Personal Street Harassment Stories
“When I lived in Philly I was walking home one night in the rain and some guy did the typical whistle/say-something-vulgar thing to me. I don’t know why, but I just snapped. I turned around and I beat him on the knees with my umbrella, and started chasing him. It was…something.”
“There’s this path around my development back home that my mom and I like to walk together on, and every time, without fail, gross guys in a truck or a group of high school boys honk at us. It’s not as scary as some of the experiences I’ve had in the city (when a guy can actually follow you around), but it’s always startling and ruins what should be a peaceful walk with my mom.”
“I was walking in Cairo with two female friends when a group of young men started catcalling us in Arabic. We were all dressed modestly, long sleeves, scarves, long pants or an ankle-length skirt, but they continued nonetheless — they started following us down the street. After a block of this, one of my friends turned around and started yelling at them in Arabic. They looked really shocked that we (or some of us) could understand them and actually turned around and slinked off. I asked my friend what she’d said, and she said she’d asked them how they would feel if someone talked to their mothers or sisters like this and that they should be ashamed of themselves.”
