A Peterborough woman who asked to remain anonymous allowed us to share her story about a week in the life of being catcalled while walking city streets. This isn't a Peterborough thing but a universal thing—and it's just plain wrong that it happens all the time. Here it is...
"Many people have commented on the large headphones I wear on the regular. I normally laugh and say 'Well, I walk a lot and I need to have good music as I do that and bonus, it acts as earmuffs during the winter time.'
What I don't usually tell people is that it also acts as a way for me to block the number of things yelled/said to me usually by men in cars, as I walk from one place to another.
This past week I left my headphones at home. This is a recap of what was said to me.
As I was walking to a café downtown today, I decided to take the scenic way by the water. As I was walking on the path by the back of No Frills, an older man in a white minivan slowed down, honked his horn at me and asked me if I wanted to 'jump in and have some fun'. I ignored him and kept walking.
Earlier this week, I was walking to work and man in a red sedan turned off George street onto Wescott street and yelled 'nice tits' and sped away in his car.
Last week Friday, a man, on the corner of George and Sherbrooke street told me to 'smile'. When I did not 'smile', he physically moved in front me of and said, 'Come on, why don't you smile?' I continued to 'not smile' and as I walked past him, he called me 'a bitch'.
This is just a snapshot of the past seven days. This happens to me on the regular.
I'm not sharing this to ask people to sympathize with me, but rather to show the realities of what happens to me as a woman.
If this is happening to me, guaranteed it happening to other women you know."
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So, what are we going to do to stop this?
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