For reasons that will become clear, I don't have a photo of the
jackass in question. This is explicit - I'm sorry if this
offends...though I'm not the offender, really.

I'm a huge fan of the clothing-optional beach at Hanlan's Point on
the Toronto Islands. Its clean, the (mostly queer) folks are
respectful, and the beach is not over-run with families. I've got
nothing against families at the beach, just its nice to have a mainly
adult sort of space in the city. Now some people might think that my
girlfriends and I 'deserved' what we got since we had the 'nerve' to
go to a clothing-optional beach and think we wouldn't get harassed.
Well, those people can go back to the family beaches. I've gone to
Hanlan's a dozen times and NEVER had this kind of problem.

So here's what happened. We arrived mid-afternoon at the beach on
Pride Sunday. It was not very busy. We set up our blankets at a
respectful distance from other bathers, not noticing the lone man
about 10m from us. Well, this man certainly noticed us. Within
moments, he began parading around in such a way that his big, floppy
penis bounced around and side to side. ...Okay, that's fine - people
are allowed to walk around naked at Hanlan's. He sat on his towel,
then up striding around again.

It became clear over the next couple of hours that his purpose was to
remain, at all times, directly in our line of sight. We turned around
to face the other way - he walked around and stood right there, 15
feet away. When seated, he faced US, rather than the more usual beach
practice of facing the water. He applied sunscreen to his bits every
15 minutes or so. My friend went to sneak a pee in the bushes and he
strode after her - stopping just short of the bushes, and striding
away as she emerged. He stood (again) 15 feet away, and swiveled his
hips just enough so that his stupid penis flopped side-to-side. He
was a total creep and this image is burned in my brain forever.
Eventually, we left for the clothing-required area; The stupid jerk
put on some shorts and lurked near our picnic area for another hour
before finally giving up.

I am extremely angry about this because this man's behavior a) ruined
our day, and b) it leads to the clothing-optional beach becoming a
'problem'. The beach is NOT the problem, the grossly inappropriate
behavior of some jackass men IS. I don't have a photo of the jerk
because I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of thinking I cared.

Submitted by Kathy

HollaBack Canada In The News!

The Toronto Star has published an article about HollaBack Canada here.

Go enjoy!

1) This didn't actually happen to me, it happened to my 11 year old sister. I was with my sister and my step-sister in downtown Montreal and we were going down the escalator towards the subway. Standing against a wall was is this creepy-looking guy who had to be somewhere between 25-30. He had two dogs with him. My sister loves dogs so she says to my step sister "Woah those arecute dogs!" but she hardly said it loud enough for the guy to hear her. After that he made some comment like how she should smile more often or something like that. My step-sister gave him a dirty look and he said "What? She's so beautiful she should smile more often." We were pretty creeped out and tried to get down the escalator as fast as possible. When we finally got down he started walking down the stairs right next to them so we ran away. It happened pretty fast so I didn't get the chance to say anything or take his picture. I wish I had though, I'm extremely over-protective when it comes to family. The part that gets to me the most is the fact that she's only 11. My sister's one of those super pretty girls who look a little older than they are, like 13 or so, so stuff like this happens to her often, but it's still digusting and he had no right to scare us like that.

2) I went to a Halloween fair with my friend a few years ago. We were about 12. When it was over we asked a guy who had to be around 18 if he knew the time. He said he didn't but then he asked us if we wanted to buy a glow stick. We said no, we had no money and then we walked away. As we walked away he yelled after us that we were whores. We were little kids! What the hell. People can be so stupid. I can't even remember all the times I've had some asshole yell something out a car window. It really disgusts me. There was also this one time where I went to a party in this small town. It was more of a family party since there were some 60 year olds and some 4 year olds. Well this one older guy, around 50,wouldn't stop talking to me the whole night. He told me I was pretty and that I looked 18, I was about 15 at the time. It made me VERY uncomfortable. His son was at the party and everything! I just wish men like that would fuck off.

Submitted by Katy

I was at a strip mall and my mom and I were looking for my dad. My mom went one way I went the other (I was 12). There was a man standing there and when I walked by him, he said "What's your name?" He looked about 22. I said "Why do you need to know?". He said "Because I like you." I was really freaked when he said that so I started to walk away fast and then he said "It's not a hard question! I just want to know your name!"

Submitted by Vanessa