I live in Glasgow, I have been becoming more aware recently of the concept of 'street harassment', where people are sexually harassed, and made to feel scared and/or uncomfortable in the street. I have suffered from this and also from general 'street aggression', which, I believe, is down to the fact that I am a woman. I have had men make nasty, rude or threatening comments, meant to belittle me and give them a feeling of power. This generally happens when I am on my own, or is muttered under their breath so that only I can hear, when I am with another person.

I get the feeling that these men are just generally misogynistic, it is not about objectifying women sexually (or not only/always that), but about just believing that women don't warrant respect, that we are inferior. So many times I have had a guy just be 'a bit of a dick' to me when I know fine well he wouldn't act in the same way to another man. He does it because he thinks it's acceptable and/or because he thinks he won't get any retaliation. And on the second point he is often right, with me anyway. The reason for this is my Mum begged me to stop fighting against people in the street, she said "It's not worth getting killed over". And she is right. In Glasgow, in the UK, with the levels of violence in general, and with the levels of male violence against women, I take care and try to choose my battles wisely. Better to let a muttered aggressive comment go, or a loud, bawdy comment to a friend go, than to stand up to it and get my head kicked in.

Some examples:
Getting on Underground on way home from work, man leaving carriage says loudly 'to' me (although really a 'joke' directed at his male companion)"Where are you going hen, Weight Watchers?!". This was appropos of nothing, I hadn't spoken to him, I wasn't eating a bucket of food, I wasn't wearing any clothes branded with anything to do with weight Watchers. This was simply a nasty 'joke' at my expense, made to make me feel bad and small and to give him power and kudos for this gain of power from his companion.

Going into a bar, I show the steward my ID, the other steward says to him "Don't fancy yours much". Again, no logical reason, I hadn't spoken to either of them, hadn't suggested there might be any fancying going on, this was just a way to gain power and kudos by making me feel bad and unattractive.

Leaving a bar, going past a large group of men, one of them must have said something suggesting to his friend that he might like to become involved with me in some way as the friend looked at me appraisingly and said "Nah, not late enough for 'that' yet, no way".

Each time I was on my own, friends having gone ahead, each time it was more than one male, each time it was blatant, meant to belittle me, give them a feeling of power and gain kudos from their companion. Each time it was a negative comment on my appearance/sexual attractiveness, made about me, not 'to' me, (this is so that if I react they can defend themselves by saying they "weren't even talking to me"), each time completely unprovoked by any action from me.

No one could argue that these were not instances of sexism. These men would not have said these things to other men. They were judgements of my worth based on my attractiveness to men. They were meant to cause me distress and make me feel disempowered.

Generally though the comments are not so blatant, they are muttered, swearing under their breath if they perceive that I have 'gotten in their way', or some other annoyance. How do I know this is sexism, because they wouldn't say it to a man, don't say it to the man if I am with a male companion, they ensure the man is out of earshot and say it to me. It happens more when I am on my own.

I am not being over sensitive, I am not attributing negative events to sexism unnecessarily, this is sexism, and it's rife.

I was followed around a B&Q by a twenty something year old man screaming what he would he would do to me and how he'd give me one 'you scared little girl? You running away little girl?'. I'm 21. No one did anything.

I saw this new recipe book recently, "Men love pies, girls like hummus."

Firstly, MEN: GIRLS. What about women? Or boys?

Secondly, why is it that men LOVE a food while girls merely like it.

And thirdly, and probably most obviously, why is it that men get to enjoy the substantial, healthy, filling comfort foods whilst us "GIRLS" are supposed to subsist on waifish salady dishes?


Oh no wait, I forgot my place. Girls don't really need to eat at all really (I mean, it's not like we need it with thighs like ours), but if we do insist on indulging now and then, the food had better be foreign, low in energy and fat (for obvious reasons) and pretty much resemble an extravagant piece of watery nothing. C'mon, it's not like we actually enjoy food, we're just trying to be more cultured.
Now men, on the other hand, load 'em up with succulent, juicy meat and comforting carbs and they'll be happy especially after a long hard day of doing all that manly stuff, us girls couldn't possibly understand.

Don't get me wrong, I love hummus and trying food from other countries, but guess what? I also love meat pies, sweet pies, potatoes, pasties, steaks, sausages, naan bread, pitta bread, burgers, curry, chilli, fried chicken, enchilladas, burritos, shushi, salad... EVERYTHING. I guess you could say that I love food (gasp) and I'm sure other girls, or women for that matter would agree.

I just don't see the point in that title, that's all. It seems so condescending and tasteless. Men and women (usually again referred to as "girls") are forcibly divided in so many aspects of society, just replace "pies" and "hummus" with "cars" and "shoes" respectively and maybe the sexism will be more apparent.

My 8 year old daughter came home from school this week and asked me in a concerned tone of voice 'mum what's a pussy?'

I was surprised but explained calmly, then I asked her 'why, where have you heard that?'

She said '(boy's name from her class) told me when I grow big tits he is going to pound my pussy'

I was horrified. I told her not to worry I will speak to her teacher/boy's parents, she started crying and begged me so to say anything or else everyone will bully her for being a spoil sport and cry baby. Feel powerless. I'm so saddened and feel so lost, is this the culture that is infecting our schools now? What can I as a parent do to protect my children from this?

I am an engineer and only dress professionally. However, my boss makes jokes and comments on what I wear, everyday. It can be the color of my shirt, shoes, make-up (or lack of) etc. He never made comments on any of the other team member's attire.
I gradually began dressing like a boy, haven't woren a skirt to work in a year, my hair is always up, all in fear of something that might make me stand-out but to no avail.
There is nothing worse than being a young woman in Corporate America. No one takes you seriously. Even to participate in water-cooler conversations I would have to act as a man and fake footbal interest.