77% of women have experienced sexual harassment in public spaces.
Street harassment is an experience that devalues women and men of all sexual orientations, cultures and beliefs causing them to doubt their own experiences.
When we watch harassment happen without intervening, it deepens the trauma for the person being harassed and shows the person doing the harassing that their behaviour is OK. We want to disrupt this dynamic one intervention at a time.
Prevalence rates of the different types of sexual harassment in public spaces
- Inappropriate and unwanted sexual looks, gestures, staring or leering that make me feel uncomfortable54%
- Sexually suggestive or intrusive comments or jokes about my appearance, my clothing, anatomy or looks that make me feel uncomfortable51%
- Somebody repeatedly whistling at me, catcalling, making kissing sounds, howling or smacking lips in a sexual way43%
- Someone being intrusive and insisting to know my name, phone number or any personal information, or pressuring to get a date40%
- Somebody inappropriately and repeatedly referring to me as a girl, hunk, doll, babe or chick, somebody insulting me38%
- Intrusive and repeated questions about my private or sex life that make me feel uncomfortable41%
- Unwanted touching, hugging or kissing43%
- Somebody hanging around me or following me with sexual intentions25%
- Somebody exposing themselves to me in a sexual way, flashing me, or masturbating in front of me36%
- Somebody showing me sexually explicit pictures that make me feel uncomfortable29%
- Unwanted and repeated pressure for sexual favors, someone insisting that I show parts of my body I don’t want to show29%
Average % of women who have personally experienced these types of harassment in 20 countries as per 2023 survey by L'Oréal Paris with IPSOS "International Survey on Sexual Harassment in Public Spaces".
Street harassment is not always clear to identify. Its often very subtle and insidious. But whenever it’s unwanted verbal, non-verbal, physical conduct of a sexual nature, it’s harassment.
Other types of street harassment include: “accidentally” brushing, demanding ”give me a smile”, backhanded compliments, groping, invading a person’s space, pressing or rubbing against the person’s body, sexual sneak attacks (i.e. grabbing breasts or buttocks when not looking), sexist jokes, sexual innuendos, and sexist and insulting graffiti.
66% of people have already witnessed sexual harassment in public spaces.
What are main reasons why we don’t take action?



Stand up when you see it happen.
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Stand up when it happens to you.
Never think it’s your fault or that you’re alone when you're being harassed. Trust your instincts, reclaim your space, and remember you’re worth it with these insights and proven actions.
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