This is what it's like to walk down the street alone as a woman

This is what it&#039;s like to walk down the street alone as a woman

last updated 8 January 2015

Walking on the street while female can be tough.

Just take it from Shoshana Roberts, who, with the help of Hollaback, a nonprofit fighting street harassment, used a hidden camera to record herself walking the streets of New York City for 10 hours. In that time, the video captured 108 instances of street harassment — that's more than 10 catcalls per hour. And before you say that her clothing signaled that she was "asking for it," note that she wore a crewneck T-shirt and jeans for this specific reason.

The catcall responses ranged from the polite but no less unwelcome ("God bless you") to the confrontational ("You don't wanna talk? Because I'm ugly?") to the downright creepy (one man walked alongside her staring silently for a full five minutes).

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While the video is upsetting, street harassment is far from uncommon: According to Hollaback, between 70 and 99 percent of women are catcalled or harassed while walking down the street at some point in their lives. --Samantha Rollins

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Samantha Rollins is TheWeek.com's news editor. She has previously worked for The New York Times and TIME and is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.