Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

“He grabbed my head and tried to whisper ‘You’re beautiful’ in my ear”

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I was taking public transportation and an obviously drunk guy came on with two swollen eyes and dried blood stains by one eye. Not trying to make this a race thing but i’m a black female and with some black men I know I cant even make eye contact or it will start. Not that all men harass and not that black men don’t harass others because they do but I have noticed they are worse with us because they think no one is going to intervene and they can get away with it.

Anyways so, I tried not to make any eye contact cause I just knew he was gonna say something to me. He came right to my seat, grabbed my head and tried to whisper “You’re beautiful” in my ear. Then he sat behind me. I told him there was no need to ever touch me and I don’t like people touching me and he said he did that cause he thought I had head phones on.

I go back to ignoring him and then he tells me he got beat up in the war just now and that’s why his eyes are swollen (lmao!). He keeps talking more nonsense and I tell him I have a boyfriend i’m gonna marry just to keep him off my back but of course he said he didn’t care and he starts pulling out his credit card saying he’ll take me wherever I want to go. He keeps trying to touch my shoulder and i’m like STOP TOUCHING ME but he wont and then he starts saying i’m not even his type and i’m a mess really loud and i’m like “oh I’M the mess”.

Meanwhile the driver is doing NOTHING to stop it. There was a girl that looked shocked and I could tell she wanted to say something but didn’t want to get involved so she wouldn’t get harassed as well. Finally he got off at the stop but I was totally humiliated and violated.

I’m 29 years old and have been dealing with it since I was about 15. Some men just see women as second class citizens and they have a right to say and do anything to us and get away with it. I have tried everything to get them to stop and nothing works.

– Anonymous

Location: Southern Illinois, near St. Louis, MO

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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“It is not o.k. to follow women or to not take no for an answer”

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I was recently almost at my apartment building in NYC when a man who was hanging outside the deli at the corner said, “Hey, you’re really gorgeous.”

I ignored him of course and walked the half a block to my front door when I realized he was right behind me. He cornered me at my front door and said, “I’m sorry to follow you but I want to know if you want to continue this conversation.”

I said, “No, I can’t” which was stupid, I guess, because he thought “I can’t” meant, “I want to but I’m busy.”

And he said, “You chose your words carefully see you said I can’t…” I then got very forceful and told him I did not want to talk to him and he needed to leave me alone and walk away.

He became very belligerent and started ranting about how I was “retarded” and didn’t know how things work in this neighborhood because I must be from “Ohio or Seattle” or something.

I’m not, but I didn’t tell him I just kept telling him to leave and stop harassing me. I had my key in the first lock of the door but I was afraid that if I tried to go into the building he would try to push in behind me. I figured I was probably safer on the street where there were a lot of people walking around. He finally backed up enough for me to go inside. He was ranting and cursing and obviously very drunk as he was not only a complete jerk but making absolutely no sense at all.

I was pretty shaken up and extremely angry when I got inside. It is not o.k. to follow women or to not take no for an answer.

– Anonymous

Location: East Village, New York City

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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Quick thinking teen helps nab a subway masturbator

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Jiang's cell phone. Image via NY Post

Here’s a victory, pick-me-up kind of street harassment story.

Seventeen-year-old Annie Jiang was standing on an N train in New York when she realized a man was masturbating against her back. She took a cell phone picture of him and when she got to high school, told the dean. The dean called the police.

The next day she spotted him again at the Eighth Avenue stop. This time a detective was with her and arrested him. Daniel Barricella, 59, of Brooklyn, was charged with public lewdness, sex abuse and harassment.

Via the NY Post:

“Jiang said she was glad she can ride the train again in peace.

‘I was scared,’ she said. ‘He didn’t look creepy; he just looked like a normal man. I reported it to the police to keep him off the streets, so he can’t do it to anybody else. The technology really makes a difference.’

Jiang, the dean, and the police force are super stars!! Woohoo! Take that harasser.

As Jiang noted, it can be very scary when you’re being harassed, and if you’re too afraid or feel unsafe to do something at the time, reporting is a great option. As this story shows, it can make a difference.

(Thanks for the tip, Violet)

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Using stand-up comedy to raise awarenss about street harassment

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I love hearing how people are using their talents and expertise to speak out against street harassment. Lucé Tomlin-Brenner is speaking out and raising awareness through stand-up comedy.

If you’re in the DC-area, see her TONIGHT at “Bellylaughs in Bethesda” at Caddies on Cordell in Bethesda, MD, 8-10 p.m.

She explains:

“I’ve started doing stand-up comedy recently here in Washington, DC, and my material is all based on different times I’ve been harassed on the street or Metro, and I wanted to share my most recent video…I have battled lots of anxiety since I’ve moved here over just leaving the house because not a day has gone by that I haven’t been harassed, and most of it happens on Metro.

About a month ago this dude and his friends sitting across from me on the red line around midnight on the weekend kept making all of these blowjob insinuations about the bottle of water I was drinking. When I put on my headphones and ignored them they started talking about me being a bitch and just making fun of me in general.

I was really freaked out about it since I was alone and they were in a group. It got even scarier when the further out of downtown we got (I live in SS) they were not getting off the train and I was convinced they were going to follow me off when I got to my stop.

Luckily they got off one stop before mine, but I was so shaken up by it I was anxious my whole walk home. The next day I started writing these bits about the experience and I found being able to make fun of him and all the stupid things he said to me felt really empowering. I eventually polished these jokes into one whole bit that I performed at RFD in Chinatown about a week ago.

I was nervous about the crowd’s reaction because it was made up of mostly males… But to my surprise and delight the crowd loved it and lots of dudes came up to me afterward to compliment my writing and original material. It was so empowering to make fun of this asshole who harassed me in front of a room full of people and have them laugh and agree with me.

I think humor is a great way to show some more light on this issue because when done well comedy has the ability to set societal norms. Just think of how the average college Freshman still puts Animal House posters in their college dorms, and how that film has narrated Greek life on so many campuses to this day. Talking to all the dudes after my show about the material, many of them said they didn’t realize how much that kind of interaction affected or upset women. It was totez awesome to reach all these guys that never think about feminist issues.”

Way to go, Lucé!

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Op-eds, new websites & street harassment on TV

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With the fall weather finally setting in, it seems like there are fewer harassers on the street, and fewer stories for the blog.

In the meantime, here are a few anti-street harassment bits of news:

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