'Friendly' Harassment

To the Editors of The Crimson:

I have written this letter describing this incident in order to bring it to the attention of the Harvard Community. I live and work in Cambridge/Somerville and am not affiliated with Harvard. I appreciate the protection of its police force when I am in the area of Harvard Yard. I feel that the police should understand that it is best for a woman walking alone to be left alone. No incident at all is better than a "friendly" one.

On Saturday February 23 I walked to work. I am a restaurant worker, and my shift is from early morning to afternoon. In good weather I ride a bike for the mile-and-a-half trip through Cambridge to Harvard Square; when it's cold I either take a cab or walk. I enjoy walking and feel safer walking alone in the winter. When I'm wearing my old, bulky down jacket and stocking cap, my form disguised, I feel unprovocative.

This was my assistant's day off; she usually walks with me. As I hurried past the University Museum, I was ordering my workday in my mind. I crossed the street and started past the Science Center toward the Yard. This guy in a white car pulled out of the driveway and stopped in front of me; his window was open. He asked me how I was doing. I said fine. I was sure he was a creep by the sugary tone of voice he was using. I started turning off the sidewalk to go around the front of the car. I got one step and he said, "I'm with the Harvard Police, are you going very far?" I gestured toward the Yard, mumbled that I was fine and quickly walked along. He drove slowly past and turned around the corner of the Science Center. I was concerned: many times I've gone over that part of the walk to work thinking that no one would hear me if I screamed. I decided to walk out toward Memorial Hall and see if the car was waiting.

I didn't see the car so I crossed the Yard and went into the Square. "These guys usually go for your reaction, they're not dangerous," I was thinking. I heard a car; it was the white car. It went past toward Brattle station. I was afraid and ran to the restaurant.

Feeling safe once inside, I got to work. The more I thought about the incident, the stranger it seemed. I decided that if they guy was passing himself off as a cop, the Harvard Police should know about it. At 7 a.m. I called them. A man answered the phone and I told him what happened. I described the "policeman" as wearing a blue quilted vest and a dark shirt. The cop chuckled, "He's here with me right now. Don't worry, he is one of our detectives, he was going to give you a ride." I was surprised and flustered; I said something about being glad he had my safety in mind, but... The cop chuckled again and said that the detective had told him that I was attractive and that that is why he stopped and offered me a ride. I was embarrassed, mumbled thanks and got off the phone.

Then I got angry. How could I have known this guy was a policeman? It seems that a plainclothes cop wouldn't go around telling people his identity. I walk strongly and rapidly, I can't believe that I looked like I needed aid. I didn't ask for help, so why did this guy stop me? Because he thought I was attractive? I've been taught that this is not the way to meet people. I don't see why I should accept behavior from a policeman that I wouldn't accept from any other man in the street.

The man on the phone implied that the detective's behavior was OK. I was supposed to be flattered that the detective found me pretty. The police should realize that this kind of unsolicited comment is just what scares women. I felt first embarrassed and then insulted. Embarrassed because I hadn't wanted the man's opinion and insulted that he felt I would accept this compliment even though I didn't know either man and had been concerned about my safety when I called.

The attitudes of the officer on the phone and the detective show need of adjustment. They think that women want any and all attention offered them. This is twisted in some people's minds to mean that women provoke men to stare at them, call out to them, and otherwise sexually harrass them. I would like to stress that sexual harrassment is not limited to physical abuse; it includes any attention of a sexual nature that is un-wanted by the recipient or unwarrented by the circumstances that promote it. The attitude of these men is more than wrong, it's insulting.

To feel that I attract attention no matter how I behave is frightening; to feel that those protecting me are working under the same presumptions as those I fear leaves me feeling hopeless and angry. Emily R. Sharp