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“I just wish it would stop happening to me”

August 19, 2016 By Contributor

I was out hunting for Pokemon, barely three blocks from my house when a car drove by me and a man yelled that, “I’d F*ck you, n*gger!” It wasn’t even 8 p.m. on a Monday.

Optional: Do you have any suggestions for dealing with harassers and/or ending street harassment in general?

I just wish it would stop happening to me.

– Cara

Location: Eugene, OR

Need support? Call the toll-free National Street Harassment hotline: 855-897-5910

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

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Filed Under: race, Stories, street harassment Tagged With: car harassment, intersectionality, oregon, racism

Oregon shrubbery harasser

April 21, 2010 By Contributor

I am on a business trip and after I checked into my hotel this evening, I went for a run. I like going running new places. I was on a dead end street off of a busy one when I heard a man’s voice, “Hey girl, run girl, yeah you better run girl!” Then in an increasingly aggressive and louder tone of voice, he started yelling, “Oh yeah! Oh yeah! Oh yeah!”

My heart started pounding. It was an otherwise deserted area and a location unfamiliar to me. I turned around to see who he was and maybe confront him, but he was hidden from view behind shrubbery. As his aggressive tone sunk in a bit more, I felt frightened and I sprinted back to the main road and made my way back to my hotel, trying not to cry.

It may not sound like that big of a deal, but it’s really shaken me up, especially since I am now in an empty hotel room in a new state across the country from where I live. This incident has made me feel vulnerable as a woman out in public on her own and that makes me really mad. I have every right to be in public and not be harassed and frightened! I’m not going to cower and hide and not go for a run or travel by myself but in this society, I know that comes with a risk of being harassed or assaulted by scary, disrespectful men 🙁 It makes me so ANGRY!

Shrubbery where the harasser's voice was coming from

Anyway, I drove back there in my rental car and took a quick picture from my window. It’s only of bushes, but it marks the spot.

When will women be safe?

-holly

Location: Clay Street SW, Wilsonville, OR

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: harassed while running, oregon, running, sexual harassment, Stories, street harassment

A bus is not a hair cuttery

January 7, 2010 By HKearl

Jared Walter, via true crime report

Okay this is weird. In at least three reported incidents, a 22-year old man in Portland, OR, decided to give unwanted haircuts to women riding his bus. The woman whose hair he cut on New Year’s Eve called 911 and he was arrested. He’s being charged with interfering with public transit, disorderly conduct and harassment (and also robbery because he’s a suspect in a string of neighborhood break-ins).

Umm creepy!

thanks to MRH for the story tip.

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Filed Under: News stories Tagged With: creepy bus guys, hair cut, oregon, portland, street harassment

Street Harassment in Portland, Oregon

July 26, 2009 By Contributor

I am 17 and live in Portland, Oregon, a supposedly liberal city, but the street harrassment is constant. On a weekly basis I deal with the prolonged, creepy stares of men who are obviously twice my age. This isn’t a 5 second look over, this is a fifteen minute intense, no blinking, staring right at my chest for a 15 minute bus ride kind of staring. Every couple of weeks a man will do something suggestive along with the creepy stare. They act surprised when I don’t like it! The city train is also a terrible place to be. At one point a group of four teenage boys had an animated discussion about my breasts while standing about two feet away from me. I asked them to stop and they laughed and continued.

This sort of attention really bothers me, but it’s not the worst thing. Last summer I had just gotten my driver license. I was at a local city library, somewhere I had always felt quite safe. I checked out my books, walked through the parking lot, got in my car, locked the door and was just about to leave when this stranger walked up to my car and knocked on my window. So I roll down my window a couple of centimeters so I could hear what he was trying to say. He told me he had seen me in the library and wanted to go out. Again, he was probably twice my age. I was obviously much younger. I said no, rolled up my window, and drove away very shaken.

Street harassment is always annoying and frequently scary. I try not to let it limit where I go and what I do but it does. There are certain places I will not walk alone, I always sit as close to the bus driver as I can, and I avoid trains completely. I don’t think the clothes one wears matter much, but I avoid wearing tight shirts or tank tops if I’m going somewhere alone because I feel more visible and vulnerable. I wear shoes I know I can run in. I see guys on the street and think about where I can go if the comments get unbearable. It’s exhausting to be anywhere in public long because I have to be hyper-aware to avoid what potentially dangerous situations.

– I.

Location: Portland, Oregon

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: catcalling, oregon, portland, sexual harassment, staring, street harassment

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