‘He Thought I Was Joking’: Guy Makes A Nasty Comment To Passing Girls, Driver Makes Him Walk Home
85% percent of women in the US experience street harassment before the age of 17, according to this research from a non-profit organization. The shocking numbers reveal that the harassment on streets is profound and yet, it’s still commonly normalized in our society.
Many offenders see ‘catcalling,’ a most widespread form of street harassment, as a joke or a compliment but in reality, the damage girls and women experience last for years, and even a lifetime.
So this story posted on r/AITA sheds a light on staying reactive and assertive when witnessing someone harassed on the streets. The incident happened when an author was driving his group of friends home after a workout. As the group passed the girls walking, “one of my friends rolls down his window” and drops a nasty comment to the girls like it was no big deal.
The author immediately got angry and kicked the dude out of his car. But the remaining friends in the car were not so supportive of such a decision.
Guy asks if he was wrong to kick his friend out of the car for harassing girls out on the street with nasty comments
Image credits: Throwaway727v
And this is what people had to comment
THANK YOU. This is what an ally looks like. I lived in DC for a while and the cat calling was so bad that I would sometimes walk around blocks to avoid areas where I knew certain guys hung out. Walking to work was stressful and some of the comments the men made would actively terrify me. For example, two guys thought it'd be funny to say: "I'll take the brunette, you take the blonde" when a friend and I were walking past. They had a good laugh at it; I was afraid they'd physically harm us. It's never a compliment. It doesn't make us feel good. It scares us and infringes upon our world. If every man kept his friends accountable in this way, our world would be a better place for women.
Good on you! Early on in our relationship my boyfriend (now husband) and I had an argument in which I got angry at him for tolerating sexist behaviour from one of his mates. My husband's argument was that although he found the behaviour unacceptable, it wasnt his responsibility to police the actions of his mates. To a certain extent he is right, but my argument is that by saying nothing he condoned the actions of his mate, and if he was willing to condone that behaviour then he wasnt the man I thought he was. We had a huge conversation which was a major eye opener for him relation to how women are perceived and treated and what his role in that was. Depsite it being a confronting issue for him he started paying attention and speaking up.
Not to mention making it clear to him that it is his responsibility because when men are all right talking to women that way, those women include his wife (and his mother and his sister and his daughter and his aunt . . . ).
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Straight men, never say anything to a woman that you wouldn't want to hear from Big Mick in the prison showers, OK? It's not amusing, it's not cute, it's not sexy, it's not a compliment, its creepy af.
Very good example of how to make them understand the effect!
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THANK YOU. This is what an ally looks like. I lived in DC for a while and the cat calling was so bad that I would sometimes walk around blocks to avoid areas where I knew certain guys hung out. Walking to work was stressful and some of the comments the men made would actively terrify me. For example, two guys thought it'd be funny to say: "I'll take the brunette, you take the blonde" when a friend and I were walking past. They had a good laugh at it; I was afraid they'd physically harm us. It's never a compliment. It doesn't make us feel good. It scares us and infringes upon our world. If every man kept his friends accountable in this way, our world would be a better place for women.
Good on you! Early on in our relationship my boyfriend (now husband) and I had an argument in which I got angry at him for tolerating sexist behaviour from one of his mates. My husband's argument was that although he found the behaviour unacceptable, it wasnt his responsibility to police the actions of his mates. To a certain extent he is right, but my argument is that by saying nothing he condoned the actions of his mate, and if he was willing to condone that behaviour then he wasnt the man I thought he was. We had a huge conversation which was a major eye opener for him relation to how women are perceived and treated and what his role in that was. Depsite it being a confronting issue for him he started paying attention and speaking up.
Not to mention making it clear to him that it is his responsibility because when men are all right talking to women that way, those women include his wife (and his mother and his sister and his daughter and his aunt . . . ).
Load More Replies... Straight men, never say anything to a woman that you wouldn't want to hear from Big Mick in the prison showers, OK? It's not amusing, it's not cute, it's not sexy, it's not a compliment, its creepy af.
Very good example of how to make them understand the effect!
Load More Replies...
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