Wishing I Could Have Holla'd Back

This happened to my girlfriend and I about a year ago, but it was the first thing that came to mind when we heard about this site. I wish I had known about Hollaback then, and I wish I could have taken this asshole's picture!

We were riding home on BART to South Berkeley. The train was pretty crowded, and this guy sitting near us was staring nad smiling at us, so we moved a car behind to get away from the creepiness. Not only did we end up in an equally crowded car, but we ended up sitting in the "back" of the same car as the creepiest guy I have ever been forced to share oxygen with.

Hunched over his notebook and leisurely penning entries, this guy kept looking at us, smiling/leering in a way that I can't describe to do it justice, and then hunching back over the notebook to write down whatever sick fantasies he was having about us.

We noticed him get up to get off the train at our stop, and it was clear that he was following us, or at least attempting to convince us that he was. Once off the train, we stalled so that he couldn't walk behind us, and left the station. Out front, we see him standing arms crossed, looking around. We keep walking (opposite of our usual direct route home) and my girlfriend looks back to see whats up. He makes a face at her that she described as "leering and mocking and threatening all at once," obviously enjoying our discomfort. She flips him off and we take off, walking an extra five blocks in a roundabout way home to ensure he doesn't follow us or see where we live.

This occasion was one of the most prolonged situations of harrassment that I have ever been in, and I wish I could have taken this guy's picture. I have never hated a stranger so much as I hated this asshole, and yet we felt powerless to do anything at the time. If I ever see him again, I'll have to make up for the missed opportunity.

Why do men think that two women together is for their sick fantasy pleasure? Doesn't this guy get that he is the reason we try to disband patriarchy? Writing this is making me more angry than I was at the time, so I'll stop.

submitted from Berkeley, CA