Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Guess who

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Guess who I saw again on my way to work this morning? This guy from this story: http://streetharassment.wordpress.com/2010/07/29/long-hair-lewdness-short-hair-rudeness/

Since it’s been less than two months since I last saw him, I thought I’d never see him again. Wrong!

I got off the bus with a few folks, and for a second I was walking side by side with one woman, so it looked like we could’ve been together. Of course, this punk says, “Good morning, LADY,” not “ladies,” because we know I’m too “ugly” with my short hair for him to treat me with respect. Rolling my eyes.

I moved towards the curb to continue walking so I didn’t have to walk directly past him. Then he starts yelling, “Oh, my god! Oh, MY GOD!” obnoxiously. I opted to ignore him because I was just not in the mood to deal with him again.

If he’s out there again tomorrow and he gets aggressive with me like he did the first time, I’ll call the police. (Today’s incident wasn’t worth a call to the police.) I’ve wondered if I should print out the first story with his photos and hang it up near where he stands, as a way of informing others about him and hopefully scaring him off for good.

– Tired of Being Harassed

Location: Arlington, VA

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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10 instances of verbal harassment in one trip

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Walking to the supermarket in Perry Barr, West Midlands, England, the verbal harassment was constant, maybe 10 instances.

– Rhian

Location: Perry Barr, West Midlands, UK

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Weekly Round Up: September 4, 2010

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Story Submissions Recap:

I accept street harassment submissions from anywhere in the world. Share your story!

In the News, On the Blogs:

Events:

Announcements:

10 Tweets from the Week:

  • hjoy27 I would love to know when a catcall in the street has illicited a legitimate response from anyone, EVER. Other than “f*ck you”. just sayin
  • watchmewalk I’m walking down the street and this lame says “can I harass you?” Was that supposed to be witty?
  • TasashaH @yesmagazine #SayYesSat to learning about street harassment,how to raise awareness of it and strategies to end it #stopstreetharassment
  • RahsaanKhalid Deep! “@mencanstoprape: Male privilege is main reason behind street harassment. Some men feel it’s their right to “compliment” a woman”
  • tigistselam There is no other place in the city where street harassment is *that* prevalent #Harlem.
  • harassmap: Harassmap in the news, we are coming very soon! http://bit.ly/aBlod4 #Egypt #sexualharassment
  • THEMissSharma So much harassment on my lunch break just walkin down the street downtown. I’m gettin a taser n I’m gonna start tasin. Lol
  • JaRonEdwards I just seen 5 police harass a teenage girl walking down the street. So I stopped and I aint leaving. #Fuckpoliceharrassmet
  • MC1RK Why is it that the grosser i look the more dudes feel entitled to catcall/chat me up?what about dirty hair&ratty shorts says TAKE ME NOW?gah
  • AAUW: Every man knows someone who has been harassed. Don’t minimize issue, support the women in your lives. #SSHMNT
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Race and street harassment in North London

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I read this blog regularly and I often notice posts in which a black woman has experienced harassment by black males and that there is a power dynamic of some sort at work there which they can see very clearly. After walking home today, I wondered what white women’s experiences are of this and if/how/why they differ: I have a 5-minute walk home in London from my tube station, through generally quiet suburban streets. It’s very much a multicultural area but I find myself experiencing a disproportionate amount of harassment from young black men.

Today, walking home, I see a guy walking towards me on the same side of the street and I can tell, even before I get near him, that he’s going to say/do something. Right on cue, he moves right over to my side of the pavement [sidewalk], taking up all the space so I can’t get past. I’ve had a good day until this point and am so annoyed I shove into his arm with my bag to get past. He doesn’t do anything, just keep walking, not even that shocked – maybe it happens all the time. Then, turn onto the next street and there’s another guy walking towards me, giving me that same attitude with eyes up and down my body, leering, swaggering. I don’t need this on my 5 minute walk home.

Both these guys were black and I would guess in their late 20s to early 30s, and both had the same attitude towards me which I’ve encountered countless times in London. I don’t know – I’m willing to accept the suggestion that it’s a coincidence. Maybe I ‘project’ something that makes me a likelier target for harassment? And maybe this is exactly what they do to anyone, regardless of race, and it feels ‘racially-oriented’ whether you’re black/white etc. It just feels – call it feminine intuition or whatever you will – that this is a specific, somehow different, attitude to me as a white woman.

I don’t like saying that. It feels like I can’t say that I experience this because it’s me being ‘discriminatory’ in some way. It really feels like this is a taboo subject but it seems to happen so often to me that I am, in some awful way, starting to distrust young black men generally, which is horrible. Has anyone else felt this? Maybe it’s just an attitude that comes from a small group of young guys, influenced by whatever, who are more visible in their harassment because it is so aggressive? I don’t know – I just feel frustrated that I’m not enjoying living where I live because of these incidents….

– Anonymous

Location: North London

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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Expecting to be harassed

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Being harassed just for being alone on the street happens so regularly, in so many different forms that I just expect it now. From a car pulling up next to me when I’m walking home with my shopping, the man inside telling me to ‘get in the car with me beautiful’ and when I loudly refuse calling me a ‘fucking bitch slapper whore’, to the pathetic and desperate attempt to single a lone women out by muttering ‘hi’ as I walk past. I don’t know you you freak!

Whatever I wear, what I am doing, walking to work past a building site or out for a run, men single you out. If you react aggressively then you risk their anger at your ingratitude to being made an object of, in the street, uninvited. I’m sick of it. I just want to go about my day uninhibited in this so-called free country.

– AMC

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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