I was with my son, aged 7 at the time, during this summer and we were at a local beauty spot only a few minutes walk from where we live. My son was down a small embankment next to a stream and I was standing at the top on the pathway watching him play and talking to him. There was a man, woman and small child sitting on a bench about 200 yards away to my right. I heard people talking to my left and glanced up. I registered 3 young guys aged about 25ish walking down the towards me with cans of beer in their hands. I registered them but truly this was all the attention my brain gave them and I turned back to my son to hear one of them say in a kinda sing-song voice…and I’m quoting, “Oh look they’re drinking and there’s children about, won’t stop me putting my dick in her mouth!” to which his mates started laughing.
I retorted by saying to him “Obviously no-one allows you to put your dick anywhere mate if you have to say that to random strangers.”
His mates then started the predictable “Woohoo.” My son by this point starting looking worried and asking me what they were saying as he could see I looked angry but I managed to calm down and the guys walked past. This was around 2 p.m. in the afternoon and we had already altered our walk because there was another group of young guys drinking at a particular spot, no doubt their friends. I felt angry, humiliated and vulnerable.
Do you have any suggestions for dealing with harassers and/or ending street harassment in general?
To be honest, at the time it happened and immediately thereafter, if I had had a baseball bat I would have set about the guy. That is how angry and outraged I was at the time, however, I’m not a violent person in any away and I basically just filed the incident away in my ‘annoying immature pricks’ file. Definitely something that could be addressed in schools more as I know our schools in Scotland promote as part of their curriculum, kids growing and becoming more responsible citizens. With regard to dealing with the here and now, it should fall under the umbrella of something like breach of the peace or even harassment or stalking law. Teaching kids how to act socially also begins at home and I’ll certainly be bringing my son up accordingly.
– Anne Clifford
Location: The Saltings, Old Kilpatrick, West Dunbartonshire, 60, Scotland
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