I have not had women scream at me, well, at pride parades, so it was usually not a mean thing. However, I have had men and women scream anti-gay shit at me since I was 16. It is humiliating. To me, it is a hate crime. So, by my logic, if it is a hate crime to shout these things at gay men, why is not considered a hate crime when done to women? It should be treated as such, IMO. I know it sounds strange, but really it is similar and it isn't meant to be appreciative but rather to intimidate and isn't that part of the definition of a hate crime?!
I remember when I was younger and men would say shit to my mom. Here is a woman with 2 to 3 to 4 children (I am the oldest, so the numbers of brothers changed over the years) and some asshole is screaming about her "pussy." Seriously, what the FUCK?! My mom would hustle us into the car and lock us in, just in case. I hate that my mother had to feel like she was a "thing". I took my brother and his best friend to task when they shouted shit out the window of the car at female co-eds at my college. I ran through the "how would you feel if it was your mom, sister, girlfriend...", then shifted to, "how would you feel if it was a car load of men shouting at you!?"
Recently, there was a young woman (16) who was being harassed and when the man came over, the dad confronted him. The dad was killed when he was hit and suffered a heart attack. The man was charged with a hate crime because he screamed racist things as he hit the dad, but he should have also been charged with a hate crime for the original attack on the girl, as well. The story was posted here (I remember because I made a seriously badly worded post, that I thankfully got to clarify).
No woman should feel like she has to "endure" street harassment...ever!
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