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I’m usually a girl with a harassment story a day, so I decided to write about the only one where I actually came out triumphant. Several weeks ago, I was on the train home and this guy starts talking to me, asking me for my number. I told him I wouldn’t give it to him because I didn’t know him, but he just kept harassing me for it. Finally, after several minutes of this, I said to him loudly and clearly, “Excuse me, do you have sisters?” And as soon as I asked that, something in this guy’s manner completely changed. “Yeah,” he said, “and a daughter.” He got quiet and the conversation ended there.
I had just finished a daytime bartending shift and decided to stop by my then-boyriend’s bar, which was located around the corner from my house, for a glass of wine to unwind before bed. I stayed for about 1/2 hour and then decided to head home. It was 9:30 pm. I turned onto my street and when I got about three buildings up from my own I heard something behind me. I turned around and saw a young man on a bike. I was feeling generous so rather than comment on how he shouldn’t be riding his bike on the sidewalk, I simply stepped aside to let him pass. When he got right next to me he reached over, squeezed my ass and then sped off. I took off running after him, yelling, with the goal of somehow lodging my sandal in his bike spokes. No such luck. I took a deep breath and let myself into my apartment building before completely falling apart. I was pissed off. I felt small. I felt powerless. Pretty sure I cried myself to sleep that night.
“Pretty lady” or something of the like every day, from men and women alike at this construction site by my office. Not taking it as a compliment today or never.
This happened to me a couple of years ago now but it was one of my proudest moments standing up for myself. I had just missed the last train from Manhattan to Westchester at Grand Central. Already livid that I was going to spend upwards of a hundred bucks on a cab home, I really wasn’t in the mood to socialize. As I stood in front of the station I noticed three guys standing nearby who had already noticed me. One of them began making inappropriate comments towards me and considering the state I was already in I just told him to leave me alone. Once he heard me say that he flipped and begin calling me a Bitch and telling me I wasn’t that cute anyway. I told him great and proceed to explain that I didn’t find him attractive either so if he didn’t like me and I didn’t like him why don’t we go about our business and leave each other alone. His two friends fell on the floor laughing and I hope he never tried talking to a young woman like that again.
My partner and I were verbally harassed by a man on the A train on our way to work. This interaction happened approximately between Jay St and Canal St. He moved into our physical space and said over his shoulder, “True love is between a man and a woman.” My partner told him to back off and he told my partner he would have hit her if she were a man. No bystanders intervened and the interaction only stopped when we got off the train.
When I was walking out of the ferry terminal, this random adult guy began yelling out to me. But I kept on walking (I’m 14 years old). He kept yelling out “Hey miss! You have a fat a**!” I got disgusted after he said that and he kept trying to “get me”. As I was walking past the block he began running after me and that’s when I turned around and said “Get the f*ck away from me!” He then got a little surprised and yelled “But you are a beautiful woman!” then I told him that I was 14 and he said “Damn! That’s too young!” And I kept flipping him off. Then after that he kept yelling “F*ck you! You fat a** white b*tch!” as he was walking away. I still feel insecure about myself after that and I have lost ALL respect in men overall.
I was riding to work when I felt a hand on my ass. First I thought I was imagining things, but I wasn’t. I have never felt more scared.
one commentWalked passed a guy masturbating in a phone booth on Broadway near the flatiron plaza on my way home from work.
no commentsI was walking up seventh avenue and there was a man walking in the opposite direction a few feet in front of me. He slowed down and got in my way. I tried to walk out of his line but he sidestepped in my direction again. I kept walking but he came up to me. He said “Hey baby” and grabbed my left breast. Then he disappeared into the crowd. I couldn’t do anything. I turned around and said “fuck you” because I was too shocked to think of anything else, and even then, not one person on the street said or did anything to me or him.
I work at a PR agency in Chelsea & there is a trade school called APEX on the corner of 19th & 6th ave that my coworkers and I inevitably must pass at least every day. When classes are in session, it is an absolute guarantee that it’s students who will harass every single one of us upon walking by. It is truly disgusting. What makes it especially frightening is that at times there can be huge crowds of men standing there, up to 20 or so at a time, all using the same profanity & explicit language.