TREMBLING in fear, 18-year-old Anais makes a dash for the train door as it pulls into the station - the man sat opposite her in the empty carriage had been masturbating over her since the last stop.

She's one of thousands of girls - some as young as 14 - who experience intimidation, violence and sexual assault on a daily basis as they go to and from school, visit friends and family and use public transport.

11 Young girls like Anais, 18, are being abused and intimidated

Britain is in the midst of a sexual harassment crisis on the streets.

Today MPs making up the Women and Equalities Committee revealed the results of a nine month investigation showed that harassment has become "normalised" for girls in the UK.

The inquiry heard evidence of widespread problems of men and boys sexually harassing women and even girls on buses and trains, in bars and clubs, in online spaces and at university, in parks and on the street.

As part of their 'It's not okay' campaign last month, Plan International released shocking new statistics showing that 66% of girls aged 14-21 have received unwanted sexual attention or contact in a public place.

Of those, 15 per cent of girls are groped and touched every month and 1 in 10 have been victim to ‘upskirting’ – the act in which someone takes a photo up their skirt without their permission.

11 Sophie is one of thousands of girls who have been harassed on our streets

As girls up and down the county suffer harassment on a daily basis, four brave teenagers tell us their stories.



'He followed me through the train masturbating'

Anais, 18, from London, says: "I was on the train going to meet my friends for a night out in the city when I noticed a guy sat opposite me was looking at me funny.

I was all dressed up in my best heels and feeling great in my long, see-through skirt with shorts underneath.

But seeing this guy staring at me creeped me out and I stopped taking selfies and put my phone away.

It was then that I saw him angle his body towards the door a bit, and I saw that his hand was moving up and down and masturbating.

11 MPs vote today on whether misogyny should be made a hate crime

Horrified, I stood up to leave but he edged closer to me, his eyes locked into mine.

When the train pulled into the next station I jumped off - but he followed me.

As the train pulled away, I realised he was stood on the platform, still masturbating.

Everything was out but people just walked past him.

I ran out of the station, traumatised.

I didn’t think to report him, I assumed he would have left by the time the police arrived.

I had been cat-called before, but I had never expected to feel so violated in such a public space."



'A man took pictures up my skirt in a nightclub'

Sophie, 18, from Glasgow, says: "I was out with a friend at a nightclub in Glasgow - where we go almost every weekend - when we noticed a man was following us through the club.

We weren’t sure if he was part of another group standing nearby but he seemed to be alone.

11 15 per cent of girls are being touched, groped or grabbed every month

Nothing else about him stood out. He was wearing jeans and a T-shirt and in his mid-twenties.

We just chose to ignore him and we were enjoying our night out, but became aware of lots of flashing – we didn’t know if somebody was taking pictures, or selfies, or whether it was just the lights in the bar.

The man stayed nearby, he was sitting down and watching us on the dance floor.

Before we knew what was happening, two bouncers ran in to take the guy away.

11 Nearly 1 in 10 girls reported experiencing upskirting

Then a girl who worked at the bar told us how they’d been watching him following us all night on CCTV.

She added that he had been taking pictures of us - and up our skirts - too – hence all of the flashing.

At this point I felt scared and angry.

He was removed from the bar immediately. We were shaken but waited another half an hour until 2.30am to move outside to get a taxi home together.

Then we saw that the man taking pictures was just lurking around outside of the club, clearly waiting for us.

11 Despite this happening in public places - like parks, high streets and bus stops - people are not stepping in to help

Luckily as he began shouting angrily and coming towards us, our taxi appeared and we jumped in immediately.

I haven’t returned to the club since, and I now feel more nervous on nights out.

I’m still angry that pictures of me could still be out there – possibly intimate pictures I gave no permission to be taken."



'A man parked his car and followed me home'

Malikah, 19, from Birmingham, says: "Girls in my area experience harassment frequently and it can be scary, especially if it's at night and someone approaches you more than once.

Walking home after work one night, I was approached by a man who asked me to get into his car. I said: “No” firmly, and kept walking away.

11 Only a fifth of girls who had experienced street harassment said someone had responded in a way they found helpful

Theresa May reveals pervs who take upskirting pics will be put on the sex register under new laws

I then noticed the car was driving alongside me at the speed of my walk and started to panic. He was following me.

He turned down a side road and I thought he'd gone - but once I'd crossed the road I realised he was right behind me.

Petrified, I quickly lifted my phone to my ear.

My phone was upside-down, but I pretended to be speaking and was trying to make out like my dad was coming to pick me up.

11 Malikah, 19, from Birmingham experiences street harassment frequently in her area

The man immediately overheard and he turned around, put his hood up and moved away.

I ran home, terrified.

Now my parents are more cautious about when I’ll be home and going out after dark and I change my plans and if they can’t pick me up."



“A group of teenage boys told me they wanted to rape me”

Thea, 20, from London says: "Working as a club promoter, I’ve had so many experiences of unwanted sexual attention that it’s become almost a normal part of my everyday life.

Once a man asked if I was a prostitute and kept offering me £200 for different services.

11 Thea was intimidated by a gang of men when she was with a friend

But the most shocking incident for me was being told by a group of boys, some of who were just 13, that they wanted to rape me. I was in a park in London with dozens of people around and nobody said a thing.

It was in October and wrapped up in a jumper and leggings, I was walking with a male friend in the park while we waited for our other friends to meet us for a night out.

11 22 per cent of girls walk a longer route to avoid somewhere

There were lots of groups walking about but I noticed a group of about eight teenagers when they started cat-calling and asking my friend if I was his girlfriend.

We tried to ignore them and they shouted: “I’m going to rape your girl, I want to rape her” repeatedly.

We just kept walking and tried to ignore them but I was shaken. They had just told me they wanted to rape me, in the middle of a very public place, and everybody had acted like it was OK.

11 Two thirds of girls have been sexually harassed in public

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I couldn’t report them to police because I would have no way of identifying them, and I chose to carry on with my night as usual.

Why? Because if I was affected by comment like this, or received unwanted sexual attention, I would be terrified almost every day."