humiliated

Billie

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I was standing alone on the side of a quiet road in central London yesterday evening and checking my phone before crossing the street to head home. Completely out of nowhere a tall man shouted in my face and waved his hands right in front of my eyes. I had been engrossed in the message I had been reading and could not really hear much because of my headphones but when he screamed in my face I was really freaked out. An other very tall man this person was with then laughed and said that I had thought I was getting my phone stolen, the whole interaction angered and upset me so much that I swore at them both and stormed off humiliated. I left the street to stares from passers by and the laughter of the two grown men who had just accosted me. I cried my whole bus journey home, genuinely feeling like anyone could come in to my personal space at any time without my consent.

lara

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I remember when i was 14 my friend was staying the night at my house, and we were talking on the phone to 2 boys that were in our year. I cant quite remember how it was brought up but i remember one of the boys making a remark about how he reckoned my “pussy would be as smooth as a baby’s bottom”. I just laughed it off, but looking back now i cant believe that at the age of 14 boys are talking this way to girls. 3 years later, my breasts grew to be very very big (G/H cup), and i would have boys in my year yell comments about them during P.E or come up and touch them as i walked by them in the hall. This one time i stood up for myself when i was touched (coincidentally by the same boy who made those comments) and i was quite assertive in my response but all he did was laugh in my face. Having huge breasts became such a huge part of my life i found myself explaining to people that i hated them. If you also have large breasts you know the daily struggle with them, which is why i ended up getting a breast reduction. i feel sad when i think about the fact that 4 years of torment attributed to this decision (though there were so many other reasons) as this just shouldn’t be the case. At only 18 I’m already worrying about if i have a daughter and whether she with inherit these genes of mine and have to go through the same humiliation that i did. Its more impactful than men realise. Lets stand up for ourselves and for our bodies.