A national survey on street harassment reveals what many of us know too well: It’s common and aggressive.

Stop Street Harassment, a Reston, Va.-based non-profit, asked 1,058 men and 982 women — the majority of whom (1,566) were white — about their experiences with harassment.

Sixty-five percent of women reported experiencing at least one type of street harassment in their lifetimes. More than half (57%) of all women had experienced verbal harassment, and 41% of all women had experienced physically aggressive forms, including sexual touching (23%), following (20%), flashing (14%), and being forced to do something sexual (9%). For men, 25% experienced street harassment, too, including 18% who experienced verbal harassment and 16% who experienced physically aggressive forms.

More men who identified as LGBT experienced harassment than men who identified as heterosexual.

In many ways, persons of color, lower-income people, and persons who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender were disproportionately affected by street harassment overall, as detailed in the main body of the report

Indeed, two focus groups conducted with gay, bisexual and queer men from Washington, D.C. revealed that street harassment is a common issue. One man said he will not go to certain neighborhoods for fear of being attacked, while others spoke of victim-blaming.

They were also harassed for doing things that are considered feminine. For example, Justin was harassed a few times because of the bag he carried. Men would yell at him and call it a purse.

For Tom, it was his umbrella. “There was a while where I had a pink umbrella I got at the Cherry Blossom Festival,” said Tom, “and I would carry it around because it’s a goddamn umbrella and who cares, but apparently plenty of people care. A guy by the bus stop around the corner from my apartment even threatened to rape me with it … I changed my bus route.”

And:

Few people saw the police as a viable option for getting help because they didn’t feel the police take them seriously. “I only talked to a police officer once,” said Tom. “It was when I was out running and the 40 Days of Life anti-abortion event was happening and there were all these teenagers and I have never had so many people call me a faggot in five minutes … I went to the police officer standing near the Metro and told him and he said, ‘Just grow up.’ It’s like, ‘Awesome, thanks, officer.’ That was more discouraging because it’s like, I guess I didn’t really expect him to go arrest anyone, but it would be nice if they told them to knock it off. It’s things like that where, people ask me why don’t you ever go to the police and it’s like, well if that’s the reaction I get for something that’s innocuous, what am I going to do if someone actually does something?”

Possible solutions the group discussed include “sensitivity training for law enforcement and health care professionals,” and inclusive public service announcements on Metro. There was also discussion about the problem within the LGBTQ community: “If we have a caste system, if we can’t treat each other fairly, how can we expect people outside our community to treat us fairly?”