Well, it was in a pub rather than the street, but this drunk guy kept insulting my boyfriend who I was standing next to at the time, saying that I was way out of BF’s league, I shouldn’t be with him, his own (drunk guy’s) mates were all so much better looking, I’d be better off with them etc etc. Eventually I just lost it and punched him on the jaw (not hard). He got very angry, but luckily his own friends stopped him hitting me back.
The thing is I don’t feel at all good about it. I scared myself with my own anger and loss of control, and feel very ashamed of my behaviour. Girls, it’s better to confront with words not fists. I wish I had.
– Anonymous
Location: London, UK
Share your street harassment story today and help raise awareness about the problem.
Find suggestions for what YOU can do about this human rights issue.
Sue Henderson says
I agree that words are better than violence but I have to admit I couldn’t help laughing to hear you’d punched the jerk. He put you in an incredibly stressful situation. Frankly he was lucky – you only gently punched him, with me he might not have been able to walk for a week.
You reacted. It wasn’t a deliberate act of violence, it was a reaction to the situation HE put you in. Please don’t blame yourself. He was the aggressor, not you. If someone attacked someone I loved then I’d defend them too, it’s a very natural reaction. And – probably most important of all – you didn’t actually do any harm. Ok you annoyed him (tough) but you didn’t actually injure him in any way.
Be kind to yourself. You reacted to defend someone you love and you didn’t cause any real harm. Hell, you may even have made the jerk think twice about harassing someone else. I call that a good result. So please don’t think you did wrong. He did wrong, you just reacted.
Alan says
I hope you knocked some sense into the guy and gave him reason to pause and think of what he was doing, even if you didn’t feel good about the experience!