Photo by grendelkhan via flickr

I was on my way to grab something to eat at Subway two weeks ago. I was feeling pretty because I’d dressed up nicely to spend the day with my friends (dressing up is something I rarely do.) So I cross the street an I see this man walking towards me and I just have this feeling he’s gonna say something to me. I turn up the music in my headphones and I stare straight ahead.

At this point we’re both waiting for the light to change and of course, he starts saying something. I ignore him but he keeps on talking. I dunno why I didn’t just ignore him – he was kind of leaning in towards me and I always think I need to at least acknowledge these people in case one day I decide to ignore the wrong person. So I give him my most ‘no bs’ look and say “excuse me?” And he tells me how nice I look today. So I say thanks and look away again. He asks if I have a boyfriend and says if I do he’ll leave me alone. I lie and tell him I do and he laughs and says “awww, man. Well you have a nice day, beautiful.”

At this point the light finally changes and then I quickly head across the street. As I’m crossing he shouts “are you in school? Do you go to Howard?” Like wth? This particular incident really angered me. Not that he was particularly rude, but I sensed something was kind of ‘off’ about him. And I’m 22 years old, but most people think I’m 17 or 18. Dude was clearly over 50.

Why do these old men think they can go after these young girls in the street and that it’s okay? It’s so disturbing. I hate that sometimes I feel like I can’t dress up and feel great about myself (just for me) without feeling uncomfortable because strangers feel the need to make comments (however positive they are) on my appearance. It makes me want to bum around in sweatpants all the time, but then again I’ve been catcalled at in sweatpants before too. Ugh.

Submitted by Ashyoolee on 3/30/2010

Location: Silver Spring

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