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Street harassment is an unfortunate part of women’s daily lives. Whether you’re walking to the subway or the grocery store, being told to “smile baby, you’re so much prettier when you smile,” is far more common than it should be. In an attempt to unleash their frustrations, women started the hashtag #NoWomanEver. Females of the Twitterverse told their stories of unwanted street harassment in the form of a love story. It was equal parts hilarious and infuriating.
The movement started with user CJ, from Atlanta.
https://twitter.com/ImJustCeej/status/744147825496203265
Since this post, hundreds of women have responded with tales of harassment, groping, catcalling, and other unsolicited approaches from onlooking men.
https://twitter.com/GeekatHome/status/745259218354089984
https://twitter.com/lauravazquez__/status/745257364643782656
When he told me no one could or would love me like him, I thought-I better not end this hell said #nowomanever
— Maria del Mar (@MariadelMarACT) June 21, 2016
I met my boyfriend at the train station, it was the just the 2 of us. I loved how he undressed me with his eyes. I felt safe. #nowomanever
— Nos (@NosHlatshwayo) June 21, 2016
He grabbed my butt at the bar and told me it belonged to him. Now we're married and the rest of me is his property too! #NoWomanEver
— Carol (@carol_dk_ferrie) June 21, 2016
After he followed me around the ship after I turned him down, I just knew I had to change my mind. After all he was in a band! #NoWomanEver
— Katie (@katemiix) June 21, 2016
"When he pulled his car over, got out, & chased me down the street to tell me my legs were sexy, I knew he was The One," said #NoWomanEver
— Di Vaz (@DiHA_Artwork) June 21, 2016
"He wrote me thousands of Facebook messages, even when I told him to stop. So I fell in love with him."#NoWomanEver
— onlyonejoana (@joanalindgren) June 21, 2016
After the hashtag became a viral sensation, CJ told Buzzfeed that men on her Twitter timeline were being “woefully ignorant” about street harassment. Men suggested that women were misreading their actions, saying things like “If we don’t approach you guys on the street, how are we supposed to meet?”
Um… you can meet someone without harassing them… or is that idea too old fashioned?
CJ says she wanted to lighten the tone of this conversation about harassment and unwanted attention. “I thought the snark and sarcasm behind it would change the energy behind the timeline.”
Of course, haters are gonna hate, but we have to say — we love this hashtag.
[H/T: Elle]
