Kels’ Story: Evading the Enemy

Yesterday, I was lucky enough to leave the office a little earlier than usual. Leaving work, I hop on the metro, and once I arrive at the metro station, I have to take a bus home. Unfortunately, the bus drops me off at the bottom of a large hill, so I have a 10 minute walk home everyday. As I began my journey up the street, a man in a car with darkened windows drove past me, slowly, and rolled down his window. He literally stopped his car in the middle of the road, and waited until I caught up. As I passed, he stuck his head out the window and stared at me, looking me up and down. I instantly felt uncomfortable, and walked away quickly. Then, when I thought the man had driven away, I noticed that he has turned around in someone’s driveway, and was driving past me again, going less than 5 mph. He shouted something out the window at me and stopped in the road again. Fear rushed over me and I grabbed my pepper spray. The man continued to follow me, driving slowly, until a car drove up behind him, and he sped away. I should NEVER have to fear for my safety walking home, especially in broad daylight. I am lucky the situation was not a lot worse than it was.

Published on June 18, 2013 at 5:20 pm

lo’s Story: Inescapable Idiots

I walked through a group of 30 year old men, and when they said hello, i returned the greeting, and immediately after i did a different man began shouting “you got some nice titties” over and over until his friend chimed in “and a real nice ass”

Published on June 18, 2013 at 2:45 pm

HOLLA ON THE GO: Street Scream

Was running across the street and a man leaned out of a door of a truck to scream at me. Something like, “run big Bertha”

Published on June 18, 2013 at 2:10 pm

Check out Hollaback!’s Employer’s, Union, and Service Provider’s Guide to Ending Street Harassment

Hollaback! recently published our Employer’s, Union, and Service Provider’s Guide to Ending Street Harassment!

Check out this short video with author Debjani Roy, Deputy Director of Hollaback!, outlining what the guide offers and what you can do right now to stand up to street harassment.

You can read and download the full Employer’s, Union, and Service Provider’s Guide to Ending Street Harassment on our site here.

Published on June 18, 2013 at 12:10 pm

Willie’s Story: “I’d never been more afraid”

I’m a gay male who’s on the rather… chubby side, and I’d always wanted somewhere reasonable enough that made me feel comfortable and not like i wad being judged, and thought I found that with a 24 hour gym. Perfect, I’m up late anyways and there won’t be as many people there at night! Little did I know, I’d be made uncomfortable by a completely different situation.

The first time it happened, a guy was staring at me while I was rinsing my face in a sink. I could see in the reflection of the mirror that he was literally staring at me and smiling. Then what does he do next? He pulls down the front of his gym shorts and flashes me! I went out and told the person at the front desk and lo and behold, “they can’t do anything about it unless there are witnesses.”

Flash forward a month or so, I go to the gym around midnight and stay til 3 am. At the end of my workout, which included a swim, I decided that since it was late enough I could probably shower without feeling embarrassed or having anyone see me. I go into the locker room and there was an older guy, probably in his late 30′s, early 40′s who had clearly just showered and was wrapping up to go home. No big deal. I went into a desperate part of the locker room and put some stuff in my locker and grabbed a towel, undressed, and wrapped it around my waist. I head over towards the showers and as I do, I pass the little section of lockers where he’s at. He makes eye contact and smiles at me and I kinda quickly smile at him and keep walking, when I hear him say, “damn!”

I ignored it, not really believing he was talking to me (my self confidence was pretty low at the time, I had no idea anybody would ever say anything like that to me, let alone a creepy gym locker room dude,) and went over to the little offshoot area where the shower stalls are.
I’m standing there with the shower running, washing the chlorine water from my hair when I hear another nozzle turn on. I was a little disappointed cause I thought I was going to avoid the embarrassment of anyone seeing me naked, but when I glanced over, it was the creeper dude, he had gotten BACK in the shower, straight across from my stall, and worse of all, he was JACKING OFF!!!! I was pretty damn shocked by that point and I turned to face away from him and rinse the shampoo out of my hair (I rushed so it shouldn’t have taken more than a few seconds,) and I heard him say something. HE WAS RIGHT OUTSIDE MY STILL MASTURBATING!!! I didn’t know what to do or say so I kinda backed up into my stall a little more to move away from him and he kept stroking and started reaching for me. I finally got myself together and realize what was going on and said “dude, if you fucking touch me I’ll punch you the fuck out.” He backed off enough to get past him and I grabbed my towel, threw on my gym shorts and shirt still soaking wet, and carried my shoes and took off out of that locker room so quick. I’d never been more afraid or shaken up in my life. I didn’t even want to stop to talk to the guy at the front desk.
I went back a few days later to report the incident and of course was told once again that they couldn’t do anything about it. It was sick and creepy and I don’t understand why because a man can “tell I’m gay” he thinks he’s entitled to invade my personal space and make me feel disgusting.

Published on June 18, 2013 at 10:30 am

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