Vulgar Gestures

Nearly 82 percent of the 814 female survey respondents* were the target of a vulgar gesture at least once. About 20 percent said they had been a target at least 51 times.

“Walking [down] the street in my neighborhood, some strange guy stuck his tongue out at me in a sexual way.” – 20-29 year-old bisexual African American in San Diego, California

“My most recent incident was when a stranger stuck his tongue out repeatedly in what was meant to be a sexual way in the car next to me. It was disgusting.” – 20-29 year-old queer Anglo American in Charlotte, North Carolina

“Only this evening (29.9.08) I was walking [down] the street, in daylight, and a man (who was with two friends) jumped in front of me and waved his arms and stuck his tongue out as he made a[n] 'arrghhhh' noise.” – 30-39 year-old lesbian Briton in London, England

* I conduced an online informal survey in fall 2008 to learn more about people's experiences in public, including street harassment. Nine hundred and sixteen people had useable responses and they came from a range of backgrounds and geographic locations, demonstrating the prevalence of street harassment globally. Survey-takers selected age-range categories from “13-19” through “80 and older;” they represented every major American racial group; they identified as bisexual, gay, heterosexual, lesbian, queer, “other;” and they came from 45 American states, 23 countries, and five continents.