Another humiliating experience on the redline :
Saturday night around 10:30 pm, I'm waiting at the Lake Street subway for the train. Lots of folks are milling around.
A guy sidles up to me and mumbles a sexual invitation. He smiles and makes a comment to a couple of buddies. I tell him I'm not interested and walk away, followed by his "mmhmm, awww yeah, look at her ass" etc.
About two minutes later, I feel someone behind me. One of his buddies is about 4 inches from me with his nose up towards my hair. I walk away again, hearing the guy say something about "oh yeah, she sure smells good" and a few other vulgar comments about what other parts of me he'd like to smell. As I walk away, cheeks burning, another guy does quietly tell the guys to "come on." The sniffer's friends berate him for freaking me out and making me walk away.
The guys continue to follow after me making nasty comments about how maybe I think I'm too good for them, and I continue to walk down the train platform until the train comes. Then, when it does come, I bolt about three cars down to make sure I don't have to endure another 20 minutes in the closed train with these assholes.
As much as it pisses me off that I never came up with a better way to deter these guys than to ignore them and walk away, it sucks that none of the other 100 people on the platform did anything either.
~Elana
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Friday, June 22, 2007
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Chicago memories & lessons learned
I was born and raised in Chicago, and my harassment experiences in this city have been pretty traumatic. I left Chicago to go to college in Alabama and Florida. The harassment down South didn't hold a candle to the aggression I get here in my hometown.
I was born with a deformity in my legs, so I'm used to people staring or yelling mean things.
I have been scared by harassers many times on public transportation.
1) On the Red Line trip home from the loop, an older man sat next to me (despite many empty seats) and kept asking every few minutes how close the 79th street stop was. He was sweaty and wearing huge dark glasses, so I knew something was wrong. When the train finally reached 79th street, I happened to turn around to watch him leave and saw him put his penis back in his pants. I realized he kept asking about 79th street to get me to turn around so he can jerk off at my face.
2) On the Blue Line a tall, fat man once again sat next to me, despite the train being FULL of empty seats, and offered me candy. (I look dangerously younger than my age, 31.) He kept trying to chat with me until I reached my stop. Since he was sitting in the aisle seat, he tried to physically stop me from leaving and asked me if I was a virgin. It was so embarrassing because a man that I had talked to before I got on the train was sitting directly behind me and did NOTHING to help me.
There have been several other incidents on public transportation in the ten years I have been
back in Chicago, and I regret that I DID NOT REPORT ANY OF THEM. However, I have learned to always sit in the aisle seat on the trains, NOT the window seat. That way I can choose who sits next to me! I've also learned never to sit in the back of the bus--assholes congregate there because it's harder for the bus driver to see what's going on in the rear view
mirror.
~Niya
I was born with a deformity in my legs, so I'm used to people staring or yelling mean things.
I have been scared by harassers many times on public transportation.
1) On the Red Line trip home from the loop, an older man sat next to me (despite many empty seats) and kept asking every few minutes how close the 79th street stop was. He was sweaty and wearing huge dark glasses, so I knew something was wrong. When the train finally reached 79th street, I happened to turn around to watch him leave and saw him put his penis back in his pants. I realized he kept asking about 79th street to get me to turn around so he can jerk off at my face.
2) On the Blue Line a tall, fat man once again sat next to me, despite the train being FULL of empty seats, and offered me candy. (I look dangerously younger than my age, 31.) He kept trying to chat with me until I reached my stop. Since he was sitting in the aisle seat, he tried to physically stop me from leaving and asked me if I was a virgin. It was so embarrassing because a man that I had talked to before I got on the train was sitting directly behind me and did NOTHING to help me.
There have been several other incidents on public transportation in the ten years I have been
back in Chicago, and I regret that I DID NOT REPORT ANY OF THEM. However, I have learned to always sit in the aisle seat on the trains, NOT the window seat. That way I can choose who sits next to me! I've also learned never to sit in the back of the bus--assholes congregate there because it's harder for the bus driver to see what's going on in the rear view
mirror.
~Niya
Saturday, June 02, 2007
extra-mean
I was riding my bike, and I came to a red light at a major intersection. I moved into the
leftmost of the two lanes so that (1) I don't block any cars that want to turn right on red and (2) I don't get cut off and killed by the cars that want to turn in front of me.
It's not unusual to get honked at by drivers zipping along in that left lane lane, even though they should be slowing down anyway because of the red light. Most of the time
drivers honk their horns because they don't know if the cyclist saw them and/or they don't know how cyclists ride in traffic and don't know what to expect.
So a guy honked at me, and I turned to yell a firm, slightly annoyed "What!" with my best I-know-what-I'm-doing-dangit look. As we both came to a complete stop, he rolled down his window and leaned way over from the driver's seat. Uh oh, I thought, there's a confrontation coming. Except he yelled the last thing I'd ever expect:
"Hey, nice legs--why's the rest of you so ugly?"
I'd never felt more insulted. Not only did I get honked at for riding a bike on the street like I'm supposed to, not only was I objectified by a stranger, but he went out of his way to call me ugly! I think I called him an asshole and blinked back tears for the next few blocks. I'm glad I finally found a place that encourages people NOT to just shake this kind of interaction off.
~submitted by Jennifer M.
leftmost of the two lanes so that (1) I don't block any cars that want to turn right on red and (2) I don't get cut off and killed by the cars that want to turn in front of me.
It's not unusual to get honked at by drivers zipping along in that left lane lane, even though they should be slowing down anyway because of the red light. Most of the time
drivers honk their horns because they don't know if the cyclist saw them and/or they don't know how cyclists ride in traffic and don't know what to expect.
So a guy honked at me, and I turned to yell a firm, slightly annoyed "What!" with my best I-know-what-I'm-doing-dangit look. As we both came to a complete stop, he rolled down his window and leaned way over from the driver's seat. Uh oh, I thought, there's a confrontation coming. Except he yelled the last thing I'd ever expect:
"Hey, nice legs--why's the rest of you so ugly?"
I'd never felt more insulted. Not only did I get honked at for riding a bike on the street like I'm supposed to, not only was I objectified by a stranger, but he went out of his way to call me ugly! I think I called him an asshole and blinked back tears for the next few blocks. I'm glad I finally found a place that encourages people NOT to just shake this kind of interaction off.
~submitted by Jennifer M.
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