10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Woman = 100+ people not leaving you the hell alone.

[andrewducker]

Oh, you might think, they're just being friendly*. But when some of those people were as creepy as the guy who walks alongside her for five minutes silently, then suddenly they all feel a lot more unpleasant to be around.

"" (Watch on YouTube)

Via JWZ.



*If, for instance, you hadn't encountered this kind of thing before. I had a very sheltered childhood, so I wasn't aware of this until I was in my late twenties. I had my own issues with street safety, but they were quite different.

Comments

[dalglir]

Yep. This kind of thing is an important reminder.

I'd spoken to an aunt who had visited NY recently and not had any troubles at all but it would seem, sadly, that that was an unusual experience.

[franklanguage]

When you get old, they start leaving you alone; when I was in my 20s and 30s, I had construction workers catcall me all the time—and yes, it did make me uncomfortable.

The thing to do, of course, is put the shoe on the other foot and catcall the guys; that can be fun.

[myka]

Your title for the post just captures it all. I just want to be left the hell alone.

I think women can generally tell when men are being genuinely friendly, and when they are being creepy. We get a gut feeling. There can be a lot of societal pressure to rationalize and explain away this feeling. "Oh I was just being friendly." Nope... I don't think any of these guys were being genuinely friendly.