Photo by LesterSpense via flickr

I wish I would have known about this website as I am harassed nearly EVERY single time I ride the metro alone. I’m a very small girl, who at 18 could pass for a pre-teen, my style tends to be the reason I am always targeted. . .I dress in very bright colors, but regardless I believe that I should be able to dress as I please without having men of all ages trying to sexually harass me.

I honestly do not know where to begin. . .I’ve had men follow me, pulling out condoms demanding I have sex with them “right here, right now”, I have been fondled and followed. While sitting back and recollecting my memory I can think of one event that bothered me…

I was alone, about to slug (carpool) home from college when I stopped in Mcdonalds at the underground mall in Crystal City for a snack. . .I had a lot of items on me, as I was staying with my boyfriend for a couple days and attending school, then returning home. I was sitting alone at a table minding my business and eating when this older adult came and sat in the booth I was sitting in and started talking to me. Part of me wanted to just get up and walk away, especially when he started talking sexually, and filling his words with tons of sexual innuendos but I was afraid. . .afraid to get up and move, he intimidated me so much. I got these terrible terrible vibes. . .mentally I felt as if I could not leave.
(I have been abducted and sexually assaulted before, I tend to freeze up in situations that remind me of, and make me feel as if the outcome would be the same)

I had no phone, and my ipod touch was about to die, but luckily I was able to send a few texts to my boyfriend from my itouch. I was so afraid, as he started talking about how he wanted to have sex with me, and other disgusting sexual things.

To shorten this, my boyfriend ended up coming, told him he had 3 seconds to get up and leave, and when the man refused to my boyfriend attacked him.

Submitted by RD

Location: Metro, Blue Line

Time of Harassment: Evening Rush Hour (3:30P-7:30P)

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