101 wankers

Some depressing reactions on this thread, especially early on before people felt which direction the wind was blowing in and shifted accordingly.

If anyone doubts the extent of this sort of reprehensible crap, read the comments here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/aug/20/street-harassment#start-of-comments

Anecdotally at least, it's vastly common. And in my experience, being on a bike only increases it. Probably because one is more vulnerable on a bike, and therefore easier game; perhaps because of the unhappy confluence between anti-cyclist feeling and the misogyny documented here; perhaps because you are visibly engaged in physical activity and that seems to invite the gaze even more.

It makes me absolutely furious, not least because, by its very nature, it won't happen when I'm with my girlfriend but when she's on her own.

Although having said that, I was with my girlfriend in Stratford station several years ago and one young kid in a group grabbed her crotch as they went past on the steps. I didn't see it happen and my girlfriend only told me it had happened later on. I asked why she didn't say anything when it happened and she said she was just so shocked she was dumbstruck. I hate violence but in honesty I would have absolutely belted the kid if I'd known.