Editor’s Note: My friend Lucé Tomlin-Brenner (watch her stand-up set about street harassment) posted this on her Facebook page this week and gave me permission to share it here.

I just got a beautiful new piece designed by Olivia Britz-Wheat at Blacklist Tattoo in Portland, Oregon, [based on Lucé’s concept] that means a great deal to me. Not only is it an homage to my dear friends War on Women and their anti-street harassment song “Broken Record,” but it is an act of defiance in the persistent face of rape culture.

I have been verbally, emotionally and sexually harassed by men I don’t know for more than half my life. It’s happened while walking down the street, riding on public transportation, working retail/service industry jobs, on college campuses, and while performing on stage. It’s happened in every city I’ve ever lived, visited, or worked in. It’s happened at punk shows that are supposed to be my safe places. These are not compliments, they are violations. They are threats to my mental and physical safety.

Today, March 8th, is International Women’s Day. This happens regularly to most women and girls across the world (and most members of the GLBTQ community as well). Street harassment crosses all socioeconomic and racial lines. It happens no matter what you’re wearing. This has to end. We cannot be fully free when we are scared to walk, bike, exist in public alone.

Stand up against street harassment everyday, any way you can, with any means necessary.