Public Sexual Harassment Isn’t a Rite of Passage
The sound of a car horn or a shout puts my guard up and makes my heart beat at a hundred miles an hour, because I know what will follow. Public sexual harassment, also referred to as PSH, consists of unwelcome and unwanted attention, sexual advances, or intimidating behaviour that occurs in public spaces. This can include catcalling, wolf whistling, sexualised comments, or being groped.
The first time I was catcalled, I was 10 years old. From then on, it remained a consistent part of my everyday experience for most of my teenage years. Most days, walking to and from school or college, I remember being beeped at, catcalled, and feeling eyes following me. This is not an uncommon experience, with many women experiencing sexual harassment for the first time in their childhood or adolescent years. For me, these experiences became so frequent that I became largely desensitised to them, and it was unusual to experience a day without any form of sexual violence. And this is unfortunately the experience of many young girls, with 75% of 12-21-year-old women having experienced PSH.
My friends and I are now in our mid-twenties. Over the last few years, we have increasingly discussed our experiences of PSH. Although this is unfortunately still something we face, it does not happen as much as it did during our teenage years. I’d like to think this means PSH is being perpetrated less than it was a decade ago and that the campaigns, changes in law, and protests have made a tangible difference. And yes, they definitely have - sexual violence is now openly discussed as part of the school curriculum, debates on VAWG have hit the headlines in newspapers, and storylines exploring the impact of PSH have reached mainstream TV. It could also be that we’ve become more confident, more assertive, or have changed our routines to avoid spaces deemed ‘unsafe.’ Sadly, this emphasises the toll these experiences have had on our actions and lifestyles. However, I know we live in a society where women are valued for their looks and age. Young girls are fetishised. Want proof? Look at the popularity of so-called “barely-legal” or “underage” porn categories (which are, in reality, often child sexual abuse images), or the constant sexualisation of schoolgirls across the media. These tell us that vulnerability and youth are desirable, and that desire excuses sexual violence. When I reflect on my own experiences, I realise I was harassed most often when wearing my school uniform, when it was apparent I was underage. Those moments taught me early on that, to some people, being a girl in public was enough to make me a target.
I don’t think it’s possible to determine the exact reason that I experience less sexual harassment now than I did during my teens, and I also want to acknowledge that this is not the same experience for everyone who faces PSH. There are various factors that influence our experiences of PSH from childhood to becoming a young adult, and it is vital that we remember that PSH is rooted in long-standing cultural attitudes, patriarchal power dynamics, misogyny and intersecting factors, such as racism or transphobia. I do believe PSH has become less socially acceptable; people are more likely to call it out, schools are talking about consent, and campaigns such as Our Streets Now are raising awareness. That progress matters. But despite all the time and effort, PSH remains a major issue, especially for women and girls. Too many girls still fear going out at night, plan lower-risk routes home, and clutch keys between their fingers.
I want to reassure you (and myself) that change is happening, slowly but surely. I hope that future generations of girls can walk to school without dreading sexual violence, and hopefully, one day, a walk home can just be a walk home, not an act of endurance.
