Okay, this is actually what you do if you’re being sexually harassed in any kind of public space. Draw attention to it, preferably pull away and let EVERYONE know that someone is touching you. This will not only get him to get off you but he’ll definitely think about this situation next time he wants to do something like this.
Spreading the word.
My mom and I were talking about this today after hearing about a woman who was molested on a plane who said nothing until she was picked up at the airport by her parents. My mom looked at me and asked what I would do in that situation and I looked her dead in the eye and I told her “it would take me .02 seconds to realize what was going on and yell angrily, and then I would be straight on to bitch slapping him so hard he wouldn’t be able to see the punch I’d throw with the opposite hand”.
She nodded and accepted my salty language like a seasoned sailor.
I’ve had experience with this before, in Prague a group of five girls and I were followed by three men at night. After a while they started yelling at us, the most common being “how much?” Meaning how much we “cost” as prostitutes. Seeing as they weren’t going to stop, I turned on my heel, faced them (which surprised them), spat at their feet and responded with “You couldn’t afford me.” This prompted the other girls to start yelling back at them as well, starting with our spitfire Czech friend to start slinging curses in Czech as she and the rest of the girls came up beside me. Needless to say the men backed off and pretty much fled. They weren’t expecting a fight. It empowered me and encouraged the rest of the girls to yell back too.
I’ve heard that a lot of people don’t know what to do in this situation because they’ve been taught all their lives to be polite and non-aggressive. Keep your heads down or whatever.
Keep in mind that studies have shown that rapists look for victims who won’t fight back.
Remember that nobody has the right to touch you without your consent or harass you, and you have all the right to make the biggest fuss about it that you can possibly make.
Get angry. Be in command.
FUCKING RELEVANT
If someone is doing something that makes you uncomfortable like this, you do not need to be nice. Swear, kick, scream, make the asshole cry. You don’t have to nice, be as rude as you want
if i’m being honest, sometimes the guy doesn’t back down and sometimes announcing it to everyone else on whatever public transport results in absolutely fuck all - which is why it’s really important that if you hear a girl making a fuss you back her the fuck up. especially if you’re a dude (because the thing about guys who don’t care what women think is, they don’t care what women think). remember that men who assault women think they’re normal, that their behaviour is normalised. when one person throws a fit, they’re just sensitive. when a crowd turns against them, they know they’ve done wrong
If someone touches you in a way you don’t want, you give them a warning, loud and clear, and then you show them that you mean business–and if that means you break their finger, you break their fucking finger. If a woman near you tells someone to stop touching her, it is your problem because you are a human being and you tell that asshole to get their hands off her.
You don’t need to be polite to someone groping a woman–or anyone else–without their consent. In fact, you’re probably better off if you’re rude and aggressive as all fuck.