I was groped by a boy and it hurt. I felt really dirty. He did it forcefully but I've never said anything, only to a couple of people because it's not like he raped me or anything.

@DentalFloss- I've heard about that sort of thing, and you're right. While not groping, I think that that sort of preference really is a form of sexual harassment. Especially since I imagine it was a lot easier for the girls who were already treated well to do a good job than those of you who felt under-appreciated.

I have never, thankfully, worked somewhere where there was an issue with groping. However, when I worked in food service in high school, I witnessed another sort of sexual harassment based on looks.

Our supervisor was only 20 when I started working there, and he was very obvious in his preference of girls over boys as employees; furthermore, he showed huge favoritism to the girls who he deemed attractive, of which I was not one- I was about 17 and still at the tail end of the pubescent awkwardness phase.

The girls who showed up, however, with great makeup or who came in on their off-days wearing skimpy outfits and "dropping by" to "say hello" got more, and better hours. They also got raises faster.

While I admit that these girls were good at their jobs, and least some of them were, it was clear to some of us that he didn't give these girls perks based on their work ethics.

@wavy58- I am so glad to hear about an office harassment that was solved. I have known a few people in similarly uncomfortable situations who just never knew quite what to do. They were so familiar with the person doing the harassing, or felt that it might hurt their jobs, that it was hard to do anything at all.

Every woman at my office had at one time or another had problems with a certain supervisor. He thought it a sign of familiarity to walk by and slap them on the butt or gently squeeze their thighs in a meeting. He never did any hardcore groping, and I think this confused the ladies. They didn’t appreciate his displays of “friendliness,” but they didn’t feel they had enough to nail him.

Finally, a new lady became very offended and confronted him right after he touched her. He went into his little speech about just being friendly, and she went straight downtown and filed criminal charges against him.

I hate going to outdoor festivals because of crowd groping. People are so jam-packed that I don’t always know who did it to me, and even if I did, I couldn’t get away.

I went to a music festival in a big park last year, and people had crowded together to see the headliner. It was dark except for the streetlight and stage lights up ahead, and I was encircled by young men. One or more of them kept subtly touching me inappropriately. I tried to squirm my way out to another location, but there just was no room to squeeze through. I had to endure the harassment for the whole show.

Playing it off as an accident probably happens a lot. That’s what happens to me in crowds in the city where I live and work.

Every now and then, I will feel a hand squeeze my butt or leg so gently and then hear a voice say, “Oh, excuse me!” I know that it was intentional, because if it had been an accident, it would have been more of a brush or a swipe rather than a cupping.

I think we must have a gang of subtle gropers on my street! It’s never the same guy, and it seems to happen every few weeks.

Groping occurs pretty frequently in some workplaces, and at times, the victim is treated poorly for telling a superior about it. That’s what happened to a lady in my church.

She used to work at a factory. She never wore revealing clothing or did anything to invite flirtation from any of her coworkers. She was simply a pretty lady surrounded by animalistic men all day.

When more than one of the men began to quickly and abruptly grope her and then say, “Excuse me,” like it had been an accident, she reported it to her supervisor. The main boss called her in and fired her for trying to cause trouble!

@letshearit - I really think that more big cities need to start making public groping more of an issue by creating safe zones in crowded areas.

I had the misfortune of getting groped while exiting a crowded elevator and I was more mad than anything. It is such a violation of your personal space and I hate knowing there are so many perverts out there that can get a way with things like that just because there are so many people around.

How does everyone think cities should go about making crowded areas safer from groping?

I think all cities should have an optional separate train car for women. I also think there should be a an option for women only elevators.

Experiencing unwanted groping can be very traumatic for a person and if this happens to you make sure you tell the authorities. It seems to me that more and more people are suffering from groping incidences on crowded subways, making it especially unsafe for women to travel alone during peek hours.

Interestingly some countries known that groping in a crowded train is a serious problem and they have started by creating women only train cars that run during peek hours and late at night.

When I was visiting Tokyo I found it really novel that they had these protective trains painted in pink and that there was security around at all times. The women only train cars even had marked wait areas just for them. It was really great to see a city taking personal safety so seriously.