Not “street” harassment specifically as this took place in a restaurant.
My mother and I decided to go grab an appetizer somewhere. We had a completely fabulous time and right when we were thinking of leaving an older gentleman invited us to sit with him and his co-workers at his table. I figured why not? My mom’s single and he appeared to be interested in her so we did.
We get to his table and are introduced to his friendly co-workers and hang out and chat for a little bit when he begins insulting my mom. I’m embarrassed that I was so shocked that I hardly even responded to him.
The first sign of trouble was when he turns to me and says something about my mom being 52 years old. I told him he was aiming a little high and then I asked, well how old are you? He was disinclined to respond so I joked that perhaps it was a rude question and he agreed that it was…? Oh well, I figure.
Somehow we go from this to him bluntly and loudly asking my mom, “So what are you, 52?” and then he states, “So you’re a cougar.” My mom and I looked at each other like, “WTF?” I did my best to play it off for the benefit of everyone at the table, but I really really wish I had just called him on being so rude and had left right then and there. At this point it was obvious his poor co-workers were like, why the eff are we hanging out with his guy? Oh and at one point he tried to say that she was a cougar even if she was potentially interested in HIM. Yeah! HIM! THE OLDER EFFING GUY. His explanation was that he’s ONLY 46…? So in this guy’s mind somehow the woman he assumes is 52 (she’s 49) is a cougar because she’s potentially interested in a 46 year old??
Eventually one of the co-workers just suddenly gets up to leave so we obviously do too and apparently this guy took the opportunity of us waiting for our coats to KISS my mother. What in the…? She was so shocked and confused she didn’t even tell me until later. I wish she had slapped him!
What a creep. I think now that I’ve experienced this I will be more willing to call out this kind of behavior. I regret having responded so politely, but at least I erred on the side of caution.
– Anonymous
Location: A fancy restaurant
Share your street harassment story for the blog.
Check out the new book 50 Stories about Stopping Street Harassers!
