Anonymous

I’ve had far too many encounters with everyday sexism as have most of the females in my life. I don’t tend to talk about them to most people. But I feel like it’s important to spread awareness so I’m gonna share a handful of those instances here.
1. One night at the age of 17 one of my mum’s older friend’s was staying over after a night out. He came into the kitchen drunk and started asking me if I liked older men. He then grabbed me and pulled my top and bra up and kissed my body as I was trying to push him away with all my strength and telling him to stop. Thankfully he did stop.
2. The guy at a party who thought it was ok when everyone else fell asleep to get his dick out on the staircase and force my head towards it in attempt to get me to suck it! At the time I felt like it was my fault cause I’d flirted and kissed him but didn’t want to go further. I told him to let me go again and again and he’d let me go and tell me I could leave then pull me back whenever I tried to until he realised I wasn’t gonna give in.
3. All the customers that groped/slapped me when I used to work in bars. And follow me around all night trying to convince me to go home with them. When I was working in a cafe one tried to follow me home a few times and harassed me for my number.
4. The man in the park who called me his angel, tried to convince me to come home with him and when I tried to walk away, grabbed my arm and tried to stop me.
5. That guy in school who pushed me into the wall and pressed himself against me while all his male friends laughed. I was so humiliated.
6. The older men that would catcall me and my friends from the age of 13 while walking to/from school in our uniforms.
7. The old male teacher who thought it was acceptable to put his arms round me from behind while helping me with a project and saying he loves an excuse for a hug. And also grabbed me by the collar in class ‘jokingly’ for being slightly late.
8. That time I was in Lidl and a man started following me, staring blatantly at me then started following me down the road. I had to lose him by moving to a busy street. Then that older man (I was about 16) that followed me towards my home from school harassing me for my number till I gave him it to get rid of him. He tested it to check if it was fake so I gave him my real one.
9. The time I got drunk and went back to a close friend’s house with a few of his friends. Blacked out and must have went to sleep on the couch and woke up being raped from behind. I couldn’t even see who it was though I’m pretty sure I know who. It still gives me the fear that it could have been my friend and I’ll never know and never told anyone except a few close friends. The guy I think it was has a wife…
Anyway that’s a lot more than I planned to write! I hope men realise this is a just glimpse of most females daily lives and a lot of us don’t like to talk about it for fear of sounding bitter/bringing up bad memories/making a big deal out of things etc.