Girl Power

Because we all deserve better.

- Chandra Pepino

I don’t doubt that you’ve heard many stories about women being harassed on the street, but what I’m about to share with you may be one of the worst you’ll ever come across.

This happened sometime last year: As I was walking into a convenience store, a little boy—about four years old—walks over to me, touches the space between my legs, and giggles. I walk out of the convenience store, a bottle of apple juice sweating in my hand, and the boy does the same thing. I hold back tears on the way home.

It’s safe to say he didn’t have the slightest idea about the gravity of his actions. It’s safe to say he picked up this behavior by observing the people around him, the people responsible for his upbringing. It’s safe to say we live in a society where street harassment has become so prevalent that even innocent children have become its unwitting perpetrators.

What’s the big deal?

Move along, folks, nothing to see here—street harassment is an ongoing worldwide phenomenon, and nearly all women have had to bear the brunt of it during their daily commute to work or school. Street harassment can come in the form of unsolicited comments on a person’s physical appearance, or the invasion of their personal space.

Picture this: You’re shuffling along a sidewalk, minding your own business, when suddenly a man going in the opposite direction stops slightly in your path to say, “Hi, ganda.” It irritates you a little, sure, but you move on. Now picture the same scenario, but at ten o’clock in the evening, on a dimly lit street corner.