teen

sommer

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I had been friends with this boy every since I was around 10. I am now almost 17 (we stopped talking about a year ago) and I can never get what he did to me out of my head. I developed romantic feelings for him and he used that to take advantage of me. I let him use me because I just liked him and thought it was “normal”. He would pressure me to send things and I always did it because I thought that I owed it to him. I would cry almost every night about how uncomfortable and violated I felt by him. I felt used and disgusting and I thought it was my fault the whole time. I still can’t ever get what happened out of my head. I trusted him, he was my best friend and then he sexually harassed me multiple times. He would tell me that I didn’t have to do anything if I wasn’t comfortable and that he didn’t want to be creepy but then at the same time would relentlessly text and bother me about sending stuff. I hate how hes still friends with all my friends. I hate how he can carry on with his life while im still stuck on what he did to me. I hate how much anger I hold within myself because of it. Im sick of being told that not all men are bad because at this point I dont care. I will generalize all men and I do it for my safety. I do it to save the little sanity I have left

sommer

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I had been friends with this boy every since I was around 10. I am now almost 17 (we stopped talking about a year ago) and I can never get what he did to me out of my head. I developed romantic feelings for him and he used that to take advantage of me. I let him use me because I just liked him and thought it was “normal”. He would pressure me to send things and I always did it because I thought that I owed it to him. I would cry almost every night about how uncomfortable and violated I felt by him. I felt used and disgusting and I thought it was my fault the whole time. I still can’t ever get what happened out of my head. I trusted him, he was my best friend and then he sexually harassed me multiple times. He would tell me that I didn’t have to do anything if I wasn’t comfortable and that he didn’t want to be creepy but then at the same time would relentlessly text and bother me about sending stuff. I hate how hes still friends with all my friends. I hate how he can carry on with his life while im still stuck on what he did to me. I hate how much anger I hold within myself because of it. Im sick of being told that not all men are bad because at this point I dont care. I will generalize all men and I do it for my safety. I do it to save the little sanity I have left

celia

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I started a new job at Jimmy John’s. It was going alright, but as it often happens I noticed some things that I wasnt sure were strange or not. The manager of the store was very nice, but sort of slow, and turns out he couldn’t read well. I always worked alone with an older man who trained me, and he would make the manager laugh. It seemed that he was the manager instead of him. I was almost always completely alone with him. He started to call me “baby.” I could feel him staring at my ass when I bent down, and was afraid to do so. There was a backdoor to where I would take smoke breaks. One time I went back, and his truck was parked with the car door trapped right next to the door to the smoke area. He was sitting in his car, his body every close to the door I had just opened. He invites me in, and talked about taking a ride sometime. He pointed to me where he kept the booze. I quit after a week, and told the manager over the phone, and he was surprised and very sorry. I started to realize that my trainer most likely had complete control over the store, as the manager was slow and wouldnt be able to read the employee conduct guidelines. He could tell him anything he wanted. The next week when I picked up my last check, terrified, I noticed that there was a new young, pretty teenage girl being taught by him-alone. The cycle continues. If I hadn’t already been sexually harassed at the two other jobs that I’d had previously, I wouldnt have been as quick to quit. Self doubt and fear kept me at the other jobs, and the harrassment had continued to get worse. I dont know what would have happened if it had been my first experience.

celia

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I worked at a cafe where most of us were pretty teen girls. There was an older cook in the back who I thought was pretty cool. One day he was obviously drunk, and all of the servers knew, but no one did anything about it. I think my manager was just desperate. I went in the back to dump out the mop water and he followed me, making sexual comments. When I bent over to poor it out, he took out his phone and took a picture of me bending over. I was in shock, I dont even remember if I asked him to delete that. The work environment was to program us into never making a scene, always smiling, doing anything to make the customer happy, and pretending that everything was pleasant. From prior experience, like almost being blinded by chemicals (breaking OSHA regulations for eye wear) and having to go through extensive eye tissue treatments from corrosion,I am certain my female boss would not have done anything, and would pretend nothing had happened. Other girls have told me of similar harassment from him, and one of them told and nothing was done about it.

Ying Yue

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I was sitting in my Computer Science class logging onto my computer when I heard some boys making sexist comments about how “women should stay in the kitchen” and “if ahything has gone wrong within a home, the wife will be behind it”. naturally, I was upset by these comments but chose not to say anything since I was the minority (there were about two females in the room at the time). What made it worse was when a guy I knew relatively well started openly slagging women off in front of me, knowing my views on feminism and how women should be treated – equally. I didn’t know what to do, but I decided to challenge him. He began saying even worse things to all the girls in the room. Finally, the most horrible thing happened. My friend – a girl I’d know for about five years – began to laugh and agree with him, saying things such as: “Oh, good one!” (referring to his joke) and other such comments. I got so upset that I ran from the classroom at the end of the lesson. I know that this situation wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been, but I’m just so fed up of people thinking that it’s funny to slander women, and for others to agree just because they’d get retribution if they didn’t. Sometimes, I feel like I have no voice, and even if I do, people forget what I’ve said and reverted to their old ways. I’m just…tired. So done with their crap. – Ying Yue, teenager

Abigail

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My first incident was when i was only 11/12. I went to meet my friend in town and it was a really hot day so I wore shorts and an off the shoulder top. Old men stared at me as I walked down the street, I’ve never felt so intimidated and disgusted. Another time i was with my friend, we are teens btw, we were waking to my other friends house, when a car comes down the road and slows down by us. The guys honked their horn at us and started speeding off. My friend was so used to it as it is the ‘norm’ in our society- I was absolutely disgusted and shocked. I stopped walking and was like”what . The. Hell!” And flipped them off . My friend just said as we are Asians that we sre fetishised in society but they are pedophiles and perverts. It’s the 21st century.

leo

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I’m 13 years old and I regularly get shouted at by boys and girls from the state school a few streets down from mine (an all girl’s private school). I have short hair and identify as queer and when i walk home from school, I get called ‘gay’ and a ‘dyke’. A few days ago some girls ran after me and my friend (who also has short hair) and pointed at two boys who were part of a larger group. She told me that the boys found us attractive, while the large group and girl next to her giggled. Sensing that this was a joke- boys tend to find me ugly because of my short hair and masculinity- I just said ‘I’m gay’ and walked away with my friend. The girls squealed so loudly, I felt genuinely apologetic for the public. I hate being humiliated by groups of teenagers and made fun of by boys for not being ‘feminine enough’. I’ve had a lot of issues with my gender identity and it makes me sad when i get called ‘he’ in an insulting way or when the idea of a boy liking me is ridiculous to others. I got catcalled by four men in a furniture van on my way to Sainsbury’s and my mum has experienced the same kind of public humiliation being french and made fun of for that. It’s happening more and more often around where I live and I’m realising that I have to be cautious of who I tell about my sexuality. I’m afraid that I will be physically hurt if I walk home from school alone, but there is no alternative way to walk home- I have to walk past the hill at the bottom of the school where they gather.