To ask how many women have either been sexually harassed in the street in the teenager or have a daughter who has?

[Carla786]

For context I'm Gen Z. I live in a very quiet neighbourhood & through my teens was never harassed. There's lots of building works in my area often but builders have always been fine & so has everyone else. I've never witnessed anyone else my age being harassed either (nor adult women). Some of my friends are the same, some unfortunately not (most don't live in my area)

However, I know this is not typical. I've read so much on here about people being harassed in school uniform, having daughters harassed etc. How common is this? Surveys show pretty high results too...

Was it always like this? Has it got worse or better? I've read some arguments it was worse in 70s-80s, others that online misogyny & porn has made harassment of teens worse.

All my friends, all their daughters, all my DC’s friends.

Normal area, going into town, public transport, etc etc.

Sure. Not during the school day, but certainly outside of school, by men who could either guess from the uniform that I was at school, or knew my age.

I am a lot fatter than I used to be, and I mostly wear fairly boring clothes. I like the invisibility, yes.

I’m 51 now. I’d say I’ve suffered sexual harassment in every decade. At secondary school it was constant - men shouting comments from cars (very much not just white vans). Then at work inappropriate touching. Comments on the street have never stopped

from chatting with friends I think being blonde and curvier def makes it worse but I don’t know anyone at all who hasn’t experienced this

ive also pretty much never been on a work night out where some man, usually married, hasn’t made some kind of comment/advance. which has been invited in absolutely no way

the older I get the more my opinion of men in general gets worse

Harassment started when I was 11, on a family holiday in Tenby. A man (in his 20s I guess) tried to persuade me to "go for a walk with him" in the sand dunes. I didn't know about sex but I had enough sense to run away.

Later that summer my mum sent me to a neighbour with a bag of apples from the garden. She wasn't there. Her husband pinned me against a kitchen cabinet and kissed me. I bit him and fled.

Other highlights - being sexually assaulted on a BA night flight home from LA.

It went on until my late 40s. Being post-meno and single is joyous.

Yes, in the 90s/early 00s. It hasn't happened recently. I am older (40s) and probably not as desirable as I once was. I don't hide though, I love clothes and wear skirts/dresses frequently.

I was a middle manager in a Scottish secondary. In my final year in my permanent post (2017-18 ) I had to ask the Depute to contact the local police because a man had flashed some of my senior girls, just in front of the school main entrance.

I'm actually rather proud of the girls - they pointed and laughed. He fled.

I don't think the police ever turned up at the school.

It was happening in the 60s, when I was at secondary school.

I was regularly harrassed, cat called etc by workmen, van drivers etc, and sexually assaulted on a crowded bus on my way home from school.

Actually the most disturbing incidents were when I was younger than 10. I have 4 clear memories of men (either my dad’s friends or friend’s dads) trying to get me to sit on their knee/playing with my hair/rubbing my leg. I knew even at that age it was wrong

its not all men but it is an awful lot more than most people want to admit

I've been sexually harassed 4 times in the 60s when I was a teenager . Once a male ran past me and put his hand up my skirt . Twice by father's of friends who wanted me to sit on their knee or kiss them . One serious imo . Best friends step dad came up into friends bedroom and tried to grope my friend and involve me . She attacked him and the police were called , apparently he had sexually abused her for years but she'd never told anyone . He was told to leave the house but never prosecuted. We used to see him walking around with very young girls . It's a sadness to me that she endured this and couldn't tell me .

Numerous times as a teenager – ranging from grown men telling 13-year-old me I was "beautiful" to three occasions of being flashed. Once when I was about 14 I was on the train on my own (afternoon, broad daylight) and a man probably in his 40s unzipped his pants and started masturbating next to me. I was terrified but ignored him and got out at the next stop (and never told anyone as I was embarrassed). When I was 18, a cab driver did the same thing to a friend and myself when we were on our way home after a night out. It's really grim.

I'm 51, I think I'm either a) the only woman in the country not to be be randomly harassed or b) completely bloody oblivious to it (I'm not at all disbelieving that street harassment is endemic).

As a teen in the 00’s all the time by grown men.
Lots of girls at my school had boyfriends that were 19/20/21 and we were 15/16 and no one batted an eyelid.

In my 20’s when I used to club all the time, yes also, I’ve had men lift up my top, my skirt, touch my ass, grab me - it really was awful.

On a flight home from the US (I was late 20s and on a business trip) I woke to find the man next to me had slid his hand under my blanket and between my legs.

Afterwards the stewardess said it wasn't that unusual. Men know it's one person's word against another.

A large % of men are absolutely disgusting.

I tried to over the years. It isn't about age or conventional beauty, although those things can play a part. It is about hatred and control.

Yes we had a flasher at ours once on the grass outside. I think he was chased off pretty soon. It is easier to confront someone in a group...I think if I were harassed I'd probably just ignore if possible as I instinctively fear that talking back could end up with physical aggression.

Yes, teenager/young woman in the late 90s/early 2000s (my uni days). I still avoid walking near building sites and roadworks if there are workers there now! Though haven't been shouted at for years, it's just an ingrained response to not get within shouting distance. Various other 'events' over the years, but building sites became just an obvious place to avoid, whereas the other events were in everyday situations where I couldn't have predicted them (not that I should have had to try).

i was harassed constantly pretty much every day (live in a rough area) now im fat im never harassed by men in fact im basically invisible now

I’m 56 and it was constant in the days when I used to go places. The last decade, maybe even 15 years, I haven’t noticed it. It’s probably a combination of my age, weight, and the places I (don’t) go.

I’d be surprised if anyone has got away Scot free.

DH tried to claim it wasn’t an issue on the public transport in our area because ‘he hadn’t seen it’. Idiot.

It started before I was in my teens and last happened last summer. I’m 59. Like PPs I’m surprised it isn’t 100%.

Yes to both.

Me. I’m in my 60s now but all young girls and women got harassed back in the day - school/street/office/ wherever.

Actually, in my area we had roadworks happening. Someone saw a worker catcall young school girls. She reported it and the bloke was fired.

So that was pleasing, and an optimistic sign of the times.

Yes, weekly as a teenager early 2000s. Same for my gen z sisters.

Thousands of times. Plus rape, DV, SA, coercion, emotional and financial abuse.

Only a couple of days a go an elderly man I just met groped me twice in a taxi and when I called him out he pretended he was 'looking for his bag'. His wife was sat behind us.