The Everyday Sexism Project exists to catalogue instances of sexism experienced on a day to day basis. They might be serious or minor, outrageously offensive or so niggling and normalised that you don’t even feel able to protest. Say as much or as little as you like, use your real name or a pseudonym – it’s up to you. By sharing your story you’re showing the world that sexism does exist, it is faced by women everyday and it is a valid problem to discuss.

If you prefer to e-mail me at laura@everydaysexism.com I can upload your story for you instead. Follow us on Twitter (and submit entries by tweet) at @EverydaySexism.

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Veja

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I was shopping for Christmas presents for my little sister with my mom. My mom went through the boys toys aisle to get to the girls toys aisle and I saw something my little sister would like in the boys section. My little sister loves space and science. The thing is anything at all related to science, technology, engineering, math or education was all in the boys section. All of the STEM stuff was in the boys aisle and nothing about education at all was in the girls section and the only thing at all in the girls section was stuff about taking care of fake babies and decorating and makeovers.

ivy

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One time when I was in high school, I went to the beach with some friends and we were all playing a game in the water. I was really grossed out by the seaweed so one of my guy “friends” proceeded to grab a handful of the seaweed and shove it down my bikini top and grab my boob. I was obviously pissed so I pushed him away and all of my friends just laughed it off, I didn’t even think about it until years later when I realized it was incredibly messed up.

Anonymous

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I’m not married to my partner, we have a child together. His family and some of my family refer to us as; “The *his surname*”. I get cards addressed to me with his surname on and not mine. I am my own person. Just because we have a child together does not mean my identity has been erased and I have adopted his. My mum doesn’t think I should be offended and doesn’t think it’s sexist, it’s “tradition”. Yeah, tradition from back when women were treated as objects and not people.

Fran

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On a train into central london. The carriage is not busy, there were about 10 other people in our section, all male. A homeless man gets on the carriage and asks for people to help him to get £18 to get into a shelter. I kept my mask on and my head down, as did everyone else in the carriage. I would usually help, but we are desperately saving up for ivf. We had actually learned that morning that our first round had been unsuccessful. As the homeless man walked past me, he turned back to look at me and said “fucking whore”. He then walked down the carriage, turned round, came back and again said “fucking slag” right at me. The man didnt say a word to any of the men in the carriage and not one of the other men said anything, though they would have heard. I couldn’t keep the tears back.

abbey

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I was 17 working as a waitress and a group of men asked me if I found their mate attractive, I joked along but was then pushed up against the fruit machine and kissed. I immediately told my manager who assessed that the situation wasn’t bad enough to kick them out for. When I told my boyfriend at the time about the situation he believed that it was my fault as I must have been flirting with them.

KJ

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While at the ATL airport I was riding the trolley to my gate and the trolley was very packed to the point where you had to stand pretty close to people (pre-COVID), and suddenly while standing there I felt something on my ass, and just assumed that someones luggage had bumped me, but no it was the guy behind me literally grabbing my ass. Someone that I had never even met my. I swatted his hand away, called him nasty and told him to get the fuck away from me! No one else on the trolley was even bothered by it except an older black woman, im black myself, and she told him to leave me alone and wedged in between us, so that he could no longer touch me. I was pissed and felt violated for the rest of the day!

A.H

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I was at a party with my friends, having a good time. I stood outside by a car with some friends and I was dancing with them, just minding my own business. Then some guy comes up on me from behind and grab my breasts, then just leaves. I did not even see his face. On top of this my boyfriend, who saw it all and saw that I did NOT want that, got mad at me and threw me out of the party.

BB

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I was running through the park i always do, i used to run 10k every other day- its a very important part of my life, a man came out of no where in a field no one else was in, this was probably because it was raining but it was 11am on a sunday. He started to film me running, following me, being obvious. I confronted him due to my confusion and outrage, he told me he would like a video of me on his phone and shrugged, saying it was people do. I was so scared i couldnt move, he started to walk towards me with his camera still pointing in my direction. I thought i wasnt going to survive.I dont go running anymore, unless i occassionally organise with friends who are up for it. it took me a long time to go anywhere by myself again. all i can say is i am so deeply sorry for anyone who was less fortunate than me and wasnt able to escape because i am scared to live my eveyday life. a customer at work tapping me on the shoulder, my boyfirned unexpectedly taking my hand, walking from my car to my front door in the dark, these are all everyday triggers for me which bring back that awful feeling that maybe i wont survive.

Aimee

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Since the first day I met my creepy father-in-law he has thought it is appropriate to: pinch my ass, make sexual comments about my body, stare and ogle, grab me from behind, corner me, grope me, and make inappropriate sexual and racist jokes about me. All on front of my husband and his own wife. We live in England. I am not an educational snob but this fuck-wit has a 14 year old education and thinks it is acceptable to mansplain basic science to me (I have a PhD in Physics, MSc in Engineering and a teaching degree in Science/Maths). He is passive aggressive and abusive to his wife and his only baby grand-daughter has a developmental disability and treats her like she doesn’t exist compared to her brother, his able bodied grandson. Makes my skin crawl.

Anonymous

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TW: assault, bullying Last year, a guy in my class groped me at a party. I told him no the first time, but he did it again. I told a few of my friends for support reasons (this was not the first time I had been grabbed non-consensually and it brought back trauma from earlier in my life), and I talked to him about it a week later. He apologized and everything was (sort of) back to normal. Within a week, the story had gotten around the whole school. This led to my classmates, people I had considered friends, talking about me behind my back, calling me “overdramatic” and “whore”, and there was even one person who called me “crazy” to my face. I later learned that the reason everyone found out was because he had told everyone that I accused him of it and that I was lying. Most of our classmates took his side because he claimed he was “too drunk to remember” that it had happened, so therefore it didn’t happen. I still have to see him in classes almost every day, and some of his friends still give me dirty looks to this day. I lost friends and respect from my classmates because of something that was not my fault.