Nobody should feel like their personal space is being invaded by someone who frightens you. And nobody should be hit on when they clearly show they’re scared and don’t want anything to do with you through their body language and tone of voice. Especially while live-streaming in a public place.
However, that’s exactly what happened to an 18-year-old student, who goes by maassassin_ on TikTok, whose videos of being hit on by an older man in a hotel courtyard went viral on social media. There were plenty of women who said they know perfectly well how she must have felt and that dealing with creeps is a nearly daily occurrence for plenty of them.
Watch the videos and let us know what you think and if you’ve ever been in a similar situation as the teenager has, dear Pandas. And be sure to read on for Bored Panda’s interview about staying safe with ‘Hollaback!’, an organization that aims to stop harassment in all of its forms.
A teenager's videos of being hit on by a creepy older guy went viral, and they resonated with a lot of people, especially women
Image credits: chris_notcapn
She was live-streaming when the dude approached her, so she captured the entire interaction in two viral videos
Staying safe on the streets and in public spaces is incredibly important, so Bored Panda reached out to ‘Hollaback!’ for a comment on how to react to harassment. Jorge Arteaga, the organization’s Deputy Director, said that each and every situation is different and that ‘Hollaback!’ honors “how folks choose to protect themselves.”
Trusting your instincts and deciding what’s right for you at the time is what’s important. ‘Hollaback!’ has three main strategies on how to respond to harassment. “First, ‘trust your instinct’ and there is no right or wrong response to harassment. Whatever your response is in the moment was the right response for you,” Arteaga told Bored Panda about the first two strategies.
“Next is, ‘Reclaim your space,’ if you choose to. You can tell them to leave you alone or what you want them to do and why, ask people for help, or document the situation and use it for reporting purposes, if you choose,” he said.
The key here is choice: there really isn’t a wrong way to react to harassment because you’re trusting your instincts and nobody knows what’s right for you in the moment better than you because you’re actually living it.
The teenager was clearly scared and didn't want to talk to the guy who was chatting her up
Image credits: maassassin_
Image credits: maassassin_
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Image credits: maassassin_
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Image credits: maassassin_
The teen gave some extra information about what happened and how she felt in a follow-up video
The teenager originally posted two videos about the interaction with the creepy guy, as well as a couple of follow-ups. One of the people to help the initial video go viral is podcaster Chris Evans (no relation to Captain America’s actor), who was horrified that somebody would hit on a teenager when she was live-streaming.
Her initial video had over 12.2 million views at the time of writing. Meanwhile, in a couple of follow-up videos, she went on to explain that the guy who hit on her seemed to be far older than she was, in his 30s. In other words, he should have known better than to try hitting on somebody who very clearly wanted to be left alone.
The teenager indicated multiple times that she didn’t want to have a chat with the guy who was hitting on her and it took a while for him to get the hint. Fortunately, things ended well and the student’s friend was even making sure that she was all right from afar.
What’s more, the student spoke to the receptionist at the hotel’s front desk who explained that they’ll have a talk with the guy about his behavior. Hopefully, things will change for the better as more people become aware that these kinds of situations simply aren’t ok.
Unfortunately, these sorts of situations are nothing new to women who have to deal with them on a regular basis
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