Photo taken by blog contributor
I got on the Blue Line at King Street Metro Station, and the car I got on was nearly empty. I sat near a window and just wanted to get lost in space.
Out of the blue, I hear, “Hi! Hi!” It gets louder, and I turn my head and see a guy is hovering over the empty aisle seat next to me.
“Man, I gotta tell you look beautiful,” he says. He continues to hover. His unwanted and unsolicited attention makes me uncomfortable.
“Can you please leave me alone?” I request. “I just want to enjoy the ride. I don’t feel like talking to anyone.” It’s true, I had no intention of talking to anyone. My face and body were turned towards the window. Did this guy not get it?
He said, “Okay” and sat down at a seat a row down and across the way from me, but not without mocking me with, “She said she wants to be left alone to enjoy the ride…HA!”
I managed to sneak a shot of him (though he turned my way before my camera saved the photo, which was a close call), and I changed train cars at Reagan Airport. That interaction just made me uncomfortable. Why don’t these men understand that not every woman wants to be bothered by them?
– Tired of Being Harassed
Location: Blue Line towards Largo Town Center, Northern Virginia
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Stop Street Harassment! 
Message to men who think that any woman automatically wants to be talked to: If she looks pre-occupied or not interested in conversation, leave her alone! Plain and simple.
What amuses me about these ‘men’ is wondering what THEIR reaction would be should some random woman come up out of the blue and start pestering THEM. I’d bet in most cases, it’d be something a lot ruder than just ‘leave me alone, please’.
Trying to get men to imagine being harrassed by women doesn’t work because they aren’t afraid of women. Try to get them to imagine being harrassed by bigger, stronger MEN, and you have a chance.
True. Some men defend their right to harass women, but give a group of burly gay men in leather free reign to harass them, they’d be screaming.