Women who have travelled in Europe& female residents of Europe -have you been sexually harassed on the street?

Question

If so, what were the circumstances?

In what country/countries did you experience it?
What form did the sexual harassment assume?
Were you harassed by "guestworkers" (Turkish perhaps)?
Were you alone?
Did you ever see it happen to other women?
How did it make you feel?
What, if anything, did you do about it?

Flying Horse - C'MON. I know you are BURSTING to answer my question. Please do!

I've had it happen to me DOZENS - perhaps HUNDREDS - of times in Germany, Austria and Belgium by - Turkish "guestworkers". I've been harassed by local men in Italy, Germany and a few other countries... but TOTALLY disproportionate to the incessant attacks I experienced almost on a daily basis - by male "guestworkers".

Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I was exactly the same way "When I was a teenager, I NEVER used anything that revealed my body"; I have been dressing very conservatively all my life. I was so very shocked and dissappointed when I fell victim to this stuff in Europe - AGAIN. Once I saw the face of a woman who had just been sexually harrassed by a 'guestworker' in Vienna - her face was completely frozen with shame; and she was the victim - what did she - what do WE - have to be ashamed about?! They carry on with absolute impunity!

FLYING HORSE:
"I DID something, insulted them, called the ticket guy...the guys (they were four) had to leave the train!!"
Congratulations. Isn't it LIBERATING and EMPOWERING to finally kick some @SS? Wasn't it the most wonderful feeling in the world? Didn't you feel like SUPERWOMAN when they were kicked off the train???

ROVALE - I am soooo sorry. Thanks for sharing the story of some of your experiences. We've all been there - but those Turks are sumthin' else, ha?

Answer 1

My first street harassments I experienced at 10 years old, yep, I was a child, it consisted in: touching in inappropriate way, in inappropriate places in the bus, the metro, the street. I HAD to take the bus and I lived terrorized. I never did anything as I was so ashamed. When I was a teenager, I NEVER used anything that revealed my body, but the insults, touching and harassment continued. Twice I tried to defend myself, fortunately nothing happened to me, as the guys attacked me!! Once with a knife, fortunately I could escape, the second time a guy that after I was vocal about his treatment of me in a bus, stepped out and tried to hit me through the open window. I hated to live there (it was a country in Latin America), so when I had the opportunity to work in Europe, I left, to NEVER go back to live there.

In Europe, although I found street harassment, it was never to the extent as when I was growing in that other country, but nevertheless, yes I found the problem existed, mostly from men coming from macho mentality countries and uneducated.

It has not happened to me anymore, because those guys are cowards, because they molest young women or children, people they know will NOT confront them. Today IF a guy treats me the way I used to be treated in the street; you bet, I punch him in the nose.

ALL the times I was harassed was in the following situations:

-In a crowded bus or metro
-In a lonely street, be it day or night

I ONCE saw it in Europe happened to another woman in a train. I was travelling from Germany to Italy and the guys were from Servia. She was very young and afraid to say anything...but this tme...I DID something, insulted them, called the ticket guy...the guys (they were four) had to leave the train!! I have no more patiences with those kind of guys, because generally...many times they harass when they are in a pack...just like in here ;-)

This treatment made me feel humiliated, made me feel I was less than human, because you are treated as a thing. Come on I was a CHILD!!

Today, as I said it before, it doesn't happen to me anymore, why?? I am sure they can read in my face that I will not let them, because I will not.

This is a sensitive subject for me and thank you to bring this back in a clear way. I don't respect people that minimize harassment or rape. There is nothing light about it...I suppose DEFENDING myself is seen by some in here as being a violent person. It amazes me how "some" (we know who it is) have no clue.

Wow, I needed this ;-)

Edit to Object: YES, it was liberating and empowering. I think it is the feeling that any abused person has once they can stand and say "enough"!

Answer 2

While in Paris, I was harrassed (not sexually) by some guys trying to sell souvenirs. I guess they assumed that since I'm American that I was loaded (not) and that I could easily be bullied into buying their products. They were wrong. I'm a salesperson's nightmare, even in the U.S.

Anyway, they weren't turkish. They were African, but I don't know from which country.

Answer 3

I used to get it all the time. In the early 1970s, I was living in Germany, where my father was stationed with the military. At that time, I was in my early teens and apparently a lot of these guestworkers thought I was very attractive because they used to pester me. I couldn't ride on a crowded subway without having one of these creeps pinching me or pawing at me. One time, a couple of them followed my sister and me on an outing downtown. We kept trying to shake them but they were very persistent. We lost them when we jumped onto a bus and they didn't realize it until the doors had closed. The worst incident occurred when I was attending a Fasching celebration in downtown Munich. I had gotten separated from the people I was with and all of a sudden, a group of these men had me surrounded. I got pulled down by them and one of them climbed on top of me and began slobbering all over my face. I managed to free one hand and grabbed his hair. I got him off of me and was able to get away from the group. I went to a nearby fountain to wash my face. I did not like the attention I got from these men. I looked rather mature for my age so they probably thought I was older than I actually was. Still, that did not give them the right to touch me or follow me around. In my particular case, the problem with these guestworkers got less as I got older and started looking more like a young woman instead of a teenager. I guess they now saw me as somebody who could have been married by then so they began to leave me alone.

Answer 4

NEVER. Italians were famous for hitting on US and British girls but only when they were drunk off their @sses. Some used to just drink out of a paper bagged bottle on the street.

However, my conservative 55 year old 5'3" by 5'3" godmother had her @ss and her breast grabbed in Istanbul in the outdoor market. The cab driver also asked my godfather how much he wanted for "this"?... I think Borat is really a Turk if you ask me...

Answer 5

one million. Go to an additional gymnasium two. Confront her approximately what occurred and allow her realize if it occurs once more, you are going to take authorized motion Also, for long term reference, you'll have stopped the moment she did that. Don't enable anybody to believe it is okay to make different folks uncomfortable.

Answer 6

well my neighbor when she went to england this guy walked by her and squeezed her boob. and said CHOW! it wasnnnaasstyyy