If you aren't familiar with the term 'street harassment' this is defined as any "unwanted comments, gestures, and actions forced on a stranger in a public place without their consent and is directed at them because of their actual or perceived sex, gender, gender expression or sexual orientation."
I can remember quite clearly my first experience of cat-calling, I was only 13 and I was walking by myself at night. I was wearing my pe kit as I had been playing football in town and I was walking to meet my mum to get picked up. A car drove past, honked the horn at me and then out the window I had obscenities shouted at me by a 30 year old man. For a young girl, this was terrifying. I instantly felt uncomfortable and like my entire body had been exposed. It was terrible and I was only 13.
Only a few weeks ago, I was travelling home from my friends house,. I had a 30 minute wait until my train arrived and I ended up sitting on this one platform, where I happened to be the only female there. This was fine and I didn't really care. I then began to receive various offensive comments about my appearance and how I looked "very sexy" from 2 large group of young males who continued to shout derogatory terms at me. I just wanted to go home and I attempted to ignore it as I just didn't want the situation to escalate. However, it continued to get more threatening and uncomfortable. I sat down next to this guy, hoping that he would notice what was happening and help me. He ignored what the young males were saying to me and they just continued. One boy even took a picture of me with his phone (the flash went off) whilst I sat praying the train would arrive soon. Luckily my train arrived and I managed to get a seat in a different carriage to these boys but it was horrible experience.
The fact that NO ONE on the train platform, who could clearly see the harassment I was receiving, did anything about it was infuriating. I had to sit and ignore it (which was almost impossible) whilst I was made to feel scared and insecure. I was left feeling so defeated. I was stuck in this train station that I had not been to before, I didn't know where the official train personnel were (so I could find them to ask for help) and I didn't know what to do. I wanted to stand up for myself and tell them to leave me alone but I was terrified about the potential for this situation to turn very sour.
For me, I have been cat-called before and sadly I am used to it now. I also know that most of my friends have experienced street harassment (we are all 18/under 18) and it is heartbreaking. I feel like I now cannot walk down the streets at night by myself for fear of harassment or even worse. It should not be like this. I would like to say I am a assertive young woman and typically, if I am in an uncomfortable situation I would vocalize my opinions. Yet in this situation I was speechless. I didn't know what to do and all I did was attempt to ignore the crude and vulgar terms they were throwing my way. I was afraid and I should not be made to feel afraid.
I also understand that it is not just women that cat-calling occurs to. This issue is widespread across all perceived sex, genders, gender expressions or sexual orientation. It is a huge problem and it is causing society to become crude, judgmental and it allows fear to establish itself in many people whom this horrible situation could happen to.
If you haven't already, you should read 'Everyday Sexism by Laura Bates' she created this book in order to show the various forms of sexism in day-to-day life. It is an interesting and heartbreaking read, especially I have experienced many similar things featured in the book. As an 18 year old woman, it infuriates me when people claim street harassment is not an issue. So many people have to deal with it on a daily basis and we need to educate people to prevent this from continuing.
I know for a fact, that the boys who were cat-calling me in that train station were at least 5 years younger than me. They were young. The fact that these young males think it is acceptable to degrade anyone based on their looks or appearance (or sexual orientation/gender expression) is unbelievable.
WE NEED TO EDUCATE YOUNG PEOPLE THAT CAT-CALLING AND STREET HARASSMENT IS NOT ACCEPTABLE.
I am going to provide a few statistics (from the Stop Street Harassment website) as I think it's particularly interesting and heartbreaking what the scale of this issue is;
- So in the USA in 2014, 65% of women had experienced street harassment.
- Following a survey of 93000 LGBQT individuals living in the European Union, half (that is around 46500 people) have admitted to avoiding public spaces sometimes because of the street harassment they receive.
- In 2012, Patrick Ryne McNeil surveyed 331 gay and bisexual men from around the world, asking about their experience with street harassment and about 90% said they are often always harassed or made to feel unwelcome in public spaces because of their perceived sexuality.
- In 2002 in Beijing, China, a survey of 200 citizens revealed that 70% had been subject to a form of sexual harassment (58% said it had occurred on a bus).
- In 2004, 64% of women living in Tokyo, Japan, in their 20s/30s said they had been groped while commuting. In 2008 in Tokyo, there was 2000 reported cases of groping alone and this is an under-reported crime.
- More than 37% of females in the USA have had a stranger masturbate at or in front of them at least once in public.
- 75% females in the USA have reported of being followed by an unknown stranger in public.
We need to stop street harassment and it all starts with education. I know that the boys in my year at school were never taught to not harass people. But the girls were taught what to do if a male / or anyone harasses you. This is so wrong. Street Harassment is wrong. We must stop it through the increased awareness and education about what Cat-calling is.
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