Fighting to end street harassment in Boston, MA. Share your story!
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About Hollaback!: Hollaback! is a global movement dedicated to ending street harassment using mobile technology. Launched in 2005, Hollaback! has expanded worldwide and now has iPhone and Droid apps that give victims a real-time response to street harassment, breaking the silence that has perpetuated street harassment internationally, and a crowd-sourced initiative to end street harassment. Street harassment is one of the most pervasive forms of gender-based violence and one of the least legislated against.
I’m not going to address the ‘white girls get it too omg’ bullshit because they do, but it’s always different. I’m writing this as a woman of color who’s experienced street harassment more times than I can count.
First off, I think people need to realize that this isn’t just…
And then proceed to scream “Fuck you, white bitch! Fuck you ugly! Fuck you trashy ass ho!” when I ignore them.
Thanks. That makes me feel really safe and totally makes me want to come over and talk to you.
See me standing here
and you get so near
I hope to ignore you
I hope you walk away
But instead you speak
expect me to flush and stutter
I am not happy
to be a piece of meat you judge
I am not for sale at the bus stop
available because I’m there
I am not happy
and this I will not accept
You are not owed anything from me
only because you chose to acknowledge me
There is no automated response
just a gentle flip of my finger
(via benitah)
I just had the scariest moment ever. I’m walking down the street, on the phone with one of my friends, having a serious conversation, and this guy unloading a truck just keeps going “god bless you mami! God bless you Mami!” Like, expecting me to respond, wondering why I’m not responding to this…
I was just chilling with my roommates at the bus stop and some asshole yelled that out of the back of a truck. I immediately yelled back “FUCK YOU!” as loudly and assertively as possible… fucking scrub. This isn’t funny, it’s fucking harassment. How the hell are you supposed to react in that two second gap before those smug pricks drive off? It would have been even more scary if I was alone. Fuck society, man….
I walk to and from school fairly regularly. It’s about a mile stretch through a well populated area, though there are some more industrial parts. I also like to walk around my little town’s downtown, with friends or alone.
And I should be able to WITHOUT being harassed. But I am regularly. Every…
TW: Street Harassment
Can one of you please explain to me what exactly you are trying to accomplish by shouting at, whistling at, make lewd comments at, groping, or making other inappropriate advances on strange women on the street? Please explain to me how the thought process that makes you…
I wonder what you think
when you see me in the street
do you want to play?
do you want to meet?
Do you want to see
what is in my bag
what is in my head
what is in my outfit?
Am I ever any more to you
than a set of tits and cheeks?
Could I be intelligent?
or even interesting?
Why is it
that you whistle
and holler
and grab?
Are you trying to get my attention?
are you trying to make me mad?
Do you think your
lack of interest
in the person that I am
is something I find appealing
in a brand-new man?
Our sexual market is such that men are expected to do most of the pursuing and women are supposed to be more reticient, and this can feel for men who find it frustrating to be rejected like women just want it less. But it’s actually just a result of the system. Men only hit on women they find attractive, so they get a skewed perception of how that works. Just because a man hits you up doesn’t make him hot, you know. If women hit on men more, maybe men would notice that they don’t actually want to fuck every woman they meet, because they mentally just exclude women they don’t find attractive from the category “women”.
my friend being called a whore on her walk home, and fearing for her safety after flicking them off.
Guys.
Street harassment is not okay.Don’t do it.
It’s disrespectful, misogynistic, and gives the actual good guys that are out there a bad name.Like my dress?
That’s nice.
It doesn’t give you the right to whistle at me, to call me names and ask for disgusting things.
It gives you no rights.Leave me and every other woman on the street alone.
We’ve had enough.
A man shouted at me today, “you’re too pretty to be limping”.
This was street harassment. This was misogynistic. This was ableist. This was not remotely okay. This made me cry.
If you have opinions on this, I’d love to hear them. I figure since I didn’t have the strength to rip this man apart with my words then, let us do it now.
If ya know what I mean.
I rely on public transportation in a busy American city, which exposes me to street harassment fairly often. I’ve used alternate routes, stuck to crowds in well-lit public places, and made phone calls to friends (this is the most effective in my experience).
This must stop.
do so many guys cat-call when I’m ON THE PHONE?
And cat-call in the form of a question when I’m on the phone?Like, “Hey, how you doin?”
or, “Hey where you going girl?”
Drives me cray-cray.
Last night. Me vs. 8 possibly lubricated college men. It could have went way worse than it did, but it doesn’t make it any less acceptable or upsetting. After getting home late from a 9 hour shift, I realized I forgot to export payroll. So I angrily marched back to work, exported payroll, and…
