Fuck your own ass!

A huge, tall guy approached my friend as she was standing on the train platform; he bent down and said in her ear: "I just want to FUCK YOU IN THE ASS. What's so wrong with that?" SO DISGUSTING. -Michelle

Everyday I Get Hollered At...

I feel as though everyday I get hollered at, honked at, or even "undressed" with someone's eyes. In no way am I trying to imply I am particularly gorgeous, however I feel very uncomfortable with the amount of sexual harassment that goes on daily in my life. Recently I had a guy go as far as to stalk me, even show up at my house! - from Natick, MA

DANGER: SLIMY MEN WITHOUT A CLUE

Two of my friends and I were walking down the street near the beach. I saw a sleazy guy staring at me with a huge grin on his face, then as I walked past him, he called out to his friend to look at us. His friend ran over to us and asked if we'd take a picture with him. I took charge after my friend hesitantly said sure, and told him FUCK NO!!Then we walked away and he took a few steps toward us again, then stopped with a big grin on his face and said "I didn't mean to scare you." -Mandie

SUCKA!!

It's freaking HOT outside. i'm wearing a tank top and shorts, eating an ice cream, having a good fucking day, walking home from the T on cambridge street, and A GROUP of about five guys, from a delivery company of some kind -? i noticed their truck on the street... so, they're standing on some porch steps and smoking, and they start smiling at me as i get closer - and i think, fuckin' A. and i look straight ahead and try to just walk past, but not fast enough: "I GOT SOMETHING FOR YOU TO SUCK ON!!" And then they laughed. like it was the funniest thing in the world. How can they NOT notice their resemblance to a pack of wild dogs? -Alexis

Coffee Shop of Horrors

So, I step into a little cafe down Cambridge Ave. heading towards Harvard, and I couldn't help over-hearing some guy pestering one of the female barristas. By her quick response of having to clean the back room - I'd guess this wasn't the first time he had bothered her - but, he continued to pressue her into having a conversation with him. He wanted to know when she was going to do a film with him. She was obviously uninterested, saying she was shy and didn't want to be in front of a camera. He continued, saying she would be great on film and that he could make a life for her out of it. She told him she has other plans for her life - she wants to be a teacher or a lawyer. He tells her, incredulously, that these things are hard, require intelligence, and require tests (because, of course, all blonde female service employees are terminally unintelligent - I was livid)! At this point I feel like I have to leave, or I'll end up battering him over the head with an icy bottle of Sobe from the cooler. She was totally handling the shitty situation, but I wished the man knew in the first place that he was injuring the image of men everywhere (and the film industry). I was fuming for days! -Tal

Even the laundromat isn't safe

I was walking out of the laundromat tonight with my arms full of groceries I'd purchased next door at Star Market and my detergent. A guy was walking out in front of me, and he paused on the sidewalk while I then walked past. I heard him behind me and instinctively held onto my detergent, thinking it might be a good weapon. Too bad I was almost right. "Um, excuse me." I stop and sort of turn to see him. He's a good foot taller than me. My mace is in the bottom of my purse. "I've noticed you around the neighborhood. I don't want to be weird or anything, but I thought I should introduce myself since we're neighbors." Well, might not have been so goddamn creepy if it wasn't 9pm and dark as fuck on that street. Women make excuses all the time about why the guys don't mean it, but you know what? Even if this guy is dumb as fuck and doesn't know how creepy that is, too bad. That is so scary and stupid to follow someone in the dark, at night. If that isn't harassment, I don't know what is. So I couldn't get my camera out because I wanted to just get away, so I said, "Um, okay, but actually, this is weird, and I'm gonna go now. Bye." I walked into traffic so he wouldn't follow me. When was the last time you had to walk into a busy street in the middle of the night to avoid some dude who wants to hit that shit? - Sick of being afraid

Craigslist Cyber "Snap"

Dear Online Pervert, Minding my own business on craigslist...guess what you proved? Public harassment happens everywhere!! Good thing there's an online blog to deal with jerks like you. When I ride the T, I have tried not to get pissed at weird guys staring at me. I have tried to downplay it, thinking that I'm being paranoid, even though it still made me uncomfortable - even made me move to other parts of the train. But NOW, now that you have also PROVEN how sick these men can be, I am no longer going to second guess myself; I am going to whip out my camera. You made a big mistake, asshole. The gig is up, for all you guys. You even appear to know that it's wrong, and yet you do it anyway? There's no excuse for this. And another thing, when a woman flips you off, NO MEANS NO: "So let's just get the embarrassing fact out on the table. Yes, I was staring at you on the Metro. Yes, to be more specific, at your taut, luscious breasts. True, I did pretend to drop my Blackberry so I could look up your skirt (and magenta is just about my favorite panty color!). And we can further stipulate that, at some point during my staring, I was, in fact, hard. But there's so much more to me that you should know. I write poetry. I read to the elderly. I give to Amnesty International. And I am incredible in the sack. Incredible. Please, oh please fair Metro beauty, don't hold my lewdness against me. Yes, I undressed you with my eyes. And yes, in my fantasy I had you bent over the lap of the half-asleep old guy beside you, from which position I mercilessly diddled you to the shocked cries of our fellow passengers. I'm sorry it was so obvious. I knew I should have whacked off in the shower this morning. But be that as it may, can't you give our love a chance? I'm willing to overlook the bird you shot me as you got off the Metro; can't you overlook my totally inappropriate boner? Isn't love worth it?"

Why do you hate me?

I have to holla all the time! This time, I am walking home from class. A man with headphones on seems like he has somewhere to go. Not bothering anyone, walking along. When he gets next to me, he screams, "Hey WOMAN!" And this is not an average "woman." This is an angry "woman." Like Woman killed his mom or something. Thank God there were other people around, and the guy who yelled never missed a beat, he just kept on walking. -Laura

Allston creeps

I walk to and from the T stop (Griggs St/Long Ave) almost everyday to get to/from class. There is a middle aged man who always waves at me, and with his creepy grin, says "hi." I usually just ignore it and keep walking. I still hold the naive belief that maybe if I ignore him, he'll stop (hasn't in the last 2 years). Well, the other day, he is sitting with a friend. I try my best to pretend they are not even there, but the Hi Guy looks at his friend, and says loudly, "Oh, she's NICE" and they proceed to chat about me (and not my personality, I assure you) as I walk by. When I throw a look, I get the usual "Hi." Ugh!

On a mission

Mission District, June 14, 2pm, Dude in blue hat "Nice specimens." Too bad you weren't nice mens (ha, get it?), and boy, wouldn't they love to see my under a microscope?! Harassment is rife in this area, and I'm sick of it. Why can't I walk down the f-ing street, guys? - Macy, San Francisco, CA

Flying the friendly skies?

This is a long holla because sexual harassment is complex. I took a flight from Boston to San Francisco via Detroit on Friday. This seemed simple, and because of the long journey, I dressed down - kinda hipster, kinda comfy. Now, there are two ways (at least for this explanation) to look at someone. As I sat in the plane, sixth row, everyone passing me to get to their seats, the awkward looks started. These were not the staring-off-into-space glances you might get as people walk by with nowhere else to look. These were stares. At me. And my body. After I'd already endured the mass of hostile, middle-aged men who were the "elite" fliers that had mobbed the gate prior to boarding, I was pretty fed up. But I figured the worst was over. I was wrong. About twenty minutes before the end of the flight, I felt eyes on me again. I looked up, and across the aisle, my eyes met those of a man who was apparently trying to stare into my soul. We were only separated by two other guys (neither of whom was inappropriate), but after sending over dirty looks and angry stares back, I finally took this: It was perhaps the one time he'd bothered to look away. Next time, dude, look out the window you're so lucky to sit next to. You made an otherwise innocuous flight awkward and stupid - two things you undoubtedly are. Ass.

Working the Corner

I wish I had known about HollaBackBoston just a few hours earlier because I would have gotten a picture of this. I was standing at the NE corner of Commonwealth and Babcock last evening at 6:10 PM when I saw two men in a car stop at the light on Commonwealth, waiting for it to turn green. It was hard not to notice them since there was music blaring out their window. I then followed their eyes to see that there was a woman walking in the opposite direction from where they were heading on my side of the sidewalk. She was talking on her cell phone, minding her own business, when the one nearest us leaned out the window and yelled out, "Girl, you lookin' fine!" She ignored him and looked embarrassed that the person on the other end of the line might have heard him. She kept walking on and these guys stared at her for a little bit, then turned their attention to a group of high school students who were waiting to cross the street. Thankfully the light turned green before they could harass anyone else. - alejandro

Men holla back!

About ten years ago, I was a driver for anti-choice Domino's Pizza in Philadelphia. After coming back from a delivery one night, I parked my car on South Street, across from our fine establishment. An "attractive-by-society's-standards" woman was walking by my car, and I am embarrassed to say I did turn and look at her for a moment after she passed by. I felt a bit guilty during the moment, but not as guilty as I did a moment later... I crossed the street to go back for my next delivery assignment, and passed a guy who had obviously seen me looking at this woman. He said to me something like, "Wow, she's hot, huh?" "Shit," I thought to myself. "Not only have I participated in the ogling of a woman, I've role-modeled it for this other guy! Quick, Ben, think of something that's pithy and will make a difference..." (This whole train of thought took place in about half of one second, as the guy continued to walk past me and my window to say something also was passing. So I said the first thing that came to mind... "Yeah, but I'll bet she has a PhD in astrophysics or something. I'll bet she's smarter than either of us!" "Probably right!" he said, and continued on. Since then, I've thought of so many other things I could have said that would have been better. But mostly, I thought to myself that I just shouldn't have stared at her in the first place. - Ben

There is no "T" in "drunk"

I don't know what it is about drunk dudes on the T at night. I usually can't tell if they're even with anyone because of the crap they say to any woman within earshot. So I'm on the train with my friend, who's pretty tough but seems like an average woman if you just glance at her. It's probably 11pm, and we're riding home from a concert. Enter drunk dude and woman he's trying to romance. He's talking about currency, like how five quarters equal a dollar-twenty five or something, and suddenly he's talking to my friend. And because he's wasted and apparently not with the other girl (who might otherwise keep him in line...though you never know, I guess), he will NOT leave my gal pal alone. I'd never seen this before from her, but instead of reacting, she just stared straight ahead. Like this amazing blank stare that made me want to crack up because at first, the guy didn't seem to notice. Then, he got mad because my friend was obviously ignoring him. He made a comment about people from New York (what?!) and tried his luck with the other woman again until they got off the train. Meanwhile, my friend suddenly struck up a meaningless front conversation with me, and we pretended to talk while I managed to hold it together until they left. Once they were gone, I cracked up. And she sighed. The sigh was because this happens every single day. And she knows it.