Two weeks ago, I left my martial arts/yoga studio and headed to Tenleytown Library. The library was closed, so I walked back towards the Metro, and had to walk past this creep who was begging for change on the street. When an older woman or a man walked by he simply asked them for change, but when young women were walking by he said “Ooh, come here, my beautiful, sexy queens!” He wouldn’t stop leering, looking and making comments.

At first I was going to ignore him when he started calling at me, but then I recognized him as one of the men who harassed me back in April (http://hollabackdc.wordpress.com/2009/04/27/sunday-harassers/)! He’s the one pictured in the maroon shirt in the set of photos from my April submission.

I tried to get his photo again but the photo came out poor. He told me that taking his photo was illegal. I told him that sexually harassing women on the street was illegal.

I got loud and told him that no woman wants to be treated like a piece of meat and that if I ever caught him doing that to women again, I’d make sure his “ass would get yanked off the streets and thrown in jail.” He acted like he was listening, he maintained eye contact and nodded his head, so I continued on to the Metro.

One of his buddies then comes out of a building and asks what was going on. “Shit, I ain’t know what she was talkin’ ’bout” was my harasser’s response. In one ear and out the other. Man!

The loitering, sexual harassment and indecent exposure (I’ve seen men publicly peeing at a bus stop there) from Tenley Circle to Tenleytown Metro is a problem. I wish police would take this more seriously and keep these men off the streets.

Submitted by D on 10/1/2009

Location:4400 block of Wisconsin Ave

Do you have a personal experience with gender-based public sexual harassment you would like to submit? Just click here and fill out the online submission form. All submissions are posted anonymously unless you specify.