Like many women, I’ve experienced street harassment. As a teenager growing up in a different country, it was an everyday occurrence to be catcalled and harassed.
Today, I had an experience that shocked me while also making me livid. I was waiting for the bus in the middle of the day (2 in the afternoon) to get to campus and this guy passing by behind me slapped my butt! I was so shocked and by the time I turned around, he was already walking off. I am proud to say that I didn’t keep quiet but shouted after him, condemning what he had done.
However, ultimately, I was acutely aware that I was powerless. I lived in one of the safest neighborhoods in the city, this was a place where traffic is always passing, but few people are walking. There were one or two other men not too far away, but no one else said anything.
It’s been years since someone has had the nerve to physically touch me like that in public, and it shook me. I hate that guys like this feel that they can do whatever they want, as if women are public property and get away with it. The worst thing is: they’re right. They CAN get away with it. There are virtually no social repercussions. This asshole didn’t even turn back around until he was well away and then I saw him turn back and smirk at me. Fucking coward.
Even worse, is that even as someone who has read a lot about rape culture, victim blaming and slut shaming, I found myself wondering whether my skirt was too clingy, whether I should have chosen a less sexy outfit. Seriously? Looking attractive to men should not mean that anyone can come up and slap your ass because he feels like it. Fucking animal.
Anyway, this is one of those experiences that seriously tests my ability to “let go”. I didn’t say anything to anyone on campus, but it was more out of shame than letting it go, because I was re-playing the incident in my mind throughout the seminar. 2 months ago