I was on my way to work in the morning on a Muni train and saw a guy shove his way onto the train car. He proceeded to stand really close to another girl from behind and kept getting closer to her in a disgusting manner. I stuck my luggage in between him and the girl because I was not completely sure what was happening–it was a full train.

He shoved my bag away and proceeded to turn around and stand close to another random girl who was unaware. The train had just gotten lighter with less passengers and there was plenty of room behind him.

I said, “Hey” a few times trying to get his attention and he ignored me so I tapped on the girl’s shoulder to tell her what he was doing. He immediately turned around and started to curse at me and shove my bag out of the way and all I could get out was that he was “standing a little too close to women”. He coughed in my face and then left the train.

I was very shaken up. I had never called someone out for harassing another person before, but I felt very protective of other women in that moment. People came up to me afterwards and said I did the right thing and they would have backed me up. The first girl also thanked me because she wasn’t sure what had happened until she saw him do it to someone else.

I hope that my choice to step out will cause others to be aware of their surroundings and to speak up if they see someone being harassed.

– AH

Location: San Francisco, CA

Need support? Call the toll-free National Street Harassment hotline: 855-897-5910

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