"Mmmmm, mmmm" is what you say when you look at ice cream, not ladies.

There is a construction project going on down the street from my job. Everyday at noon, when my lunch hour rolls around, the construction workers take their lunch hour. One side of the street is closed off due to the construction work being done, so they sit on the other side of the street. Anytime a woman walks by, these slugs feel it necessary to make disgusting noises like "Mmmmm, mmmm", like they are enjoying a particularly tasty dessert. Then there's always the ever popular disgusting comments such as "Mmmm. I'd like to tap that". Let's not forget the creepy sandwich method. This is when two or more losers move in really close when a woman is walking by so that she is either forced to brush up against these vile, disgusting animals, or twist sideways to avoid them. Today I decided to try something new. Usually I either ignore them, walk three blocks out of my way to avoid them or tell them to go f themselves. I decided to call my dad thinking that maybe they would leave me alone if I was talking on the phone. Yeah, that might work. Of course it didn't work, and of course my dad yelled at me that I was overreacting. I had to deal with noises including quacking, (what is that anyway), and space invasion and stupid comments. I had had enough. When I got back to my office I decided to call the number that was on the side of the scaffolding and report these losers. I'm still angry because even if you aren't physically assaulted, it still feels like a violation, but at least I did something about it rather than just being angry. Submitted by Tina

Pushed to my Limit

My latest incident happened on Saturday, Dec. 30th, passing by construction site on 3rd Ave. and 10th St. I felt "the leer", and gave the worker the benefit of the doubt by simply nodding, and looking away. He proceeded to say creepily, "Oh, fuck, that's a pretty pussy. Do you take it in the ass?" I just kept walking and shaking my head. I've lived in New York for 6 years, and I'm just tired. I live around the block, and now avoid the construction site. I'm angry at myself for feeling like it's my fault, but most of all that he can get away with it. Just found your website, and from now on, I'm going to have my phone in hand. Why do men have to be such a dissapointment sometimes? It makes me appreciate the good ones. Submitted by S.

"Compliments" aren't part of your job description, buddy.

I walk through what I call "the gauntlet" every day to and from work. It's a stretch of Canal Street from the Canal Street N/Q stop West to the river. At night, it's clogged with vendors hocking all manner of counterfeit goods and tourists getting duped. In the morning, it's an eight block march of cat callers, each seemingly less original than the one before. I never wear headphones through this walk, since I'm constantly on alert for something that could constitute a threat. One morning, I was walking the gauntlet behind a very young woman apparently on her way to work, as she was dressed in a smart business suit. We reached the half way point, when a group of men who constantly give me trouble, started to yell out to her and move toward her on the sidewalk in a threatening manner. She put her head down and continued walking, but I stopped as I pulled up to them. I looked the ring leader in the eye, a older man, late 40's, early 50's around the same age as my father. And told him "have a little respect for her and for yourself. That's not how you treat women." He told me to "take a compliment" and that I was just jealous because I'm fat (which, for the record, I'm a size 8). I told him that despite his complete disrespect for women, I hoped his daughter and wife didn't have to live with the daily fear of being sexually harassed by strangers on their way to work, or the movies or a date. I also explained that "it being part of the job" of a construction worker wouldn't fly, considering my father is a construction worker and would fire and then beat the ass of any of his employees that behaved that way. His cohorts remained silent, but as I walked away, I could hear them all making fun of him by mocking me. I've never seen the men since and I always wondered if the woman in front of me called their employer.

Construction Workers: Building Apartments, Tearing Down Women

Thursday morning I was walking back to my house from my boyfriend's with my bike. As I passed some men working on a building Franklin Avenue at Bergen Street a man standing at the bottom of the scaffolding began to say something inappropriate in reference to riding and biking and me. Most of the cat calling on my street involves the typical "hello beautiful/sweetheart," but this was more sexually aggressive and explicit. I was a bit stunned, but just continued walking back to my house. After bringing my bike upstairs, I got ready for work and began to walk back down the street towards the subway. As I approached the construction site again, I readied myself for the same guy to throw some comments at me. I was almost past him when he started saying more inappropriate things (along the lines of the "ooh baby lemme do this and that..." GROSS). At that point i turned around and said "Stop harassing me. I just want to walk down the street without being harassed. It is inappropriate to make those comments and it's rude. I am not a piece of meat and I should not be treated like one. I am a person too. Don't ever say anything like that again to me or anyone else!" What infuriated me the most is that he kept trying to say "Ok, now you have a blessed day ma'am," while I was telling him off - really condescending! After the fact, I wanted to go back and say, "I will not have a blessed day. NO THANKS, ASSWIPE!" The worst part is that I'm probably going to see that guy when I walk from my house to the subway in the mornings, and that makes me a little worried. If he thinks it's ok to say those things to ladies, who knows what else he thinks is ok to do? I hate feeling threatened on the street where I live. ARGH! If this guy continues to bother me, what should I do? Keep on telling him off? Contact the police? Carry pepper spray? Move? Submitted by GS

Greenpoint Assclown

Bad: being awakened this morning by construction workers jack-hammering the shit out of the building next door. Worse: going for a walk to get away from the NOISE and get hollered at by a(nother) construction worker who cannot control his 'nads. Good thing I had my digital camera. Line up ladies, this one is a catch... Written by Miss Heather.

The Monster Across the Street

From Brigitte: This is a photo of the building across the street from my office that has been under construction for the past year. The men working there love to whistle, clap, and holler and it just reinforces the negative stereotype of construction workers. Sometimes it's almost funny, but really it's not at all. Considering this monster looms over the office parking lot, it's pretty difficult to avoid. I'm always self-conscious when I'm within their view; I feel like I'm on display. I'm the most uncomfortable when it's early in the morning and I'm walking back from yoga. Luckily, they're negativity can't penetrate the peaceful bubble I just spent the previous hour and a half developing. Nonetheless, I felt it was time to holla back!

Olympic-Style Street Harassment

I was walking back to the Credit Suisse building from lunch through Madison Sq Park, and one walkway out was filled with construction workers on both sides. As women walked by, this group of 15+ men would hold up placards with numbers written on them (1-10)— and that's not the most ridiculous part. I asked a "ranger" in a pimped out smart cart to intervene, and he replied, "Well, what did you get? You know you're a 10 in my book". I told the security officer in my building the same thing, who answered in the EXACT same way, with an extra "baby" thrown in at the end (for good measure). Submitted by Laura and also covered by our friends at Gothamist.

Scared like a child who thinks about monsters.

One day as I walked a friend to the train station, I noticed a man in my periphery against a wall by the station, I walked her down and then noticed on my way up that the man against the wall was still there and now trying to get my attention. So oh course my first response is to ignore the bastard, but this man proceeded to follow me. Only a few feet from the station, he proceeded to use his body to corner me up against a wall. My instinct told me to push him away. However, when I pushed I was so scared that I didn't know my own strength, I shoved him back. He stumbled a few feet backwards and became enraged. I saw in his eyes that he was going to hurt me, so I ran. Of course, it was the only moment that I have seen this area so empty that I had to run and be chased a full block until I found some people on the street. They were a construction crew. I ran in between them and pointed at the crazy man chasing me. They used their body to block the crazy guy and told me to run home. As I was running home, I could still hear this crazy guy screaming at me about what he would do. As soon as I got home, I locked all the doors and thought about how frightening this was. I was scared. Scared like a child who thinks about monsters. How can one person make another person feel like this in one moment. I am truly sick and tired of this harassment. Since coming to NYC, I understand why people become agoraphobic. Enough is enough. I will not be silenced. For awhile, I tried to figure out what it is about me that lured these violators to single me out. Is it the way I walk? Is it because I am so short and small? Is it because I seem weak? Is it because of the way I dress?....In the end, why the fuck does any of this matter. It is just plain unacceptable. Enough is enough. Submitted by Michelle

Thanks for Making Me Feel Unsafe in My Own Home, Assclown

It's bad enough I have to live next to a construction site that wakes me up every morning at 7am, but as an added bonus, one of the workers has managed to make room for me in his (I'm sure very busy) harassment schedule. When I walked out my door this morning, I got to hear all the things that had crossed his mind re: my cunt since the last time I passed. And though I'm sure his boss and macho coworkers would sooner cut off his balls off than have him talk to their daughters that way, on the job all they do is laugh. Unfortunately, there's nothing I can do about it short of sending his picture to HBNYC because the guy knows exactly where I live. Thanks for making me feel unsafe in my own home, Assclown. I hope it shrivels up and falls off.

Working Overtime

This delightful gentleman saw fit to shout “Hey Mami” at me as he was working at a construction site on Powers Street. Although I stopped and took his picture, it didn’t deter him from shouting the exact same thing to yet another woman a few seconds later. If this dude wants to win over the ladies, I’d recommend he clean up his attitude… and buy some pants that fucking FIT! Submitted by Miss Heather

I'd Go Out of My Way to Avoid these Guys (and I did)

I was on my way to the bank and was walking down 15th Street in Park Slope, Brooklyn, between 5th and 6th Aves. Two guys working construction were getting something out of a van. I had my earbuds in so I didn't hear them, but they definitely stopped what they were doing to stop, watch me walk by, and say something. Then I realized I forgot something so had to turn around and walk past them again, and again they said something I didn't hear while leering at me as I walked by. When I got the thing I had forgotten, I went around the corner and took the long way to the bank just to avoid them. Submitted by Blue

Hidden in Plain Sight

I had experienced so much aggressive harassment over a three day period- men cat calling me as I’m walking toward them and then calling me a bitch and a cunt when I passed them without responding- in my neighborhood, I decided to take a summer scarf and drape it around my shoulders, to cover the bare skin I was revealing by wearing a tank top. It was hot, and I wanted to wear a tank top, but did not think I would make it from my house to the subway without this intense harassment that was making me crazy. As I exited my apartment and attempted to walk down my stairs, I encountered a maintenance man who was also making his way down the stairs in front of me. He saw me, turned to me and smiled and said hello. I smiled back and said hello. He then proceeded to walk down three rows stairs backwards, facing me, looking me up and down the whole time and smiling at me, like we were doing something together. My skin crawled. I couldn’t even say hello to this man without him taking it as some sort of romantic or sexual invitation. As soon as I reached the bottom of the stairs, as he stood there, just staring at me weirdly, I took the scarf that was around my shoulders and wrapped it around my head, almost instinctively. I walked past him quickly with the scarf fully covering my hair, my shoulders and part of my face. It was one of those kind of checkered patterned scarves that some Christian organizations had petitioned Duncan Doughnuts remove from an actress in a commercial last year because they said it had Arab which equaled terrorist connotations or some crazy shit like that. Whatever. I made my way from my apartment to the subway in relative piece that day, with the exception of one young construction worker who actually stepped into my path as I was walking, to make eye contact with me around the scarf, and repeated “hello, hello mommy.” Submitted by Chavisa

and we never saw them again...

So I visit a girlfriend at her new job as an in-home nanny. We spend time together daily, at the gym, running errands, or just hanging out, before the kids get home from school. The house she's living in with this family is in a new residential area with houses still being built. One day I decided to stay late and walk up the top of the street to the bus stop with her to meet one of the children she takes care of, 7 years old, as she gets out of school. We have dealt with them before, but daily we hear hooting and hollering at us from the male construction workers at the new houses anytime we step foot outside. It was cute at first; their feign attempts to draw our attention... But, when we went to pick up the 7 year old, that day, they decided it necessary to stop working and stare at us the whole way up and back to the bus stop- EVEN while we had the little one with us! I finally was fed up and turned around after another loud, "Hey mami!" from the group and barked, "GET BACK TO WORK!" Suddenly, their supervisor pops out from the unfinished home across the street and yells at the men. We never saw them again. Fortunately, I have a wonderful 12x zoom camera, and we spend lots of time outside with the kids. Submitted by Kyle

Even in Winter Clothes!!!

i am a photographer in nyc. i was shooting at a studio by chelsea pier today when my client said they wanted some outside shots. the model, myself, and the art director walked no more than 50 ft from the building when the whistles and bullshit started up from a nearby construction site. the poor girl was wearing winter clothing in 100 degree weather and now she's got to put up with these clowns. so i say something like "i don't bother you at your work, why do you have to make my job hard?" with that a few of the guys came closer asking me why i was getting nasty with them, they actually had the nerve to be pissed at me. my client grabbed me by the arm and told me to keep shooting. we finished up quickly and as we were leaving a van pulled up at a light with another asshole talking bout a great ass or some shit like that, so i spun and snapped his pic. where the fuck do these guys get off doing this shit, don't they have daughters, mothers, sisters, or wives? great site and i hope to see it blow up even though every single story makes me see fucking red. keep snapping safely ladies, these are not men, they are pigs, show the world who they are. submitted by eric v.

46th and 9th Ave, this construction worker shouted at me “(kissy noise) blondie!” Nice orange suit, dill-hole. Submitted by Rachel.

Antiracism

Replacing sexism with racism is not a proper holla back. Due in part to prevalent stereotypes of men of color as sexual predators or predisposed to violence, HollaBackNYC asks that contributors do not discuss the race of harassers or include other racialized commentary. If you feel that race is important to your story, please make sure its relevance is explained clearly and constructively in your post. Initiatives combating various forms of sexual harassment and assault have continually struggled against the perpetuation of racist stereotypes, in particular the construction of men of color as sexual predators. There exist widespread fictions regarding who perpetrators are: the myth of racial minorities, particularly latino and black men, as prototypical rapists as well as more prone to violence is quite common. This stems in part from a tragic and violent history, where black men in the U.S. were commonly and unjustly accused of assaulting white women as well as lynched by mobs and "tried" in biased courts. Because of the complexity of institutional and socially ingrained prejudices, Holla Back prioritizes resisting both direct as well as unconscious and unintentional reinforcement of social hierarchies. Simultaneously, Holla Back aims to highlight the interrelations between sexism, racism and other forms of bias and violence. Further Reading: "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack" "I was taught to see racism only in individual acts of meanness, not in invisible systems conferring dominance on my group." Short, accessible piece on white privilege and male privilege. "A Black Feminist Critique of Same-Race Street Harassment" Focuses on the experiences of black lesbians and the need for black women to hold black men accountable for upholding black patriarchy. "Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color" Considers the intersections of racism and patriarchy, and how the experiences of women of color remain unrepresented within the discourses of both feminism and antiracism.

A Little More Than A Bad Day...

Last night was a strong competitor for the worst night of my life. I had a complete nervous breakdown, screaming at the top of my lungs, drunk, saying the most horrible things to someone I love very much. It culminated with me putting my foot through a wall and bashing my head as hard as I could into the bathroom window. I was nearly hospitalized. Waking up this morning with a huge knot in my head and incredible fear and remorse, I decided I needed to go out to get some cigarettes. I had a couple emergency psych appointments coming up in the afternoon, and needed to get my nicotine on. On my way to the deli, some asswipe leans out of his construction van, which is parked and running, and says, "Hey Gorgeous." Usually, I file this kind of harrasment into the least harmful category. It's certainly better than threats, or kissing noises, or getting jacked off in your face on the subway. However, this morning, it struck me how rude, how vile, how asssumptive, how invasive it really is. I stopped in my tracks, turned right to him and said in my best Linklater voice, "FUCK OFF." I turned around and began walking again when he said menacingly, "What did you just say?" I turned around again and said, "I SAID FUCK OFF." Walking to the deli I saw cars speeding to my right. I was certain he was going to pull up and shoot me. I was terrified, but the cigarettes sang a siren song. When I came out, he was still parked like before. I decided not to walk 4 blocks out of my way to avoid him, but to walk right past. Why should I have to be fucking terrified? Why? He never did shoot me, so I guess I can give him that much.

hide and assault

Walking with cute boy down street in broad daylight. Worker from construction inside a store yells, "Damn!" at me. I go to take his photo and ask him what he said, and he said, "Nothing." Cute boy says he has never experienced someone harassing a girl he is walking with.