Tag Archives: Public space

Hanging out

| 30th May 2020

When my friend and I were hanging out, a group of boys from school came up to me. My friend left me to deal with them alone. There were 5 boys. Let’s call Boy 1, boy 2, boy 3, boy 4, boy 5. Boy 1 called out my name, I ignored him at first. Then I stopped bc I felt bad. He and boy 2-5 biked towards me. Boy 2 said, “Boy 3 days you’re thick.” Then Boy 1 said that Boy 3 wants to kiss me. I told them to fuck off. They kept getting closer to me, saying that they would be at our local pizza place. Now I wish I had said more. I don’t like having 14 years old looking at my body. I feel even worse bc I was flattered at first bc I didn’t do anything to make Boy 3 notice me. The girl that left me started joking that we ran from a group of boys and she sent Boy 3 a screenshot of her notes with prices for a kiss and a date. We’re not friends anymore. I can’t tell my parents bc Ik my mom is going to say it’s something I did

Natalya

| 30th May 2020

I have been currently redeployed from my job and it has been 9 weeks there. I want to share what happened to me yesterday so people know what it is like. I just want to share my day there. I am usually there for 2 or 3 days a week- 24 hour working week. I had been feeling quite headachy and got up in the morning and was very sick in my bathroom sink. I took some painkiller to feel better. To my horror, my redeployment job re-introduced the morning exercise routine. I found this enforced jolility worthless, insulting and felt like it was being used to bully people. I have mostly (80%) given up taking part. It feels like the PE lessons I was in as a child in a new guise which I dropped out of by year 9. Completely atrocious behaviour going on. Feels like sub manager is being a bully by treating it like a “bit of fun” with the others. I want to be active when I choose to be active, not from others like this colleague (submanager) forcing me. I loathed PE growing up, as I grew up in the era of “Friends picking Friends.” so no inclusivity or encouragement. Worst was her whispering “I am your boss and you MUST do it.” She lost my respect immediately in about 10 seconds of talking to me and had the nerve to pretend to the others that she was “being funny”. She thinks she knows about autism from having been on a “course.” Nope. She is still as ignorant as ever and it’s embedded right in her curly alice banded head, I think. Headache came back on coming home that day. The working environment has shown how petty, sexist, toxic, arrogant and vile some people are.

O

| 29th May 2020

About this time last year, I was catcalled on a train when I was with my friend. I blamed myself because of the dress I was wearing,and I have only worn it for the first time (after that) last week. Another time when I was harassed at a party by a classmate, I thought that maybe I had done something wrong because I was wearing a crop top and shorts. I consider myself to be a feminist, but even I have to re-affirm to myself that I didn’t deserve harassment for what I was wearing.

Courtney

| 29th May 2020

I was raped when I was seven by my mothers partner. I was molested by a boy in class in 8th grade. I was molested by a boy when I was in 9th grade. I was molested by a boy in 11th grade and the police sided with him because he was the president of speech and debate. I tried to kill myself when I was 17 and was raped by the person who saved me. I have started getting catcalled since age 13. I get comments and catcalls every time I go out side.

S

| 27th May 2020

I am a 12 year old (13 soon) female. I’m on a swim team, and the pool is close enough to my house that my younger sister and I can walk there. A few months ago, we were walking home and I was wearing a beach towel wrapped around my swimsuit straps like a little dress. We were turning at a stop sign when an old man stopped at the sign with his window rolled down. He yelled to me, “Now that’s how I like it!” I was really scared, and when I got home and told my mother, she said I should have covered myself more. But what kind of person foes it make that man to catcall a 12 year old? I still don’t really know if that actually was my fault… Also, last night, my dad, older sister, and I were sitting around a campfire, me and my sister popping our knuckles. My dad said “You shouldn’t do that unless you want giant hands” “That’s gross, and it’s unladylike.” We couldn’t tell if he was joking or not, but I’m a little afraid he wasn’t. Sorry if those stories were boring or don’t belong here, but thanks for reading 😛

Anon

| 27th May 2020

I was walking down the street and I got cat called for the first time. This guy then stared at me put the window as he drove away. It felt awful. I wanted to cry but couldn’t because I was in public. I felt so belittled and honestly disgusting. What I’m wearing shouldn’t matter but I was completely covered- a long baggy tshirt and Jean’s in really warm weather. The fact that so many people have to deal with this problem and are just expected to brush it off is horrible.

Alex

| 26th May 2020

I was walking down the street on my first girls holiday in Greece. It was the middle of the day and there weren’t many people around. I was with my friends and were walking back from the beach. A group of lads were walking behind us and were being quite loud. As one of them passed me, he slapped me really hard on the bum then ran away with his mates laughing. I was so shocked because I didn’t see him coming. He was gone before I had chance to say anything.

Alex

| 26th May 2020

I was snogging a guy at uni in our student union nightclub when he started to become quite aggressive. He started biting and grabbing me and wouldn’t respond after I tried to push him off. I felt really uncomfortable and wanted to get away so I reached for my friend and asked her to come to the toilet with me. I told him I was going to go to the toilet and he grabbed me and said ‘No, because you won’t come back.’ I was scared so I assured him I would, I relented and gave him my number so he’d let me leave. Once in the safety of the girls toilet, I told my friends what had happened and that I wanted to leave to get away from him. My friend went out to see if there was any security we could report him to and he was waiting outside the toilet. He recognised my friend, grabbed her by the shoulders and said ‘Where is she?’ My friend ran back into the toilet and we hid for a while hoping he’d get bored and go away. We eventually decided to make a break for it and managed to run past him with my friends on either side of me. When he caught us my friend told him, I was too drunk and had been sick so they were taking me home. This obviously wasn’t true but it was enough to make him leave us alone. We left the club as we were too scared to continue the night. He rang me repeatedly on my way home so I blocked his number. I saw him another time at the cash point on the way to uni. I crossed the road so he wouldn’t see me.

MeganS30

| 26th May 2020

On my run down a narrow canal path a man blocked my way multiple times. I moved left and he moved left. I moved right and he moved right. Then he laughed at me, pleased to have intimidated me I guess.