I want to walk in peace.

I want to know if there’s a committee for street harassers to get together and come up with inane things to say to women from street corners and from the comfort of their cars. I have the hardest time believing they think anything they say sounds clever.

Today, while walking home from the train station, some guy in a white car with MD plates (didn’t get the number) yelled “Yo!” at me. Then not even seconds later, a guy in a silver SUV, DC plates DD 3703, yelled something that sounded like “Hey, Puss!” at me. Huh?

I’d love to be able to walk to and from the train station in peace for once.

Location: NE

Submitted by Anonymous

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Bike Harassment in DC

This week we wanted to find out if individuals experienced harassment while biking around DC so we asked and this is what folks told us:

yeah, this happens to me every once in a while (i live in mount plez; commute downtown on bicycle). when i started riding in the city, i didn’t know what i was doing, and it showed. male couriers occasionally offered unsolicited advice about how to ride. one fit courier, while dropping me on 15th st, yelled at me to “raise that saddle, baby.”

these days, the comments usually come when i’m walking or carrying my bike. men occasionally make condescending comments, asking me if i need help or mechanical assistance. other times it’s mildly sexual. once i picked up my road bike and carried it across 14th st; you’d think i’d lifted a refrigerator judging from the “you’re so strong, honey!” comments from the peanut gallery. while walking my bike, the comments sound more like, “hey girl, let me ride your bike,” “how long can you ride,” “do you ride fast,” etc.

i’d say to avoid comments like these, get on the  bike and dust ‘em! Submitted by A.S.

Photo by dionhinchcliffe via flickr

A long time ago I was a bike messenger in DC…. One day while relaxing at DuPont Circle, a male friend of mine came riding up frantic, as he had just been groped and hollered at by some women in a car. I started laughing. The other guys were consoling said friend with comments to the tune of “That happened to me once!”

It was noticed that I was laughing, and I was asked why I thought it was so funny that my friend was assaulted by a passenger in a car driving so close as to really menace running him over while trying to grab his butt. My response was “because it happens to me almost every single day.” In addition, I was usually groped multiple times a day in elevators.

I guess its easy to assault women who, such as a bike messenger, you are unlikely to have contact with again. Plus, a guy in a suit just looked like a guy in a suit to me. They would have a much easier time remembering me than I would them, although I doubt they put that much thought to the matter. Submitted by Jen