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Street Harassment In The United States

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During my teenage years my younger sister worked as a cashier at a local gas station. Each day she would get off, phone home, and I would walk up to meet her on her way home. The reason for this wasn’t sentimental, it was a necessary precaution. Despite her place of work being only a brisk ten minute walk from our house, my sister couldn’t even make it home without men catcalling her as they drove by, in some cases even following her all the way to our front door. It was during this that I was awakened to the disgusting truth that even in a sleepy little town like our own, street harassment was rampant and bringing emotional and physical distress to my sisters and other women walking alone.
Street harassment, as described by author and Cornell …show more content…
“The experience of street harassment is directly related to greater preoccupation with physical appearance and body shame, and is indirectly related to heightened fears of rape.” Given that 1 in 6 women in the US are raped within their lifetime (RAINN), often it is far more important for a woman to get away from a harasser as quickly as possible than it is to retaliate and potentially have the encounter …show more content…
“As long as the interwoven construction of gender and sexuality are not interrogated in schools, as well as in larger society, there will continue to be repercussions for women as victims of harassment and violence (103).” The non-profit organization Stop Street Harassment outlines more everyday ways in which individuals can stand against street harassment, from intervening when someone else is experiencing harassment, to utilizing apps such as HollaBack to quickly report instances of

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