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Columbia, Missouri, United States
We are a forum for women and the LGBTQ community to stand up against street harassment, both physical and verbal. You have the right to feel safe and happy in public spaces without being the target of objectifying, homophobic or plain offensive speech. Don't walk on, Holla Back!

Monday, January 31, 2011

Getting physically attacked in broad daylight isn't my idea of a fun afternoon.

A while back, My friend and I were walking down Broadway towards Osco Drug (close to Broadway and Providence). We saw someone biking behind us, so we each stood on the grass at either side of the sidewalk to let the person go. It took them a while to pass us, but they finally did.
We thought that was a bit weird, like they had wanted to stay behind us or something, but we just kept going.
We went into Osco and spotted the individual from the sidewalk in the store, not too far from us. We walked towards them, to let them know we were aware of their presence, that they couldn't catch us off guard, and they slipped out of the store.
Next we went to the Public Library.
We were there for a bit, when out of the corner of my eye, I spotted the person who had been following us walking through the library.
We thought maybe if we spent enough time in the library, the stalker would give up and leave.
We stayed for a while, but when the person didn't get the hint, we decided our best bet was to leave asap. We walked down Broadway, heading to my friend's house. It was 3 or 4 p.m., pretty good traffic in the streets, broad daylight (it was August). We got to Stewart Park and saw the person heading on their bike towards us. Noticing cars coming our way, we decided to cross the road, in hopes that the stalker wouldn't cross in a busy street.
But they did.
Tired of being frightened, we stopped at McBaine and Broadway and I turned to our stalker and said, "Look, what is your problem? Would you just leave us alone!" They got spooked, and rode away. We thought they were gone for good when suddenly they came up behind us, grabbed my butt and my chest and biked off quickly onto Aldeah street before we got the chance to say anything.
It all just happened so fast. I wanted to stick a foot out and kick them off their bike, but I didn't want to risk any further harm to myself or my friend. We rushed home and stayed inside for a long time.

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