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If you're a female, it's likely you've been catcalled or even harassed, right? I'd talked to a few family members and even friends about this topic before and most, if not all, the females I'd asked about this had told me they had been before. You know the worst part? When I'd brought this up to some of my male friends, they'd said we were over exaggerating or that we were playing victim or even lying about it. So, I've collected a few stories of my own and a few from friends and family to share. Here are a few:

• "When I was 11 years old, I went to a cousin's party at a local reception hall. I was wearing a long dress with some black flats. As we were leaving the hall, we passed by a group of teenage boys, easily around 17 to 19 years old. They began to whistle and shout obscene things in my direction, stuff about my body that I wouldn't understand until years later. It still scares me to think about." -anon
• "Walking home from the library with my sister. We were late middle or early high school age. A pickup truck of rowdy older teenaged guys yelled something along the lines of 'I bet you'd like... XYZ." -K.S. 
• "I was walking down the street with my little brother, maybe four houses away from my own. A car pulled up beside us and an older man, maybe around 30 or 40 years old, leaned out and started to make comments regarding my body, one being 'you got a sweet body. how about I take you home?'. I grabbed my brother, started walking, and acted like I was talking to my dad so he'd get the hint and leave. Thankfully he did."     -anon
• "These both happened at a local Walmart. I was with a friend both times. The first time, a man (about 60 years old) followed us around the store until we paid and left. The second time, I went to the McDonald's inside Walmart with my friend and ended up getting stared at until the men staring left. But even so, I held my pepper spray and keys close to me just in case." -anon
• "I got catcalled a week ago when I went running at night. They were passing by in a truck and started saying stuff. I wasn't even wearing showy clothes. I was wearing a long sleeve and long leggings that are thick." -anon
• "A friend of mine got catcalled when we were on our bikes to go say hi to my dad. It was old men and young ones. I got mad and yelled 'what the hell? y'all f*****. f*** off.'" -anon
• "My first time being harassed was at a party when I was 13. My little brother and friend were there when it happened but thankfully my little brother wasn't aware of what was happening. My ex (13) was also at the party and his best friend (18) was with him. After a while of being at the party, his friend had approached me and he was awfully close to my face while he was talking to me, which made me uncomfortable but then he began to touch my leg and got closer to my groin. When this happened, I froze but then quickly reacted and pushed him off. After this happened, I didn't feel safe attending my youth group since he was also one of the leaders." -anon
• "When I used to be a server around 15 years old at a taco truck, there was a lot of older men who would ask for my number or ask how old I was so I could go out with them. The drunk ones would try to grab my arm and tell me to come back." -anon
• "When I went to Mexico, I was drinking a light drink with my family around at a bull fighting arena, and there was an older man whistling at me and asking me to go eat an ice cream later tomorrow and after telling him to leave me alone, he followed me outside and my uncle had to protect me and he left." -anon
• "I was driving to Walmart and got out of the parking lot and was walking and checking my messages. Since I was looking down, my hair was blocking my peripheral vision so I didn't see anyone get close. I started hearing clicking noises like the camera snapping noise on a phone and I turned to my left and two very tall guys were walking very closely on my left side and one had his phone turned up a bit (pretty sure not aimed at my face) and was taking multiple pictures. They both didn't say a thing or laugh or anything. It was super creepy so I scoffed loudly and weaved through the cars and kind of ran the rest of the way." -anon
• "In high school, my school email got hacked and just kept emailing myself stuff like 'suck my d**k' and a bunch of other sexual stuff, and I asked who they were and they said 'you don't know me but I watch you at school' and that freaked me out so I told the principal and they didn't do anything so I just had to ignore it." -anon
• "I have a friend who had a stalker for the semester we were together. He would follow her across campus, from class to her dorm, from class to class, you name it. The guy wouldn't leave her alone unless one of us would walk with her." -anon
• "I hadn't seen my stalker in four years, but one day he showed up and banged on the door. I couldn't get a hold of my dad since he'd gone to the lake. I just grabbed my dad's pistol, which sat near the newborn kittens at the time. I called the police, but they got lost since the call went to a big city, instead of the small town I was in. He eventually gave up and the cops never showed and I called them again and got the local cops this time. They sent cops and I showed them the envelope he left with his number on it and some essay about basketball??? And then I went back to finish getting ready for work and he came back banging on the door. So I called them again and they surrounded his car and gave him a property restraining type of order. I haven't heard from him in a while though, thank the lord." -anon
• "I was at a parking lot outside of Walmart and I was walking to my car and a guy in a car rolled his window down and whistled at me and said something along the lines of getting my number. I told him 'no, sorry. I have a boyfriend.' I quickly got in my car and locked it. I started driving away and he started following me around his car. He would follow me and honk his horn and with his window still down, he would blow kisses at me. This lasted about a whole two minutes until I lost him, but it was such a scary experience." -anon
• "The first time I was ever harassed was when I was 12 years old. I was at a lake with my mom and her friends swimming and having fun. Until I caught a man staring at me. I remember that I wasn't wearing anything too revealing, just a shirt and some shorts. I ignored him but he kept swimming towards me every time I looked away or swam under water. I remember that every time I went up to the surface to catch my breath, he would look at my chest. I was disgusted and disturbed at that moment because no one has ever looked at me with a malicious face. He started to yell at me, saying 'hey come here', but I quickly swam out and went to the picnic table with my mom's friend where I felt safe. No one should ever feel like they are unsafe like I did that day." -anon
• "About a month ago, I wanted to go out for a run so I decided to walk down to the park since it was a straight shot down the street and only like a 7min walk. I started my walk and not even 3 blocks away from my house, I noticed I was being followed by a car. This man kept going in and out of streets trying to bump into me. He did this all the way to the park, I was yet to reach the park when I couldn't handle this guy following me anymore and I didn't understand his motives, I was extremely furious and scared. I saw him go into a street and then immediately turning back and slowing down to drive right next to me. I stopped in my tracks and as he slowly got close, I yelled 'WHAT THE F*CK DO YOU WANT?!'. He quickly drove off and I didn't see him turn back again. Luckily he stopped following me but when I saw him get close before I yelled at him I saw that he had his hand down his pants." -anon
• "This happened my first year of college when I went to a club in San Antonio for a friend's 21st birthday bash. I was dancing with a few friends and some mutual friends. I had not been drinking because I wanted to stay alert. I noticed a tall black man staring at me from a few feet. This constantly happens to me at the club so I thought nothing of it and just ignored his stare. He yelled at me, saying 'hey!'. I started getting anxious continued to ignore him. Then I felt something hard against my butt. I saw that my friends were looking up behind me. My heart dropped and I panicked. I scurried away in my high heels yet he walked right behind me with his p*n*s on me. So I decided to walk faster to the bar and my friend followed me. I went to the dance floor and the man grabbed my arm. He said 'hey, why did you do that?'. I responded, 'I have a boyfriend.' , then he said, 'So, I have a baby mamma. Come on we can make babies through your clothes'. I responded 'no thanks' and he let go of my arm so I went to go take a seat. I was afraid, anxious, and scared for my life. I told a bouncer but all he did was keep an eye on him. I was assaulted yet no one did anything. I wanted to leave but I had arrived in a party bus so I stayed. That night I cried myself to sleep and tried calling my boyfriend for support at 3am but he didn't answer. I remember everything so vividly and had to go to a therapy session to feel better to go to class on Monday. No one should have to go through that no matter how drunk or high anyone is, it does not validate what they did." -anon

I asked for stories of these encounters to show how common it is (I will be adding more as I receive them). I'm teared of hearing about how women are to blame for what happens to them because of how they act or even for how they dress. Our clothes have nothing to do with it. Our existence is enough for us to get harassed. This shouldn't be so common. Please open your minds. This happens every day, to every woman I've ever known. (I will be adding more as I receive them).