Photo by Rob.Wall via Flickr

Interestingly enough, my experience with harassment was not completely negative. That is to say, the actual harassing was extremely frustrating, but the way my friend and I responded to it made the rest of my day.

I am a high school junior who attends an all girls school in the DC area. We have a brother school at which many girls attend classes. There seems to be something in the water at this particular school, as a majority of their boys seem to have trouble treating women with respect and dignity. A friend and I were in an afternoon class at the brother school, and so we made a point of walking over together. Occasionally, as we walked by, we would hear boys yelling at us from the upper windows. Our typical response was to ignore it and keep walking. On that particular day, however, I suppose we were simply too aggravated to just deal with it. She and I were walking over, having a perfectly civil and enjoyable conversation, when a boy began barking at us from an upper window. Yes, actually barking. It was rather bizarre. The first time, we ignored it and continued our conversation. Then he started yelling at us again. My friend and I, entirely unrehearsed, said ‘Oh, fuck you!; not quite under our breaths. We looked at each other and laughed all the way to our class, leaving behind us a very puzzled and surprised harasser. We still laugh about it now. Although the fact that I have to worry about being harassed makes me very frustrated, it feels good that I, too, have the power to stop someone with my words.

Submitted by M

Location: 14th & U St. NW

Time of harassment: Day Time (9:30A-3:30P)

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