women

Ghost

When I was in 5th grade me and some friends would get called b****s by some 5th grade boys. It was horrible and it continued until mid high school when they all moved away.

Kritika

I was born and brought up in a very small town in Kerala. I was a big girl from a very young age (only by body size), and my breasts were bigger compared to other girls of my age during my teenage years. When I was 10 years old, I started wearing a sports bra. One day, a teacher called my mother and spoke to her in private about buying me an actual bra. She said teachers were talking about my breasts in the staff room. My mother took me out for lunch and took me bra shopping. My 11-year-old self was utterly humiliated wondering why teachers were talking about my breasts at school. I was one of the first to wear jeans and Kurti (a typical attire these days in my place). One day a lady who runs a shop on the street came and told my father that all the autorickshaw drivers who park their vehicles at the opposite end of the street were getting tempted with my breasts and so he had to make his daughter cover up her breasts with a shawl. I still wonder what was her actual problem. It’s true I’ve got stares and some weird comments from the group, but I always closed off my ears. Anyway, after the lady’s recommendation, my self-confidence went down a notch and my mother too recommended it was better to wear a shawl than create trouble.

Aida

I started being bullied because of my body hair when I was 8, mainly by the boys in my class. I remember a summer camp where a boy would hit me “just playing” for being tomboyish and hairy at 11. Thanks to that, I spent many years not daring to wear shorts, tank tops and always tied my hair tight. I first started to feel comfortable-ish in a bikini when I was 20. Now that I’m 26 I am starting to feel ok-ish to go out with a mini skirt and my legs not perfectly shaved. There are different ways of harassment, this was one that I experienced for years and years.

Sophia

Today, I was watching an interior design programme which was following the lives of a small family who wanted to build their dream house. The mother of the family was going to be in charge of ensuring the builders were working efficiently and doing their work and she would also be lending a helping hand & her husband would be looking after the children whilst she worked on the house, I thought this was wonderful and she was doing a brilliant thing, unfortunately the presenter of the show thought otherwise as he constantly called her out for small issues, such as she may have mislaid a brick or measured inaccurately, he even went as far as to say ‘Perhaps she should’ve been the one looking after the children..like most women and let her husband do the work’ which I find disgusting. I went on the watch the following episode of this programme where the house was built, it was beautiful! Perfect in every way imaginable, unfortunately the presenter kept calling out the woman and laughing behind her back and being incredibly rude indeed! #EverydaySexism

Kim Johnson

At home, my partner and his friends are in the garage gym, training. The talk is about the girls who go to the gym they also go to. Of one girl, who two of the guys like, I hear my partner joke to,them that they should share her. They then talk about how one of the girls wears clothes that she doesn’t have the figure for and she should swap with this other girl. The really sad part is they are all nice men….they don’t mean what they say. It kind of makes it worse.

Lex

When I told my friends and family about being raped (I’m 14) I was told, “you’re a girl. It was probably consensual and you just regret it now.” “You’re a whore. You probably liked it” “You probably deserved it” and “shut up. You’re a girl which means you’re just looking for attention.” I personally didn’t know being a girl meant you wanted to be raped, that you deserve to be raped, or that everything you do is you being dramatic

anonymous

I went to work at the club, and after a customer got me drunk he took me in a cabana and raped me while i was intoxicated, and left me with $200. I have to see him every time I work at that club.

Sou

Today we were having a chat with few colleagues and one them was asking if we thought that there were more gay men or lesbians. I said that I don’t think there will be much difference in terms of numbers, then he replies” I am sure there are more lesbians, now with all these feminists ” me: what? I can’t believe you said that. -him: ” I have friends who went to events organzied by feminists and they were typically saying that men are trash and that women should just dare each others. I was do disturbex by the fact that such ab uneducated man had this kind if rhetoric!

Marie

I had been working there for 1 year. That man, Georges, was only part-time at the office…around 60 years old. I did not know him very well, but some of my female co-workers had already talked about him staring at their breasts and that sort of things. One day, I was at the photocopier, in the hall, and he got behind me. I noticed him, but made no case. Strangely, I knew something was going to happen and I was wondering what. First thing I knew, he was slapping my bum (gently) with a rolled up sheet of paper, saying “Good morning!”. I turned around, my face burning with anger and said loud enough for everybody in the hall to hear: “Not too self-conscious, this morning, Mr. Georges, are you?” He muttered something and kept his head down. No one around looked like they were aware of what had happened. Everything carried on as usual. But I was proud of myself and made sure to tell my story to each of my co-workers who had a similar experience with that man. I no longer work there. Hope Georges reviewed his old-fashioned way to consider and treat women. But what’s important is the strength I gained.

Steph

My housemate went to a quiz night, he’s just walked in and said – ” We won the quiz and we had a shit hot name – ‘Quiz on my face and tell me I’m pretty’. “