"I encountered a group of seven "men" earlier who, as I walked past them, all told me I should 'smile' and be 'happy' while they attempted to block my way. While I shouldn't have fed the trolls - especially given their superior numbers - I ended up being infuriated just enough to grant them a rude (by my standards) vocal reply.
While I've never
told anyone to smile and have never had the desire to, the experience
did provide me with insight into how annoying and/or threatening having a
random person giving you orders can be."
This is the first time anything like this - street harassment - has happened to me; I was fortunate that none of them attempted to grab me although the incident occurred during broad daylight.
As little as three years ago, I had no idea that the problem existed of people telling other people (usually men telling women but other combinations do exist) to smile. I thought it was a bizarre thing for anyone to do. It must be a sort of power game that some people try to play over others.
As for the "rude vocal reply", well, as I said, it was rude by my standards; by most other people's standards it was probably still quite polite given the circumstances. If memory serves me right, this is both the first time I've been deliberately rude and not harboured any regrets afterwards. A part of me even feels a little pleased with myself for my response although one should be careful in case it causes bullies to become more belligerent.
This is the first time anything like this - street harassment - has happened to me; I was fortunate that none of them attempted to grab me although the incident occurred during broad daylight.
As little as three years ago, I had no idea that the problem existed of people telling other people (usually men telling women but other combinations do exist) to smile. I thought it was a bizarre thing for anyone to do. It must be a sort of power game that some people try to play over others.
As for the "rude vocal reply", well, as I said, it was rude by my standards; by most other people's standards it was probably still quite polite given the circumstances. If memory serves me right, this is both the first time I've been deliberately rude and not harboured any regrets afterwards. A part of me even feels a little pleased with myself for my response although one should be careful in case it causes bullies to become more belligerent.
That's so scary, Andrew! I'm glad you were rude to them and they left you alone! Eeek!
ReplyDeleteYes, I'm glad they left me alone once I'd passed them, too. They could have followed me after I had responded but they didn't. I just hope they didn't go on to harass someone else.
DeleteI agree. When we talk, or maybe I'll e-mail you, I have to tell you about something scary. Fortunately I avoided another situation...
DeleteGlad you avoided it!
Delete