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42 Situations When You Should Lie, Posted By This TikToker Who Gives Women Safety Tips
42 Situations When You Should Lie, Posted By This TikToker Who Gives Women Safety Tips

42 Situations When You Should Lie, Posted By This TikToker Who Gives Women Safety Tips

Interview With Author

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Lifestyle expert and former scientist Cathy Pedrayes is best known as TikTok’s ‘Mom Friend.’ She gained her fan following after first sharing a video with random items she stores in her first aid kit to prepare her for everything, whether it’s a diabetic emergency or eye puncture.

Today, Cathy has a whopping 1.6M TikTok followers and 74.9M likes in total, making her platform a popular online destination for smart and useful lifestyle, safety, and daily tips and tricks.

Recently, Cathy has initiated a new series of TikToks that feature real-life situations when it’s best to lie for your safety. From being approached by a stranger in a foreign city to avoiding unwanted attention during a day at college, there’s always a way you can respond without revealing too much or getting stuck in a conversation you never asked for.

More info: TikTok | Instagram | MomFriendGuide.com

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    Lifestyle expert Cathy has been sharing useful safety tips on when you should lie and her videos are going viral on TikTok

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    Bored Panda talked to Cathy Pedrayes, the creator of the “Mom Friend Guide,” who’s widely popular on TikTok, where her practical videos gained well over 100 million views in the course of 2 months. Today, she has a whopping 1.7M followers loving her content.

    “I was taught about safety from an early age, probably not much different from what most parents teach their kids but I always had an interest in being prepared,” Cathy told us in an interview. “For example, I took a 4-month-long first aid course when I realized I didn’t know how to react in most emergency scenarios.”

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    The content creator said that she didn’t think of herself as unique in terms of following her safety habits. “I thought I was being a good citizen, learning good habits, but my awareness changed when I started working as a host on national television. Suddenly I was exposed to risks, threats, and some extreme stalking cases, which opened my eyes to a new world of safety and security.”

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    At that moment, Cathy realized everything we do is public and there was little education on protecting ourselves. “When I started my TikTok, I was posting random videos not knowing my approach to safety and security was unique. But when TikTok saw how overly prepared I was, they dubbed me the Mom Friend of the Group, and that helped me realize I had a lot to share,” Cathy explained.

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    Thanks to her background in TV, city living and passion for traveling, and her Latin American roots, Cathy was able to combine tips from a variety of real scenarios and security experts, “which is what I’ve been sharing on my TikTok. That and most recently, a lot of cybersecurity tips because I started working with a cybersecurity company creating training content.”

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    When asked how the idea for her series “Situations When It’s Best to Lie” came about, Cathy said it happened because of a few things. “My mentor at QVC (where I was host) taught me to lie when people asked where I lived. A little lie like ’15 min. down the road.’ This question came up so often, but her little tip helped me feel prepared every time.”

    “With quarantine I had forgotten about that tip, but when I was at the grocery store, someone was making restaurant recommendations and asked me where I lived in order to recommend some places nearby—immediately a red flag went up and that event sparked the Situations When It’s Best To Lie series.” Since then, the creator has shared over 60 situations which, on the surface, may seem innocent, but can actually be risky.

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    Street harassment is not just a mere nuisance, it’s a complex societal problem that’s been overlooked for way too long. A 2014 survey commissioned by Stop Street Harassment, a nonprofit that works to document and end street harassment, showed that 65 percent of all women in the US said they had experienced street harassment.

    Moreover, in the 2,000-person nationally representative poll, 23 percent of US women said they’d been touched and 20 percent had been followed. Among men, about a quarter surveyed said they had been harassed on the street.

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    Another survey of 612 women from 2000 found that women in all areas experience street harassment: 90 percent in rural areas, 88 percent in suburban areas, and 87 percent in urban areas. So it’s not just a big city problem.

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    Approaching women on streets reinforces their sense of powerlessness and damages their sense of self. “Without doubt, at the heart of harassment is a deep disrespect or disregard for women as equals, as something more than an object, a body, a sexual being,” says Susanne Legena, Plan Australia’s chief executive officer.

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    Ilona Baliūnaitė

    Ilona Baliūnaitė

    Author, BoredPanda staff

    Read more »

    I'm a Visual Editor at Bored Panda since 2017. I've searched through a multitude of images to create over 2000 diverse posts on a wide range of topics. I love memes, funny, and cute stuff, but I'm also into social issues topics. Despite my background in communication, my heart belongs to visual media, especially photography. When I'm not at my desk, you're likely to find me in the streets with my camera, checking out cool exhibitions, watching a movie at the cinema or just chilling with a coffee in a cozy place

    Read less »
    Ilona Baliūnaitė

    Ilona Baliūnaitė

    Author, BoredPanda staff

    I'm a Visual Editor at Bored Panda since 2017. I've searched through a multitude of images to create over 2000 diverse posts on a wide range of topics. I love memes, funny, and cute stuff, but I'm also into social issues topics. Despite my background in communication, my heart belongs to visual media, especially photography. When I'm not at my desk, you're likely to find me in the streets with my camera, checking out cool exhibitions, watching a movie at the cinema or just chilling with a coffee in a cozy place

    Liucija Adomaite

    Liucija Adomaite

    Writer, Community member

    Read more »

    Liucija Adomaite is a creative mind with years of experience in copywriting. She has a dynamic set of experiences from advertising, academia, and journalism. This time, she has set out on a journey to investigate the ways in which we communicate ideas on a large scale. Her current mission is to find a magic formula for how to make ideas, news, and other such things spread like a virus.

    Read less »

    Liucija Adomaite

    Liucija Adomaite

    Writer, Community member

    Liucija Adomaite is a creative mind with years of experience in copywriting. She has a dynamic set of experiences from advertising, academia, and journalism. This time, she has set out on a journey to investigate the ways in which we communicate ideas on a large scale. Her current mission is to find a magic formula for how to make ideas, news, and other such things spread like a virus.

    What do you think ?
    If I could I would live under water
    Community Member
    4 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    This makes me mad. You shouldn't Have to make up lies, you should be able to just say "not interested, leave me alone please" to all of those.

    LittleMissLotus
    Community Member
    4 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I agree, it's unfortunate that in this day and age, people still won't respect a person's (especially a woman's) privacy without you making up a lie of some sort.

    Load More Replies...
    Tam illo
    Community Member
    4 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Once a drunk guy approched me on my way home, asked if i life alone and i just lied and said i have a very protective rottweiler named bonny at home. He was like: ok cool, bye!

    Sara G
    Community Member
    4 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I do have a very protective dog named Bonnie! She's the best!

    Load More Replies...
    Laura Soon
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Not sure if just me, but I don't see anything wrong with placing a delivery for food and giving them my first name. They ask it for a reason, after all, and I am calling a restaurant, too.

    Sakuhana
    Community Member
    4 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    When the food delivery arrives and it's not the right name the order probably won't be handed out to me(F) if I said it's for "Mario". I don't understand asking a male to register a message on your phone for you either, especially if you have a smartphone...

    Load More Replies...
    Load More Comments
    If I could I would live under water
    Community Member
    4 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    This makes me mad. You shouldn't Have to make up lies, you should be able to just say "not interested, leave me alone please" to all of those.

    LittleMissLotus
    Community Member
    4 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I agree, it's unfortunate that in this day and age, people still won't respect a person's (especially a woman's) privacy without you making up a lie of some sort.

    Load More Replies...
    Tam illo
    Community Member
    4 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Once a drunk guy approched me on my way home, asked if i life alone and i just lied and said i have a very protective rottweiler named bonny at home. He was like: ok cool, bye!

    Sara G
    Community Member
    4 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I do have a very protective dog named Bonnie! She's the best!

    Load More Replies...
    Laura Soon
    Community Member
    4 years ago

    Not sure if just me, but I don't see anything wrong with placing a delivery for food and giving them my first name. They ask it for a reason, after all, and I am calling a restaurant, too.

    Sakuhana
    Community Member
    4 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    When the food delivery arrives and it's not the right name the order probably won't be handed out to me(F) if I said it's for "Mario". I don't understand asking a male to register a message on your phone for you either, especially if you have a smartphone...

    Load More Replies...
    Load More Comments
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