Young

Rose

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when this happed to me is was 14 years old and hadn’t even reached puberty yet. i was biking to school alone because my friend was sick. and a group of 5/6 guys with scooters yelled at me “nice ass” i wanted to ignore it because it scared the living sh*t out of me, and i heard about things like this happening before. when i ignored them they starded yelling stuff like, “fucking react” “yeay, bike harder bitch” “we’ll get you”, they were 5 years older than me, whith more people and they had scooters while i had a bike. i was shaking the rest of the ride to school. when i aksed my friends if they ever had something like that pretty much all of them did

Rey

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This is the first time I remember experiencing sexism. I would have been four or maybe five – I was at school and we were drawing our favourite soft toy with coloured chalk. I was sitting next to a boy who looked over at my work, and saw what colours I was using (red and yellow). He turned to me (and as I said I was four or five so I can’t remember the exact words) and tells me that I should only be using “girl colours”, meaning pink and purple. Of course, because I was so young I didn’t contemplate it much, but I remember thinking: “Why are there only two girl colours, while the boy colours are the whole of the rest of the box? And why can’t I use them?”.

Max

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I took a job at a convenience store which sells a lot of alcohol. I’d been working there for a week when I was left in the shop by myself on a busy saturday evening. Where I worked wasn’t sketchy at all, just the occasional drunk. But a middle-aged man came in with his friends, jeering and shouting. When he sees me behind the till, he immediately leans over the counter, puts a hand on my shoulder and asks if a ‘pretty lady’ like me has snapchat. I politely say no, and don’t bother to correct him that I’m a trans-man. He tried to slip me his number when i told him i had a girlfriend and wasn’t interested. He starts shouting in my face, calling me a faggot, slut, etc, and insisted i was just playing hard to get. I then refused to serve him, At which point he said he was going to cut my throat after i finished work, before leaving. I called my manager as soon as he left, and all he said was “You should expect it” and chastised me for overreacting to a regular customer, and it was just an empty threat. I left that job within the hour, and I had to get my flatmates to escort me home. The guy was waiting, but seeing my male flatmates made him back off.

Evie

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When I was 12 (yes twelve years old) I was enjoying the fountains in Vegas when I indignantly assaulted. While I was standing only a good two feet away from my parents an older man, most likely in his thirties started to feel me up and touch me extremely inappropriately. I’m all honesty someone probably noticed and at that noticed the worried look on my face. You would not believe how much I wanted to turn to my father and alert him if the situation, but I didn’t. I wish I’d nothing else that I would of told someone turned around and screamed so that I could have peace of mind. Because I was too scared to do anything he presumed I was enjoying the invasion of his fingers and the breath in my neck. The walk home after that incident was probably one of the worst in my life, trying to hold back tears as I felt the pain in my groin. Not even a year has passed and at least five incidents just like this has occurred. So, if I can pass on any knowledge to you it is that if you have the power to control a situation use it, or you will find yourself regretting it emmensly.

Leoni

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I’m 16, on two occasions when I was 14/15, I’ve been whistled at and cat called in the streets by much older men. 20-30+ year old men cat calling a 15 year old girl on the streets. I never thought anything of it until now, even at this age it seems as though it’s almost expected, I laughed about it. Why do people think acting like this is acceptable?

Bev

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I am a university student working weekends at a night club in a city, so I am no stranger to harassment. However, one night in particular saw two consecutive incidents that made me feel genuinely worthless. First of all (not that it matters) I was covered from head to toe in black clothing, the only skin visible was my head in which I had a pair of large dark headphones. To say I was not provocatively dressed is an understatement. At about 2am I began was walking towards my bus stop when a man walked towards me, grabbed me, lifted me off my feet and proceeded to bring me over to a group of his friends. He told me he loved me and that I was the most beautiful thing he had seen. Not only did I feel out of control I just felt generally powerless and unsafe. I did not find it as funny and jovial as he or his friends did and once he had put me down he tried to reason with me and shake my hand. As I reached forward with me hand he attempted to pull me in for a hug and subsequent kiss. About 10 minutes later as I stood waiting for the bus another man similarly about 15-10 years older came over to me and asked for a lighter. I responded politely that no I couldn’t help him, all the while leaving my headphones on. This man was evidently intoxicated and stood inches from my face. He showed no regard for my disinterest in talking to him and he stayed for a long time questioning me. He asked me from what part of the country I was from and acted surprised when I told him because he ‘didn’t think there were good looking girls’ from where I was from. During these two incidents not one person batted an eye or intercepted. I mean, what was I to expect as a female teenager walking the streets late at night on my own? I understand that a lot worse has happened to young women but I think that over years of feeling objectified and having these things happen completely out of my control scared me greatly.

Lara Solis

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Hello, my name is Lara Solis, i’m from Costa Rica and i am fiteen years old. i receive abuse every other day from construction workers that work near my home. i have to walk past this place everyday, and it goes all the way from: “you have very pretty eyes” to “venga mami y me la cojo” (translation: come here and i’ll fuck you). this started when i was about thirteen and apparently a school uniform doesn’t scare men as much as it should. However, i don’t want to speak about older men in this post, but about something that happened to me when i was twelve and want to share because i only just realized i was wrong. I was talking one day with my friend and she told me that this other kid named Adriano had said something about me that was very mean. I asked her what iy was as and she told me he said: “Man, Lara has a smoing hot body and i would hit that all day, if you could erase her face” i thought it was just talk I never thought it was sexism until today when i thought to myself: “i have never heard a woman say that about a man, and i would never say that myself” is it sexism?

Madison

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“Why is it that’s that young boys feel as if it’s appropriate to shout obscenities at me? Am I a walking piece of meat for them? Why can’t my friend admit it’s a problem, that I shouldn’t laugh it off? Do I not deserve respect? Do I ask for it? By wearing my school uniform, am I being too sexual for males to control themselves? Why am I a bxtch for ignore them? Should I be grateful? Do I deserve that- am I simply an object? Am I simply a walking painting, for men to admire? Or am I a young woman? Do I have a future of my own- regardless of whether or not that guy likes my butt?” This is a diary entry from when I was twelve. I still remember that day. That was the day boys MY AGE harassed me. It really opened my eyes.

Madison

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“Why is it that’s that young boys feel as if it’s appropriate to shout obscenities at me? Am I a walking piece of meat for them? Why can’t my friend admit it’s a problem, that I shouldn’t laugh it off? Do I not deserve respect? Do I ask for it? By wearing my school uniform, am I being too sexual for males to control themselves? Why am I a bxtch for ignore them? Should I be grateful? Do I deserve that- am I simply an object? Am I simply a walking painting, for men to admire? Or am I a young woman? Do I have a future of my own- regardless of whether or not that guy likes my butt?” This is a diary entry from when I was twelve. I still remember that day. That was the day boys MY AGE harassed me. It really opened my eyes.