Location: 16th and Irving St NW, near the Columbia Heights metro
Time: Night (7:30pm-12am)

Coming home from a Monday night dance class around 11pm, I was walking towards Mt Pleasant from the Col Heights metro when I noticed a few guys catcalling every woman they walked passed. Just leering and creepily yelling “Hey gorgeous!” and when they finally got to me, I actually yelled back. For the first time.

Spurred by a recent article I had read (in all places, Cosmo), and secure in the amount of people nearby in case the guys tried to physically harm me in any way, I simply yelled “no one likes that!” The guys seemed a little surprised but mostly brushed me off with a “pssh” and kept walking, but it still felt good to use my voice and not remain silent as I have so many dozens of other times.

Feeling empowered: “It felt good to use my voice and not remain silent as I have so many dozens of other times.”

Then this morning, I was walking across Mt Pleasant street around 9am to go to work, when a man leeringly gawked at me and started muttering “pretty” while staring at me up and down. I kept walking past but then turned, saw him still gawking, and yelled “STOP it”. He quickly scurried around the corner. It also felt empowering.

Please note that both times, I felt comfortable in my surroundings to yell back, however if the street had been more abandoned, I likely would have just continued on my way in an attempt to not cause trouble that may lead to my physical harm.

Emphases by CASS.
Submitted 7/9/13 by “Beth P.”

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