New Haven Running

"That lady has a fat ass. Shake it! Shake it! Shake it!" I couldn't STOP shaking it because I was running down the sidewalk minding my damn business. It's especially humiliating when someone's harassment keeps in rhythm with your steps and movement of your body. Should I have stopped and gone back half the block to tell the kid to close his ugly mouth? But there were A LOT of young men on that porch...

"White bitch got back!" Got em that time because there was a young girl in the group laughing along, so I called her out and asked her how she'd like it if strangers were yelling "black bitch" anything at her. She was definitely humbled and her little instigator boyfriends were embarrassed and didn't have anything else to say.

I just moved to New Haven six months ago, and I regularly run a few miles around town for a workout. Every few weeks one of my runs will be interrupted by high school aged boys (different groups) who are compelled to harass me. Interestingly enough, they always wait until I'm fifty yards down the sidewalk before they can get the balls to say anything. Sadly enough, not once has another boy in the clique tried to shut his ignorant friend up. To have had 14 and 15 year old boys feel entitled and excited to humiliate and degrade me as a 25 year old adult on a sidewalk on a sunny afternoon in my own damn neighborhood was really fucking disheartening. I don't have a problem cursing out/flipping off a random single man on a sidewalk who has shit to say, but when it's a gaggle of teenagers I already know I can't win.

Submitted by Allison

Overcompensating for Something...

I regularly get honks, cat-calls, and whistles when i am jogging, so actually, i've grown to expect it. No matter how I am dressed (sweatshirt in the winter or running shorts/sports bra in the summer) I get some kind of disgusting attention while I am out running. The most recent episode took the cake! As I was about to jog across the street a gross man in a gorgeous red convertible drove slower and slower. The slower he drove the more I had to slow down so not to run into his car. Finally, as I was halfway in the street he honked, which freaked me out because it made me think there was a car coming or something. When I turned around I realized there was no car and the man just wanted to get my attention (I was in the middle of the street at this point!) He said, you like what you see? I wish I could have been quick thinking enough to reply something witty but instead I stood frozen in the middle of the road! How dare he compromise my safety by harassing me in the street! I jogged away and he drove off...

That red convertible was nice... and it made me wonder what he was overcompensating for in addition to being a total asshole!