“I’m so proud to be a part of a supportive community of women who have each others’ backs.”

Location: 7th Street, outside Verizon Center
Time: Daytime (9:30am-3:30pm)

I was walking back to the office from lunch today, enjoying the beautiful, sunny weather. I walked by a group of three men who were talking with one another on the street; as I was walking by, one of them made an inappropriate comment to me about my body.

At first I felt really uncomfortable and a little bit threatened, but I stopped and asked him why he thought he had the right to speak to me that way. We actually ended up having a fifteen-minute conversation (sometimes a fairly heated discussion, though it stayed polite) about why street harrassment makes women feel uncomfortable and why women don’t like having their bodies talked about by strangers. While I’m not sure I changed any minds, the men listened to what I had to say and said they’d think more about how their comments impacted people.

What I really want to add is a huge thank you to the woman who saw the beginning of my conversation and stopped and asked me if I needed backup, and then joined the discussion and stayed with me until the conversation ended. I really hope she reads this so that I can say thank you again – it makes me so, so happy that there are other women in DC who will stand up against street harassment  and who are willing to stop and help out other women when they’re faced with situations like this. I’m so proud to be a part of a supportive community of women who have each others’ backs.

Emphases by CASS.
Submitted 4/8/13 by “DA”

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