Woman fed up with 'constant harassment' designs map revealing worst parts of London for catcalling

A Londoner fed up with being “consistently” catcalled has designed a map revealing the capital's worst areas for street harassment so women can plan their route around it.

The Reddit user, just as Applejuiceandtea, asked others on the site if they had any tips on how she could travel from her home in Whitechapel to her office in Fitzgrovia without being subjected to constant “catcalls, wolf whistles and bizarre sexual commentary on a daily basis”.

“I'm a feisty person so half these catcalls result in me having a verbal screaming match with the instigator. Almost daily screaming matches are not a good way to live,” she wrote.

The 28-year-old told the Standard she decided to post the message because she was annoyed at being bombarded with street harassment “all the time”.

“It is almost every day or whenever I am walking anywhere alone around Whitechapel,” she said. “I used to live with other girls and it was something we discussed a lot. If I am with a group of people or my boyfriend it is fine.”

The woman, who would rather remain anonymous, is originally from Australia and used to live in Paris before she moved to London 18 months ago.

“It is not as though I did not get catcalled in Australia," she said.

"And Paris is awful for it. But London is definitely the worst. It is the consistency of it in London that makes it bad.

“It wears you down when you are thinking ‘oh it’s happening again’."

Her post was flooded with replies from women sharing their own experiences of catcalling around the city and advising which areas to avoid.

Parts of east London were repeatedly mentioned as being bad, as well as areas of Haringey in north London, Hayes in west London and Croydon in south London.

Commenters suggested moving to more “family-friendly” places such as Hampstead, Highgate and Crouch End.

One person, however, responded saying: “Good grief, it's absolutely horrible that you even have to ask that question. Feel so sorry for you.”

And another wrote: “Cat calling is out of order. You have a right to walk in peace without being harassed and I hope those who harass you feel the weight of the law.”