(via sarahmc)
I bet that guy thought twice before sexually assaulting another woman.
I don’t advocate violence as a solution. The entire Tiger Woods scandal, for example, is pissing me off, because mainstream media refuses to touch the domestic abuse issue. (Apparently, people deserve to be beaten unconscious if they cheat!) That being said, if you’re assaulted first — and in my mind, uninvited groping or rubbing definitely falls under that definition — I think you have every right to defend yourself and to retaliate. Sure, the woman in the above story went overboard, but at least she didn’t let him get away with it. Fondling of women on public transportation is a disturbingly rampant problem, yet I don’t know of a single woman, certainly not any friends, who’ve actually confronted the perpetrators.
The only time I’ve ever been groped in public is when I was 18*. I reacted by kneeing the guy on a very public street in Hollywood. I managed to do that repeatedly by holding on to him by his collar and refusing to let go. A passerby actually had to tell me to calm down.
There was also an incident last spring that involved me kicking a BMW in retaliation for a rather lewd series of catcalls. Had I caused damage (alas, I did not), that would’ve fallen under vandalism.
I probably sound pretty blasé about breaking the law, but no one ever said revolution was easy. Civil disobedience is pretty much a prerequisite for social change.
* Actually, I was also once fondled at a public library when I was 12, but wasn’t sure if it was actually happening so I didn’t tell anyone. Another time, at the same library, a man tried to get me to leave with him. I wish I could say that things have changed. I kind of doubt it.
