I developed much earlier than most girls my age and I can remember vividly one of the first times I was sexually harassed. I was 12 years old and my family and I were on vacation. We were staying at a campsite that had a really cool waterslide, the thing was that you had to ride on these mats and go down on your belly. I don’t remember why, but those were the
rules.
Anyway, my siblings and I were enjoying the waterslide when a couple of creeps decided to join us. One in particular always waited until my older sister and I went down so that he could follow us. The guard on duty made sure the next person went a considerable time after the first so there would be no collisions. Unfortunately my sister and I did not weigh as much as this pervert, and he always caught up to us and deliberately went fast enough to “accidentally” go between our legs. This weasel even had the nerve to ask my brother if I was 18 years old… um, no, I’m 12!!!!! I’m just a kid trying to enjoy the freaking waterslide on my family vacation!!!! The next time up I tried waiting till he went down first so I could go down and actually have fun, but after waiting 10 minutes, I decided I would go and hope someone else went after me. NOPE!
The creep jumps on the slide right after me and proceeds to go between my legs. I promptly got out of the pool, put my mat back, and never went back to that slide for the rest of the vacation. Unfortunately, I was too young to think that I should tell someone about it. I’m 21 now and I am still pissed he ruined what could have been a really fun and memorable
vacation.
I now go to school downtown and encounter catcalls from creeps all the time, unfortunately it is just part of my daily routine. My younger sister, on the other hand, is not as used to it. She got the whole week off for Thanksgiving break, and because I go to UIC, I never get that week
off. So I asked her if she wanted to go to class with me downtown because we hardly get to see each other and this way we would at least get to spend some time together. Well, we went to get lunch and as soon as we enter the restaurant, all eyes were on her (she is a very beautiful girl; it runs in the family ;) ).
We go up to the counter to order our food and the guy at the register was staring at her, he couldn’t even pay attention to the guy in line in front of us who was ordering. So then it is my turn to order and the cashier is still starring at my sister. (He is in his fifties and wearing a wedding band. It’s always the old, married men…) Anyway, I give my order and he interrupts me to ask me a question about my order, where if he was listening to me in the first place he wouldn’t have even had to ask it. So then after he takes my order, he asks my sister what she wants. Looking down at the floor (she is too creeped out) she answers, “The same as her”, and as we are getting our drinks he proceeds to do a once (and twice) over of her behind. This pissed me off so much for two reasons. First of all, I could tell my sister was clearly uncomfortable with this man who totally violated her with his eyes. I’m more or less used to this, but she’s my little sister, LEAVE HER ALONE! Second, I wasn’t getting the respect I deserved as a customer because he was too busy ogling her. I’m a short person, a few inches shorter than my sister, and that was only exaggerated by the complete disregard he had for me as a paying customer. I felt about 2 feet tall. This guy made us both feel like crap when all we wanted were a couple of gyros. I wish I had said something to him, but even to this day I don’t know what I would have said that wouldn’t have made the situation worse by embarrassing my sister even more. If I had known about this site back then I probably would have taken his picture.
~submitted by Liz
