Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

“Stop looking so good, you fucking bitch.”

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Last week, I was walking to the bus stop in downtown Vancouver. I had just returned from a job interview and was dressed up. A couple of older men stumbled out of one of the bars on the street and walked towards me. One of them walked up to me and said, “Stop looking so good, you fucking bitch.”

They both laughed and kept walking. I just shook my head and kept walking.

– Margaret

Location: Vancouver, BC

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Names that demean women

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I haven’t had any experiences with harassment recently (which is a change) but i would like to share my thoughts with you about something that has bothered me since i was 16. This is about the sexual double standard. Now as im sure most of you are well aware of it, you must know exactly what i mean.

I am 19. So im still young and learning but i have definitely learnt that being a woman, i have had to deal with the fact that im going to be discriminated against because of my gender. There are three reasons why i have been called names, laughed at, critised, humiliated and objectified.

1) Because i am rather big busted. Actually i am an average size D cup, but others think different.

2) I can come across at times as being rather ‘hawty’. Also meaning ‘stuck up’.

3) The biggest reason of all, because im a WOMAN.

Now let me tell you that i have been called many different names BUT as im a female, i’ve been called these particular nasty names which i have taken more notice of. I feel these names demeans our gender and is what created the sexual double standard.

Bitch, prude, snob, slag, slut, tart and cunt.
I absolutely HATE these names.
I am called a bitch for standing up for myself.
I am called a prude if i rejected some jerks lewd advances.
I am called a slag because i wear a low top.
This makes me so mad!

If i was a man, i wouldn’t be called any of these names but because i have a vagina, i have been called these names countless flipping times!

Men have sneered at my breasts. I remember once a guy telling me that my ‘tits’ are so big, i’d crash a car! Well these ‘tits’ ( oh and they’ve always got to use the most crude language don’t they) are a very useful thing on a woman and once upon a time, your mother fed you milk from these wonderful things to keep you alive as a baby!

Some men are so damned foul mouthed. Exuse me ranting so much but i’ve just about had enough of it! I deserve to be treated with respect and not have to feel constantly nervous when i go out incase men stare at me, pass remarks or critise me. I should be able to wear what i want, be proud of my body and have every right to turn down a mans pathetic chat up lines!

Honestly, what makes them think asking a woman for a shag is so flattering?! It’s not, it’s rude! When are men ever going to learn that women are not here to be portrayed. We are human beings, not sex objects!

– Clarice

Location: Wales, UK

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"I'll bet next time he buys marshmallows"

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Today I’ve been writing my street harassment book chapter on ways women can respond to harassers in the moment – if they feel safe enough to and wish to – and success stories illustrating those ways.  The stories come from my informal survey and from stories submitted to this blog and other anti-street harassment blogs. The Street Harassment Project has a whole depository of great stories and I got a nice laugh from the stories from one contributor in particular. (I don’t condone violence or insulting harassers and I’m not including either of these stories in my book, but it’s hard not to feel some vindication at the outcomes of the stories when too often men get away with this kind of crap)

“Construction sites are full of men who hoot & holler, make rude gestures, etc. They feel safe in doing so, because they’re behind fences, on scaffolds, and with thier buddies. Cowards!

I had to walk past one such site at least twice a day. I’d heard comments, but none of these men had ever actually addressed me. Until a specific afternoon, when one of these guys hollered, “Hey lady, come up here and suck my dick!”

I’d had enough. I have a smart mouth anyway, and before I even thought about it I yelled back “Well maybe I would if I could FIND it under that fat gut of yours!” Jeez. Even I was embarrassed, but his buddies on the scaffolding nearly fell off laughing, and the women near me cheered.

From then on, when I walked past that site, all these guys would dare holler at me was “Hi lady! How ya doin’? Nice day huh?” with big grins on thier faces. And I never heard another lewd commect from ANY of them to ANYONE the whole rest of that remodel. I felt like Wonder Woman!

….

A friend of mine worked nights at 7-Eleven and a creepy little guy browsed around the store until he was the only customer, then brought a can of creamed corn to the counter. She turned aside a bit to ring it up, and when she turned back, he’d taken his willie out and laid it on the counter. She panicked, and did the first thing that came to mind…she smashed it as hard as she could with that can of creamed corn. Split it down the middle. She called 911, totally freaked, and one of the policemen said to her, as they hauled this pervert away in the ambulance, ‘You did a good thing here. Don’t feel badly, he had it coming. I’ll bet next time, he buys marshmallows!'”

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“I’ll bet next time he buys marshmallows”

By

Today I’ve been writing my street harassment book chapter on ways women can respond to harassers in the moment – if they feel safe enough to and wish to – and success stories illustrating those ways.  The stories come from my informal survey and from stories submitted to this blog and other anti-street harassment blogs. The Street Harassment Project has a whole depository of great stories and I got a nice laugh from the stories from one contributor in particular. (I don’t condone violence or insulting harassers and I’m not including either of these stories in my book, but it’s hard not to feel some vindication at the outcomes of the stories when too often men get away with this kind of crap)

“Construction sites are full of men who hoot & holler, make rude gestures, etc. They feel safe in doing so, because they’re behind fences, on scaffolds, and with thier buddies. Cowards!

I had to walk past one such site at least twice a day. I’d heard comments, but none of these men had ever actually addressed me. Until a specific afternoon, when one of these guys hollered, “Hey lady, come up here and suck my dick!”

I’d had enough. I have a smart mouth anyway, and before I even thought about it I yelled back “Well maybe I would if I could FIND it under that fat gut of yours!” Jeez. Even I was embarrassed, but his buddies on the scaffolding nearly fell off laughing, and the women near me cheered.

From then on, when I walked past that site, all these guys would dare holler at me was “Hi lady! How ya doin’? Nice day huh?” with big grins on thier faces. And I never heard another lewd commect from ANY of them to ANYONE the whole rest of that remodel. I felt like Wonder Woman!

….

A friend of mine worked nights at 7-Eleven and a creepy little guy browsed around the store until he was the only customer, then brought a can of creamed corn to the counter. She turned aside a bit to ring it up, and when she turned back, he’d taken his willie out and laid it on the counter. She panicked, and did the first thing that came to mind…she smashed it as hard as she could with that can of creamed corn. Split it down the middle. She called 911, totally freaked, and one of the policemen said to her, as they hauled this pervert away in the ambulance, ‘You did a good thing here. Don’t feel badly, he had it coming. I’ll bet next time, he buys marshmallows!'”

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