I Didn't Just Wake Up This Morning With A Craving
I Write To Stop Time
I got my daily dose of street harassment yesterday.
At 4.5 months pregnant, I’m still in the stomach phase of ‘I look like I ate too much.’ (Cohiba’s like: Yeah – if you ate a baby.) I was walking back to work from an afternoon coffee jaunt and these two young guys passed me. One of them yelled, “How far along are you?”
Like many women, I get shit on the street. I get harassed and leered at, and it makes me uncomfortable. It’s quite disempowering, because I don’t want that attention, but there’s not a damn thing I can do about it. I hate it. Sometimes it happens among my clients at work, a homeless day program where I have a little more leverage and can tell people to knock it off. On the street, I have to be a little more…. careful.
I was going to write an open letter to street oglers, things that I wish I could say to them. But there’s nothing I could say that they would hear. There are only things I can do right in that minute. Things that would not be aggressive or even perceived as aggressive. (‘Cause that can lead to threats.)
So I took to Google, hoping I would find some suggestions, and curated some favorites from here and here. I would love your opinions on them.
Continue reading “No Hollaback Girl Here- 11 Tips for Fighting Street Harassers”
Yesterday was one of those days I love and hate my work. We had a Christmas party for the clients, and it went really well – it was a lot of fun, and I was seeing some things I’m going to miss when I’m gone. For example, the clients were in groups playing Pictionary and one of them was trying to draw “Angels we Have Heard on High.” One of the guys said, totally serious: “Angels got high.” I was rolling with laughter, and it’s something I’m going to miss when I’m gone from here.
Then, we served lunch to anyone in the community, like we always do, and I got harassed by one of the guys. He took something I said to my boss and twisting it around sexually. I was embarrassed and angry and I put him out for the day. Things got better and I was walking to get some coffee before an afternoon meeting, and there was this guy in front of me…
I Didn't Just Wake Up This Morning With A Craving 