This video contains two entire minutes of a man committing sexual harassment multiple times, and has almost a million views, and over 5,000 likes vs. 1,400 dislikes. Some of the comments thankfully call this video out for what it is, but many others insist that it’s ‘funny’ or that the guy doing this is ‘brave.’
The man in this video doesn’t ask for permission, he just walks right up, grabs the person and kisses them. Most of the kisses are on the cheek, but with several of the girls on the beach, he kisses them on the lips. Clearly, none of the people he kisses are enjoying this, most are confused if not angry, and this video is certainly not ‘harmless fun.’ It’s street harassment, it’s sexual harassment, and it is not a joke.
A lot of his videos deal with trying to make people uncomfortable, and this isn’t the only disturbing video he has. There is another set of videos, “Walk by Pickup Lines 1 and 2,” where he walks up to women and at best just asks for their number, and at worst throws objectifying or disgusting pickup lines at them (From Pickup Lines 2: “If you were a fire hydrant I’d pee on you” What?).
It does not matter that this is intended to be a ‘joke,’ it’s harassment, and he’s contributing to why so many women and some men are wary of public spaces and often feel unsafe or unwelcome in them. I’m surprised I haven’t heard about these videos before considering how boldly they display sexual harassment. This is an ugly reminder of what many, many women (and men) are subject to daily when they go out in public, and a reminder that we’re no where near finished in the fight against street harassment and it’s continued social acceptability.
This guest blog post is written by a SSH community member who wishes to remain anonymous.
