2015, PB, aged 15
I was walking home alone after an afternoon at the sandcastle, it was still light and busy out so I hadn’t thought it necessary to call my mum for a lift. A group of men walking behind me began talking inappropriately about me – about my bum and what they’d like to do to me – loud enough for me to hear. As a 15-year-old girl, walking alone, this made me feel very threatened and frightened. The men made no move to physically harm me but the threat was real, I was made to feel like sexual object, which at 15 is incredibly disturbing. I eventually managed to walk fast enough to make some space between me and them but no one who overheard made any remark or showed any me support which also made me feel as though maybe I’d done something wrong, maybe my jeans were too tight and I shouldn’t wear clothes that might be viewed as provocative (which for the record didn’t really apply, as I was wearing a t-shirt and jeans?) but the whole situation made me see men as a threat.