I was walking home this evening (England at 7pm so dark, lit by Street lights) by myself after my job at a secondary school (I’m 24). I was wearing trainers, a long loose skirt, a big coat and my hair was up in a bun. Ahead of me, walking slowly, was a group of two men and a woman in their mid 50s, smoking and chatting. Another woman ran past them on a jog, to which they responded by clapping and cheering. I thought, well they might have had a bit to drink and maybe it’s just funny.
I went to overtake, walking quickly with my head facing straight, out in the road so as not to be too close. Just after I passed, I hear the woman say ‘Too young, Dean. You need to just say hi instead of doing that.’ I cringed and didn’t look round to see what he had done.
It brought up the familiar ‘dirty’ feeling, as if I needed a shower, that I get whenever something like this happens. Even though of course no woman ‘asks for it’ in her dress sense, what on earth can I do to avoid being viewed as a sex object and victimised walking to my own house..?? It is literally the act of being female; clothing makes very little difference when it comes to the sexist, inconsiderate and frankly disgusting male gaze.