Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

“Dressing Professionally Doesn’t Stop You from Getting Harassed”

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A friend and I decided to meet half-way between our respective offices in Manhattan for a weekly “professionals” lunch. The logical meeting point was 28th street and Broadway on the R/W line. When we both were vulgarly harassed (I hate it when people say “God bless” or “So sexy,” half under their breath but it’s somehow much more degrading when p**** and f*** are said loud and clear) within seconds of emerging from the subway we decided it would be better to meet at a stop that was slightly further for one of us. (This part of Manhattan is what I like to call “sketchy” Broadway as it’s about a 10-block stretch of nothing but open trash bag after open trash bag filled with “fake” DVDs, purses, etc.)

– anonymous

Location: 28th Street & Broadway, New York City

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Report It

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I was molested on the W train between Lexington/59th St. and Queensboro Plaza. I wasn’t able to collect my senses and get off to report the crime or report it immediately after, but I reported it to the NYC sex crimes hot line 2 days later and was able to go to the precinct and actually identify the perpetrator out of a mugshot.

Turns out he was arrested once before, three years ago, for a sex crime. I encourage women to report the crimes, no matter how small you may think they are, because you could be helping someone three or ten years from now to gain closure and press charges for another crime. A crime that could be worse than yours.

–  V

Location: New York City

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“My personal experience”

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It’s a shame that a woman should be made to feel that she is less than if she does not respond to being harassed. I’ve never understood it. I used to live in the metro part of my town. I lived there for approximately 5 years. I had a very rough time [with street harassment] whenever I needed to hail a cab or catch a bus to my full time job as a librarian…and sometimes I had to walk, and that was way worse for me.

I was raising my son and going through a very painful divorce. I had to go to the courthouse on Fridays to drop my son off at the *Visitation Exchange* center. It was rough at times, really, really rough. One Friday I had dropped my son off, and ended up having to walk home. My house was 6 blocks away. I start walking outside of the courthouse where there was an entire group of Black men.

“HEY SWEETHEART! HEY! SMILE! WHY DON”T YOU SMILE? YOU GOT AN ATTITUDE?” one of them was calling out really loud and jumping in front of me completely blocking my path.

No I didn’t have an attitude, but I was nervous and had a rough day…I just wanted to be left alone, that’s all…

“Could you please move, you are blocking my way,” I said.

“Anyone ever tell you just how ugly you are? You are one ugly b*tch! hahaha,” he laughed and all the others laughed too.

I wanted to get home. I felt uncomfortable and shaky. I hated being sized up and inspected. It’s an awful feeling…especially when you already have so much on your mind and you have to deal with this kind of mistreatment.

“You aren’t all that anyway you ugly a** b*tch! You think you something? Well you not sh*t!” another one of them yelled.

This kind of thing happened so often. So many incidents of it. It seemed like it happened more in the Summertime or Spring, but it happened all the time. The young guys would do it, and it was awful because the curse words would fly from their mouths if they felt rejected.

It was ten times worse from men who were a bit older. They would say things that were so cruel and mean, as if trying to break your spirit, wound or scar you internally.

It’s sad that this goes on and experiencing it is unbelievably tough. My father was not this way and neither were my uncles, cousins, younger brothers… None of the Black men I grew up around treated women this way. So it was a shock to me whenever it happened.

Did it make me think all Black men are bad? No. I know that some Black men treat women this way and some don’t.

Years after my divorce I ended up remarrying, and my son and I moved with my husband to another part of town. My husband became my ultimate protector…

I’ve learned that men will treat a woman differently when she is not out alone somewhere. If you are with a male, they will think twice about saying some of the things they would say to a defenseless female out walking alone.
It’s true…

So I hadn’t gone through it much since then because most men would see me out with my husband and it wouldn’t happen at all whatsoever. Until one day my husband went into a store to get some bottles of wine for his parents’ big anniversary party. I sat in the van for a while, then decided to go in and help him pick out the wine.

As I got out of the van and locked it, a group of around four Black men yelled in a very loud annoying singing sorta voice, “Hot P*ssy! I want that hot p*ssy! Come on hot p*ssy!” and “I’m talking to you! Hey! Hey come here!”

It was degrading and awful. I tried to unlock the van door and my hand was shaking while they kept yelling “HEY! HEY! YOU HEAR ME TALKING TO YOU!”

I finally just said forget it and ran into the store while the two men yelled, “Fine then you stupid b*tch! Guess you think you’re all that B*tch, you aren’t all that anyway you ho, you slut.”

I went into the store and the manager asked me if everything was okay. I told him that some men in the parking lot were yelling some things at me. He looked really upset and ran outside of the store. The men started walking off quickly by then, he saw the backs of them as they faded off into the distance past the gas station.

The manager said that he didn’t want this sort of thing going on because it was harassment of his customers and was bad for business. He also said that he had complaints from female customers before in that parking lot and had to call the police one time because the incident had erupted into a physical situation between the female customer and a group of males.

It’s scary. I had forgotten what it felt like being harassed. After being around my husband for so long and not really going alone anymore…I guess that awful sick-to-my-stomach feeling came back to me in the parking lot.
Black men shouldn’t do this to Black women. And more importantly, no man should do this to any woman. It’s not right.

– L.J.

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“A sad tale of harassment”

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I am a 23 year old Muslim black female student from the north west of England. I have been continually harassed on the street when coming home from work or university. The men are mainly of Asian or Kurdish descent from the neighbourhood I live in. Despite the fact that I am a confident woman and don’t dress up provocatively, I still get harassed by older who ask for my number and others who call me names. Although there is nothing physical about it, it is unbelievably destroying in terms of self esteem and makes me feel dirty and unsafe. the thing that drive me mad even more is the fact that the white population are unaware of the problem because they are the majority and everyone reveres them.

– anonymous

Location: NW England

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Metro Stalker

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Although I am verbally and sometimes physically harassed literally every time I walk to and from the DC metro to my work place, the most recent incident was the most disturbing.

Waiting in the metro station for my train, i heard a male voice saying “Hey sweetie” over and over again while I read a book, and then was approached by a very tall male who proceeded to “praise” me with what he must have considered “compliments” about my appearance. He asked a series of questions, very aggressively, so I felt pressured to comply and answer, though I lied about my name and where i was headed, where I lived, etc., and di not feel comfortable telling him, I’m a lesbian, I have a long-term partner, because those sounds like excuses with the potential to infuriate. He grabbed my hand and wrote his number on it, pressing so hard it cut my skin, and proceeded to ask about me calling him, demanding details about this future call.

When the train arrived, he got on the same car as me, despite telling me he lived in the opposite direction of my train. I tried to sit away from him, but he continued trying to speak with me across rows of seats and passangers. At a high-traffic stop, I snuck off behind another passanger. When he spotted me through the large window on the platform, he was obviously very angry, and stood up. He was moving quickly for the door, but they had shut and the train was moving. I let a few trains pass and took a longer, more complicated transfer pattern from train to train to ensure I didn’t see him again.

While the entire thing was obvious annoying, it goes beyond that – that kind of control exhibited over you in a public sphere is disempowering and disoriented, and shakes a person’s sense of confidence and safety. The anger on his face and his attempt to get off at the arbitrary station I chose sincerely lead me to believe he had plans for following me to the false end-point I’d told him, which is TERRIFYING unto itself, but especially in conjunction with the series of media stories detailing the indifference and non-action of public transportation attendants/others in the general public.

– Jess

Location: Washington, D.C.

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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