Location: M & South Capitol Street, SE
Time: Daytime (9:30am-3:30pm)

Today, a man came up to me indicating he wanted me to take out my ear buds (I was listening to music.). He lacked front bottom teeth. He first asked if my name was Karen. It is not. He then guessed about three other names and I told him my real (first only and luckily very common) name without thinking hoping to carry on. He then asked what I was listening to and took one of my ear buds to listen to it. (I did not give it to him.)

We were near a Chinese restaurant and he told me there was a police officer inside and I should remember the number and dial it instead of 911 in the future as otherwise, criminals will know I am a ‘snitch;’ I thanked him and tried to walk away. He then started to follow me and asked my age. I stopped walking and told him I’m 30. He said he did not believe me and said I must be lying and said he thought I looked like a child and that’s why he wanted to f— me as soon as he saw me. Bewildered that he would admit that he wants to ‘f—‘ a child, I simply said “oh; ok.” He then said he wanted to ‘f—‘ me in the butt and said it wouldn’t hurt and asked if I wanted to. I said no and started walking away again. He asked if he could follow me and I said “no; thanks, but you can carry on with what you were doing.” Luckily, he did do that.

It bothers me that these people do this and then pretend they are the good guys trying to protect you from creeps. They most certainly aren’t.

Submitted on 2/18/13 by “Amanda”

Do you have a personal experience with gender-based public sexual harassment or assault?
Submit your story to help raise awareness about the pervasiveness and harmful effects of street harassment. All submissions are posted anonymously unless otherwise specified.