Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Book-hating tube harassers

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So today I’m coming home at midday on the tube, wearing the sexiest outfit ever of jeans, trainers and long sleeved shirt, minding my own business – reading and listening to my headphones.

A bunch of five boys get on my carriage, probably about 18, all making a row and making sure everyone hears how ‘cool’ they are throughout the carriage. I’m aware they’re looking over and trying to get my attention so I continue reading and don’t make eye contact. As more people get off the carriage, I’m now the only person in that section of seating with them. They now start making loud comments about the girls they went out with last week, in graphic detail. Smooth. Clearly annoyed that I’m not paying any attention, they move on to making direct comments about me amongst themselves: “Can’t stop reading, look”; “It smells a bit musty in here” (and then, when I get up to get off at my stop, “Ugh – it smells worse now” (laughter)). Seriously – at 18?! This is akin to those boys who used to complain that it smelled ‘fishy’ whenever a girl walked past when we were in middle school. Unfortunately they get off at the same stop as me, so I pointedly walk past very briskly with my head high and looking straight ahead – cue more looks of consternation that I’m not interested in whatever they’re doing or saying.

I have to say there was some slight satisfaction in how thoroughly pissed off they were about a girl ignoring their desperate pleas for attention.

– Jen

Location: London, UK

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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A small, good thing

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The sun is shining on London’s suburbs. A funfair is in town. People are wandering into the park to take in the atmosphere, try their luck on the coconut shy, or brave the ghost train. The cool lads are hanging about by the park gates, pretending not to care. But secretly they feel like running over to the scariest looking ride and jumping on like the kids they still are. Two girls approach from across the road, heading towards the candyfloss and sawdust, the thrill and dingy sexiness of the fair. One of the boys, he seems like a ringleader of the group, he’s taller and louder than the others. He turns and looks the girls up and down, deliberately resting his eyes on their chests, the bare skin of their bellies where their tops don’t quite reach. ‘OH yes.’ he says, for the benefit of his mates. ‘You are VERY sexy. Hot.’ He doesn’t go so far to block the girls’ way into the park, but he thinks about it. They faulter a little in their step. They know he could do whatever he wanted. But they walk on by, trying to ignore the whistles and catcalls that follow them.

I have witnessed this scene or versions of it, a thousand times before. Sometimes I am one of the girls, other times I am just present, maybe a few feet away, but within earshot and full sight of what is being said and done. I have never intervened in such casual, seemingly ‘innocent’ banter. It is just what boys do isn’t it?

But this time the story didn’t end there. One of the lads, quieter than his friend, looked at his friend and said in a clearly disapproving tone: ‘don’t be stupid. You don’t even know them’. Then he turned away from the agression he’d perceived from his mate, and walked down the street, a couple of the other boys following him.

It wasn’t much. A girl was harassed on her way to the fair. A boy challenged his friend, showing he opposed this harassment, of girls, who the boys didn’t even know to say hello to. It didn’t change the world. But it made me stop in my tracks. I had never seen a man speak out against the sexist behaviour of his friends before, let alone such a young man. It was a small, good thing, and it made me proud.

– @quietriot_girl (cross-posted from her blog)

Location: London, UK

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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Three London Harassment Recollections

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#1: Bus stop on Tottenham Court Road near The Astoria, approx 3 a.m.: I was standing waiting for the bus with my friend when a couple of guys came over and shouted at us, “I’ve never seen a white girl before, I want you to sit on my face!” and did gross hand actions related to oral sex. So disgusting and offensive!

#2: Elephant & castle, approx 9 p.m. : I was walking from the bus stop to my house and it was dark and i had to walk through this deserted area as the only way to get home. A man followed me off the bus into this area and was harassing me for my number, which i refused to give so I kept walking. He followed me but i didn’t feel i could go home because then he would see where i lived, so i walked this really roundabout route until i eventually lost him and could run home. When i got home i kept looking out the window to see if he was there 🙁

#3: Topshop, Oxford Circus, middle of day: I was shopping on the main floor in Topshop on my own, looking at the jewelry when i felt this man sort of thrust into me from behind. Because it was so busy i thought he must just have been jostled and bumped into me by mistake, so i overlooked the fact he had also put his hands on my hips when he did it. So i walked away to another area and a few minutes later it happened again. So I decided to walk around topshop in the most erratic pattern ever to see if he was really following me and sure enough everywhere i went he was there lurking a few feet away. He must have ‘bumped’ me about 3 times at which point i just left. I didn’t feel I could even tell the security guard because i didn’t think they would believe me so i just left feeling really gross and somewhat confused. At the time i was still quite young & immature and didn’t know how to react – just sort of felt embarrassed and thought perhaps i was mistaken. If it happened now, I would turn around and start screaming in his face.

– anonymous

Location: London, UK

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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"Butt Slap Leads to Activism" Follow Up Article

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About a month ago, a contributor to this blog (Lauren) wrote a post about a recent street harassment experience she had where a teenager on a bike slapped her butt while she was jogging in her neighborhood. She said that as a result of that experience (and other experiences of street harassment) she was going to write an article about street harassment for one of her classes in her master’s program in journalism at the University of Western Ontario in London, ON, Canada. As part of her paper, she interviewed me and the facilitator of Holla Back Tononto. Well, she just sent me her completed paper and she’s considering trying to get it published , so check it out!  Way to go, Lauren!

Like Lauren, most of the street harassment activists I’ve spoken to became an activist because one day they said, “enough” and decided to do something about the harassment they were experiencing and/or saw other women experiencing.

If you’re fed up with street harassment, I encourage you to think about something you can do about it, be it sharing your story, writing an article, starting a HollaBack website, posting fliers in your neighborhood, making  a documentary, or starting an activist group, you can make a difference.

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“Butt Slap Leads to Activism” Follow Up Article

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About a month ago, a contributor to this blog (Lauren) wrote a post about a recent street harassment experience she had where a teenager on a bike slapped her butt while she was jogging in her neighborhood. She said that as a result of that experience (and other experiences of street harassment) she was going to write an article about street harassment for one of her classes in her master’s program in journalism at the University of Western Ontario in London, ON, Canada. As part of her paper, she interviewed me and the facilitator of Holla Back Tononto. Well, she just sent me her completed paper and she’s considering trying to get it published , so check it out!  Way to go, Lauren!

Like Lauren, most of the street harassment activists I’ve spoken to became an activist because one day they said, “enough” and decided to do something about the harassment they were experiencing and/or saw other women experiencing.

If you’re fed up with street harassment, I encourage you to think about something you can do about it, be it sharing your story, writing an article, starting a HollaBack website, posting fliers in your neighborhood, making  a documentary, or starting an activist group, you can make a difference.

Share