Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

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

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“None of his business”

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I had been jogging with my sister in the daytime (5pm) not far from my immediate neighborhood (it was a retired people nice-houses neighborhood, pretty quiet), and I was wearing long sweatpants and a gym danskin sports bra.

We were now walking back towards my apartment when we see a black truck approaching towards us, driving on the empty street left of the sidewalk were we were. Thinking nothing of it, we continued walking forward, when suddenly the driver stuck half his body out the window with one hand still on the wheel, and yelled loudly, “PUT A FUCKING SHIRT OOON!!!” Like a coward, he then sat back in his seat and started to drive away, but I turned back, while he was still in earshot and loudly shouted “BITCH!”, while sticking my finger out towards the truck.

…to my unbelievable surprise, a block or two forward, the same truck appeared in front of us way ahead and then turned to its left to follow the *same* trajectory. I could not believe that it could possibly be the same truck, but surely, the black suv drove past us once more, and the bastard stuck his body out the window AGAIN and yelled “YOU SHOULD REALLY PUT A FUCKING SHIRT OOONNN!!!”

I instinctively yelled “BITCH!” once more, this time with more vigor and fury, (my voice echoed), as I flicked the driver off.

I don’t understand…[it was] none of his business…what should I have done?!?!? I was just working out! WTF!

– FI0008

Location: Champaign, IL

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“I don’t know how to handle this.”

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I live in an underdeveloped country working at a local NGO. I’ve had to deal with men staring and saying things for a long while but now I work between two construction sites and things have become really difficult. The men put their English to good use by shouting things like, “What a beautiful body!” or “Good pussy!” at me.

I complained to my boss, who is a local with a masters in gender studies, and she was very nice and supportive and tried to call the construction supervisor about it, but the harassment still continues and it makes me nervous about walking home every day. I can come home and commiserate with my room mate but it’s very difficult, especially given the poverty and the political/cultural situation here.

I know it’s never right to take abuse, but I struggle with the part of me that knows this is partially a product of the society I live in that’s been so oppressed for so long – that I could leave the country at any time but they cannot.

It’s not just me.. we hear them from the office catcalling women all day. As an international, however, I am singled out for abuse because they “know” I don’t have brothers or husbands handy. If I’m walking down the street with a man, this never happens. I don’t know how to handle this.

– Anonymous

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“I felt confident…until those clowns in the car catcalled”

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I got honked at today as i walked up the road on my way to lunch. i was wearing a summer dress and felt confident in myself until those clowns in the car catcalled out of the window and stared at me. i made me feel embarrassed and intimidated.

– Clarice

Location: Porthcawl, South Wales, UK

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“If women on the street said I look nice, it’d make my day”

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I LOVE this cartoon by @barrydeutsch! (Update: He’s made the cartoon available for purchase. I just bought it as a postcard and print)

It speaks to one of the arguments* I make when men tell me they’ve been whistled at and don’t mind it: there is a difference in the sheer volume of harassment that men and women face.

For example, a running friend of mine has said before that he’s been whistled at a few times over the course of his 15+ year running career.  Hmm. In college, I was harassed more than that in a single hour when I would go running (no exaggeration), including whistling, honking, kissing noises, and sexually explicit comments. I have no idea how many times across my 14 year running career I’ve faced harassment. At least hundreds.

That volume of harassment is annoying in addition to being demeaning and perhaps threatening. It’s hard to get some men to understand that and so I’m grateful for this cartoon.

(*Factors like gender inequality, threat of rape, and victim blaming, all issues I address in chapter two of my book, also make men’s harassment of women  unique compared with the harassment men may face.)

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