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Just this past November on a trip to London, a strange man spent two hours trying to enter two females’ hotel room before finally succeeding.
If you’re a girl and you’ve been on the internet anywhere in the past five years, chances are you’ve either been sent or personally come across the videos. Women recording from a hotel as a man whom they’ve never met before enters or tries to enter their room. The creator might give a storytime afterwards or post to announce their safety a day later, yet time and time again more videos showing this identical experience continue to circulate.
These experiences are proof of not just the continuous harassment of women when traveling, but also how this harassment is rarely taken seriously. Sadly, the cases which are filmed and reported are outliers in the infinite list of unsafe experiences women face around the world.
Just this past November on a trip to London with another female friend of mine, we both experienced this same, terrifying phenomenon - a strange man spent two hours trying to enter our room before finally succeeding. Immediately the man pretended the door had already been open and claimed that he’d been doing us both a favor by closing our door, even though he’d spent the better part of the morning trying to unlock it.
The man came back twice, including while we were on the phone with hotel staff. During said call, he started yelling at us through our door, only leaving after being repeatedly told his presence made us feel unsafe. Luckily, we were able to swiftly move hotels without interacting with the man further, something most women in these situations aren’t able to do.
This experience was, of course, shocking when it happened. Having seen such videos showing these experiences for years, I’d never thought that it would be something I experienced myself. Before, a small part of me even assumed that some of the videos were exaggerated or faked for views. Now, it feels like planning a trip also means having to do a background check on every hotel I might stay at. My friend and I’s experience, though not what many would consider overt harassment, has completely changed the way I travel abroad.
Now, it feels like planning a trip also means having to do a background check on every hotel I might stay at. My friend and I’s experience, though not what many would consider overt harassment, has completely changed the way I travel abroad.
An entire industry of safety tips and tools has been made off of the fear and danger women are so often put through when traveling. Whether it be tasers or portable door locks, women are constantly encouraged and fearmongered into taking the extra precautions to keep themselves safe. The men who create these unsafe environments and experiences however are almost never punished. Instead, it is often women who are blamed for their lack of preparedness and for not distorting their whole lives around the possibility of being hurt by men.
Even if preparing to the fullest, many accounts of men being given keycards to women’s rooms after claiming to know them have been reported throughout the US and Europe. Women traveling alone or with small groups of other women are specifically targeted by predators looking to enter their rooms.
The issue is not just that this harassment occurs, but also that it is rarely taken seriously as actual harassment if the man is stopped before being able to do physical harm. This then leads to these experiences being invalidated by the justice system - and within many of these women’s own minds.
The truth is men will never experience traveling the same way women do and even if they had a similar experience as my friend and I, theirs would not be tainted in the same way - both by the possibility of sexual or physical harm and the socially-reinforced blame experienced in the aftermath. Traveling alone as a young man offers a level of freedom not provided to women even in the privacy of their hotel rooms.
Traveling alone as a young man offers a level of freedom not provided to women even in the privacy of their hotel rooms.
Sharing these encounters should not just be examples for what women should look out for when traveling. Instead, they should be evidence for hotels around the world to take larger strides in protecting the women who’ve trusted them with their safety. Unfortunately, such a change is far from occurring on any substantial level.
Only in changing the way we view sexual harassment and women’s safety around the world can such problems be brought to an end. Keycards should not be given out to random men asking for a woman’s hotel room, and when reported, such men forcefully entering said rooms should be immediately removed and questioned. Even then, this is only a fraction of a starting point for changing the travel industry as it pertains to women and their wellbeing.