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Edited on Sun Sep-16-07 09:48 PM by bliss_eternal
...I don't think you're over reaching at all. It wasn't fun or cute. I didn't feel "desirable" or "wanted" as some seem to think a woman should feel about such advances. :eyes:
It was scary and made me feel powerless, vulnerable, depressed and angry.
I've seen it all. I've had guys asking me incredibly intrusive personal questions while I waited on bus stops. I've looked them in the eye, told them point blank, "I don't know you,...not interested in knowing you,...don't want to talk to you,...leave me alone,...that's none of your business" etc. Some were taken aback that I was so direct and left me alone because of that. Others seemed to take it as a challenge, and persisted.
I've seen men circle the block repeatedly, begging me to get in their cars. :eyes: Others thought telling me the bus wasn't running that day was enough to get me to get in their car with them. :eyes: Yeah--right! One went so far as to get out of his car, in an attempt to drag me to his car.
I lived in a city and state where few people recognized street harassment, because so many people have cars and have never been exposed to it. For years, I really didn't know how to think or feel about it because of that. Other women seemed to blame me, more than empathize with what I'd experienced. :crazy: You know the whole, "well, I haven't experienced that so it can't be that bad" and" "you must be exaggerating" syndrome.
When I got to college I met women from other cities and places where everyone routinely takes public transportation. They understood and could empathize with my experiences, especially women from New York I found. Prior to that, I got the usual "...what were you wearing" or "what were you doing" shit, as if to say it was MY FAULT some asshole violated my personal space and harassed me. :puke:
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