Street Harassment Survey Results Are Depressingly Predictable

Earlier this week, the nonprofit group Stop Street Harassment released the results of a survey about the sort of abuse hurled at people who dare leave the house and go out in public in their human bodies. And, to the surprise of no woman, it showed that most women get catcalled or otherwise bothered by strangers pretty damn often.

The biggest survey on the subject to date surveyed 2,000 women and men and found that while both genders get hollered at from time to time, the vast majority of people on the receiving end of it are women, and the vast majority of the people dishing it out are men.

Harassment happens to women everywhere — on the street, on public transportation, in cars, outside of cars. Anywhere, really. It happens to women who are under 17, who are older, who live in cities, who live in the country. If you had a lot of time on your hands and a twisted sense of humor, you could make the survey’s findings into an incredibly depressing Dr. Seuss-style poem. You can read the complete survey results here.

But it’s more than just something many women can brush off. Forty-one percent of female victims of street harassment said that they’d experienced physical intimidation. A large portion of survey respondents reported that they alter their behavior in anticipation of being harassed. They walk in groups, they avoid certain streets. Sad stuff for people who just want to go about their day without being yelled at.