Hey there! I'm sure you're getting a ton of emails since the DCist post. I was actually interested in writing about street harassment in DC but was disappointed to find so little action on HollaBackDC.
Anyway, a while ago I was walking by New York Avenue NW and 6th St NW and some guy actually started following me and yelling things about how he wanted to go on a date, then started yelling at me for not talking to him. I'm not a confrontational person and my usual response to people who yell at me is to just ignore them but this guy was following me until I finally yelled at him to get the hell away from me or something to that effect.
To contrast that with an experience in New York City, my boyfriend and I went to see a play one night in NY and wandered around afterwards. When we were waiting for the light to change to cross the street, a young guy yelled at him, "Hey, is that your girlfriend? You're a lucky guy!!"
I think the experience in New York was okay - I didn't feel threatened at all. Being followed by a guy I don't know in DC - threatening.
Also, one day when I was standing outside of my house [in Shaw], a woman was asking me how I felt about the neighborhood because she was interested in buying a condo. I talked to her for a few minutes about how I didn't think it was too bad when a group of boys came up behind me. One of them slapped my ass and they all ran away giggling. Classy, huh?
Thanks for listening!
So for all the people who say "ignore it" and "who cares," please realize that this crap DOES HAPPEN in DC! Instead of putting each other down and arguing with one another, we need to stick together and fight against this problem!
2 comments:
I've been a target of the ass slap group before. They seem to wait around the CUA metro and go after girls as the head downtown. It's disgusting and no one does anything about it.
Oh, great...I use that Metro station regularly, too. Nice to know ass-gropers are ruining the peaceful atmosphere of Brookland.
That Metro is fine in the day time...many people heading to work or college students going places. At night it's a different story...rowdy kids, men loitering around and not much security detail. I would like to get the community involved in resolving that issue.
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