I’m 18 and I had ignored the sexiest behavior of my dad’s side of the family. I had never really experienced sexism until I was 10. Being Mexican American my family speaks mostly Spanish when together. We are having a family dinner when my grandma and mom are doing all the work in the kitchen and my male family members are sitting. I’m sitting with the when my grandpa said “why aren’t you helping in the kitchen” I said there was nothing I needed to do. He responded with ” your a girl, you should stay in the kitchen anyways”. I got upset and left. Hours later when dinner is finally done my grandma calls all of the girls into the kitchen and said ” sírvanle a los hombres comida” which means serve the men food. Serve… Serve. My cousins didn’t bat an eye but I grabbed a plate served my self and sat down with the men. They all stared at me, I looked at my cousins and said grab your food and sit down too. My grandpa when on to say where their food was and I said in the kitchen like everyone else’s. They made a whole deal of how they should have gotten food first, I said you have feet and arms that are not broken. I SERVE only myself and so do they(my cousins)

I was cleaning out my childhood room in my parent’s house a few weeks ago and I came across my 5th grade yearbook. I started to flip through it and began reading some of the things my classmates had written. Most of the comments were typical, like “have a great summer!” or “see you in middle school!” But then I noticed the words “itty bitty titty committee” written in small letters throughout the book. The memories started flooding my brain. There was a group of boys in my class who would tease me for having small breasts (well duh, I WAS TEN YEARS OLD). Several years later, I had a growth spurt during the summer between 8th and 9th grade- and my breasts weren’t so “itty bitty” anymore. Unsurprisingly, a rumor started spreading around the school that I had breast enlargement surgery over the summer. The rumor became so salient that I was eventually called into the counselor’s office. They were concerned about my parent’s allowing me to get a boob job at such a young age, and they wanted to make sure that I wasn’t “coerced” into it. It was infuriating.

I take my work break walking the block around my building. Everyday I receive a whistle, a man yelling, a honk, or an unwanted lingering stare (Unless I’m walking with a man). A previous employer explained the dress code to his all female staff (aside from the 2 male managers) that wearing heels is not required by the company but is strongly encouraged. I found this astounding considering we all worked desk jobs in a closed to the public office.

I have bigger tits than average and a large butt, so big that when i wear a shirt my size, you can see the cleavage. So I usually had to wear jackets to cover my cleavage. One day i was walking to school when a boy my age started heading towards me. I thought nothing of him because I thought he was just walking past me. But when he was inches from me, he yelled: Damn and stared at my boobs hiding in my jacket. I tried to ignore him but he followed me and squeezed my butt which caused me to freeze in shock. He walked in front of me and proceeded to unzip my jacket. I told him to stop but he did not listen and started squeezing my boobs. I tried to break free, but he grabbed my back and pulled me in. He pull my shirt down and removed my bra as I struggled to break free. He started squeezing my nipples which are very sensitive btw. He slid his hand down my pants and grabbed my vagina and tries to finger me, he got half of it in which really hurt and I pulled finally pulled away and slapped him, and continued to school in horror and shock.

Age 17 I was walking down the sidewalk with 2 of my friends in the middle of the day. A car pulled up slowly next to us and the passenger rolled down his window and yelled, “HEY GIRL! I WANNA LICK THE BACK OF YOUR LEG!”

I was about 11 years old, I’m pretty tall so often people think I’m older than I actually am. I was minding my own business, just browsing through the book shelves. Then a boy around high school age comes up to me. He asks me several personal questions where I lived, my phone number, and where I went to school. He then commented on how, “it isn’t a woman’s place to be reading books.” I didn’t respond, I figured he might go away. Then he laughs in my face, grabs the book I was looking at out of my hands, throws it on the floor, and says “your a quiet one.” Then he started asking me out. I calmly explained that I was 11 year old and that I was lesbian. He laughed at me and kept asking me personal questions and making demeaning comments. I had enough and told him to go fuck off. He called me a bitch and walked away. This next experience wasn’t as scary but still very offensive. As my mom would say I don’t “dress like a lady.” I also don’t cross my legs because then my legs wouldn’t fit under tables or desks. I’m also openly lesbian and go to a Catholic school. There’s this insufferable boy in my class who is extremely sexist. I had to work on a group project with him and he openly made fun of my sexuality, the way I dress, and the way I sit. I ignored it and we continued working. It was math, and I noticed a miscalculation on his part. I told him he was wrong and could prove it too. He laughed at me and said, “Girls aren’t good at math, go make me a sandwich.” I was trying really hard not to hit him. I decided I didn’t feel like getting in trouble. I just told the teacher that I did all the work, which was very true, and she failed him on the project.

Ever since I got a pixie cut, people I meet keep asking what pronouns I prefer (he/she/it). It’s so annoying. Just because I have a pixie cut and wear androgynous clothing doesn’t mean I don’t identify as a woman. No one ever asked me this question when I had long hair. I hate being treated as if my hair style and clothing define my gender…

Just casually walking with my friends (all female) and some guys are driving by, and the jerk in the passenger seat decides to shout at us “SIT ON MY FACE!” I’ll have you note he was probably in his late twenties and we are minors, like 15 at the time. He’s nearly double our age. “And no, I don’t want no scrub A scrub is a guy that can’t get no love from me Hanging at the passenger side of his best friend’s ride Trying to holler at me” – excerpt from “No Scrubs” byTLC Perfectly describes what happened and is also a great song.

In 4th grade there was a boy who would constantly kick and hit me for no apparent reason. But the teacher did nothing about it and told me “It’s just because he likes you”.

I was on my city’s walking bridge recently with a friend. She was modeling for pictures for me, so I had my camera and different jackets and such for her to wear. It started to get dark so we were leaving, and when we were walking down the ramp, and this group of three or four college-aged boys were about 20 feet behind us. I turned to take a walking shot of my friend, and one of the guys yelled at me, “Why don’t you take a picture of me, baby?” I yelled back, “Fuck off!” I shouldn’t have said anything. When we got to the bottom of the ramp, I tried to get to my car quickly but I wasn’t quick enough and I heard one of them say “stupid bitch. i hope you drown in a puddle.” I got in my car and went home but i was afraid the whole way that they were following me.