I never thought having a cellphone could be a problem until I started receiving text messages and phone calls harassing me. I don't know for sure, but I think they were from ex–girlfriends of my best male friend at the time. I would get text messages that were either racial slurs or personal insults like "why would he want an ugly slob." I would also get phone calls at all hours of the night with the caller's number blocked. I would answer and, after a few seconds, the caller would just hang up. At first it didn't really bother me, but, eventually, I started to hate my cellphone. I finally changed my number and the cyberbullying stopped.
–AV
A while ago I started getting really vile IMs from a screen name that I didn't know. At first it was just profane name calling, but it quickly escalated into "I know your class schedule and you better watch out." After a few days of this, I told the boy I was dating at the time about the problem, and he recognized the screen name as that of his ex–girlfriend. He talked to her, and she apparently realized that her tactics weren't going to make him want to date her again. However, it was a very scary experience at the time, given that I had no idea who was threatening me or why.
–G
–Anonymous
When I was 15, I was approached online by a guy who said he was 25 and who assured me that he wasn't "a perv or anything." We started talking in October, and by December, he told me that he had "feelings for me." On Valentine's Day he told me his real age––35––and started talking about sex, except he always called it "making love" and compared us to Romeo and Juliet. He'd write me poems and send me e–cards; and because I was too shy around boys to attract a boyfriend, I thought he was very romantic and the answer to my prayers. A year or so later, he started talking to me less and less, until he finally "broke up" with me when I was 17 (even though we had never met in person, thankfully). He had, however, during those two years gotten very graphic sexually and talked about his sexual prowess. I recently turned 20 and found his MySpace. I wrote him a letter telling him that I truly hated him for hurting me and taking advantage of my naivety and shyness. He deleted his MySpace, and I think he's now
afraid of me, which makes me feel a bit better. Next time, he should pick on someone his own age.
–Anonymous
When I was 17, I was working a night shift at a pizza place. The only other employee on staff that night was a man who was running the inside area. We had the door propped open, and while I was outside, a man and a woman drove into the parking lot. The man rolled down the window and said he needed directions. When I walked up to the car, he said, "My wife and I are looking for a threesome––would you be willing?" I was terrified; I backed up and said, "Sorry, no, but why don't you talk to my boyfriend over there about it?" Luckily, the guy working with me was standing in the doorway watching what was happening, although he couldn't overhear the conversation. The driver quickly rolled up the window and screeched out of the parking lot.
–Anonymous
I met a guy on MySpace and, after talking for awhile, agreed to meet him in person. We hung out a few times until he started getting really clingy and asking me to marry him (which was really weird given how short a time we had known each other). He even started sending messages to all of my male friends on my MySpace saying that I was his and to leave me alone. When my friends told me, I confronted him and said that I wanted no further contact from him, including e–mails, IMs, phone calls, and face–to–face conversations. I blocked him from my MySpace, blocked him from my IM, found a code to hide my MySpace friends from view, and thought I'd taken care of the problem. However he continued to contact me, leaving me voicemail messages both at home and at work (to the point that he daily filled up the voicemail boxes on both) and e–mailing me constantly. I told my boss about the problem, and he suggested I report the guy to law enforcement. An officer talked to the guy face to face and told him to leave me alone. I asked the officer if the guy seemed to "get it," and he thought so. About a week later, though, I started receiving more e–mails and voicemails from the guy and called the officer back. He filled out a report and arrested the guy, taking him directly to court that night to immediately get me an order of protection.
–KKB
–Anonymous
My high school experience was really, really bad in terms of harassment. When I was a freshman, people on my bus would throw batteries at the back of my head. During my sophomore year, the harassment intensified but was mostly verbal, and I could deal pretty easily with "Hey fatty, you're fat!" My junior year, though, I no longer felt safe walking through the school halls by myself; I was mocked and insulted by virtually everyone, pushed around, and shoved into lockers. My senior year, though, was the worst. I think I was called very insult imaginable, false rumors of me planning to shoot up the school circulated, and there were even accusations of me having a "hit list"––of course, not true. I ended up withdrawn and paranoid, and even though I graduated high school with a high C average, it was only because I was too stubborn to let them drive me away completely. –Anonymous
–Anonymous
When I was a sophomore in high school, a boy in my science class harassed me by constantly making all sorts of profane and sexual comments. I already felt like I was an outcast at the school, so I didn't say anything to anyone about his graphic comments to me. One day I was working on an assignment at one of the lab tables, and he walked over to me and actually pinched one of my breasts with a pair of beaker tongs. I was so stunned that I just left the room without saying anything to anyone––frankly, I wasn't sure anyone would believe me if I did, and my prior experiences had taught me that silence = no one getting hurt = good. Now, though, I wish I had a chance to relieve that moment, because I wouldn't think twice about punching that boy in the face and then telling the proper people. –Anonymous
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