing complaints of sexual harassment, how they want to make women pay. Funny how men have no idea of how much women like me want to make them pay. And they will.

This harassment is a problem. I’m tired of it being minimized. I’m tired of women being given all the responsibility to stop it. I’m tired of there being no legislation to protect women. I’m tired of men being given a free pass to harass women and not be expected to take any responsibility for controlling themselves. I refuse to take any blame for these despicable men’s behavior.

– L.S.

Location: Denver, Colorado

Share your street harassment story today and help raise awareness about the problem. Include your location and it will be added to the Street Harassment Map.

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Filed Under: Stories Tagged With: colorado, denver, fear, sexual harassment, Stories, street harassment

It’s time harassing men faced real consequences for their actions

July 17, 2009 By Contributor

I was walking down the street in downtown Denver, Colorado, near the State Capitol, in July 2008 minding my own business. I know people love to blame women and what we wear for the rude, threatening and harassing behavior of men. Because of course, men can’t in any way be held responsible for their actions and reactions to women, right? It’s always the woman’s fault. Well, I’m tired of being blamed. So, I’m not even going to mention what I was wearing because it is irrelevant. I was wearing what millions of American women wear every summer. I will leave it at that. I’m sure someone else will want to blame me for where I was walking, as if I had no right to walk freely where I want in my own city in broad daylight. I’m not going to take any blame for that either. The men in this scenario are to blame.

I was walking down the street and there were two men ahead of me. I didn’t think anything of it. But suddenly, they must have heard me walking behind them, even though I was still quite a distance away. Then, they both stopped and stood there in the middle of the sidewalk, staring and leering at me. Two men against one woman. I despised them at that moment.

I slowed down to assess the situation. Even though it was the middle of the afternoon in broad daylight, there was no one else around at the time. I felt scared and nervous because they just kept standing there staring at me as I walked toward them. As I approached them, one man extended his arms, asking for a hug, the other just stood there and glared at me with this mean look. I walked a wide half-circle around them and I said “Stop staring at me and leave me alone!!! Stop harassing women!!!” The one who held out his arms acquiesced and said, “Alright, we will.” Just like that. I continued to watch my back as I walked further away from them. The other man continued to give me a mean stare as I walked by. I stared right back at him.

I continued on until I got to a place where there were a lot more people and got on the light rail train I needed. But the feelings of anger and injustice of that event remain to this day. These jerks got to harass, disturb my peace of just walking down the street, minding my own business. What right did they have to stand there and stare at me, making me feel unsafe? Who are these men, who think they have the right to disrupt women’s lives like this without consequences.

But there are consequences, more than they’ll ever realize. These types of men make women HATE them. It makes us want to take action against them. I should never have had to deal with that. No woman should. Yet, we are forced to day in and day out by a culture that sees women primarily as sex objects with body parts that are toys for immature, stupid men to play with.

So, I ask you, what did I do to deserve being treated this way by 2 men I’d never seen before in my life. I was female, that’s what. Guilty as charged. Because these men are so weak and selfish and powerless, they feel a temporary rise in a feeling of false power by harassing women who are strangers to them. Mature men know that power can never come from harming another person, by demeaning them with disrespectful behavior.

I’m writing this because this is only one of many occasions of harassment I have had to deal with in my life. I’ve been harassed when wearing summer clothes. I’ve had men make unwanted comments to me wearing winter coats and clothes. I’ve been followed in grocery stores, had men I didn’t know stare me down in parking lots as I put groceries in my trunk. I’ve had men “hitting on me” on the train and while I waited for trains, to the point of being intrusive and rude. I’ve been sexually harassed at work, having pornographic emails sent to me on company email. I’ve had men make rude, unwanted overtures to me as I walked into my apartment complex. I’ve had men stare at my breasts through binoculars. Need I say anymore?

I’ve had it with men. I’ve heard men say out of anger, when they hear of women filing complaints of sexual harassment, how they want to make women pay. Funny how men have no idea of how much women like me want to make them pay. And they will.

This harassment is a problem. I’m tired of it being minimized. I’m tired of women being given all the responsibility to stop it. I’m tired of there being no legislation to protect women. I’m tired of men being given a free pass to harass women and not be expected to take any responsibility for controlling themselves. I refuse to take any blame for these despicable men’s behavior.

– L.S.

Location: Denver, Colorado

Share your street harassment story today and help raise awareness about the problem. Include your location and it will be added to the Street Harassment Map.

Share

Filed Under: Stories Tagged With: colorado, denver, fear, sexual harassment, Stories, street harassment

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