Since the tragic disappearance of Sarah Everard in the UK this month, street safety and putting an end to harassment has been on everyone’s minds recently. So much so that women everywhere have been speaking out about the times that they didn’t feel safe and what they constantly do to stay safe in public.
One of those women is TikTok user Hesheybae (aka actor Shey Greyson), who uploaded a series of videos detailing how her quick thinking may have saved her from a gruesome fate one time. When a man asked to take her picture, she thought nothing of it. At first. However, she soon realized that he might have more nefarious purposes. Scroll down below to get her full story and to read the stories of the women she inspired to open up about.
Shey Greyson spoke about the importance of quick thinking when it comes to staying safe in public
Image credits: sheygreyson
In the first video, she set the scene for the twist that happened after a man asked to take a photo of her dog
Image credits: heysheybae
Image credits: heysheybae
Image credits: heysheybae
Image credits: heysheybae
Image credits: heysheybae
Image credits: heysheybae
Image credits: heysheybae
Image credits: heysheybae
Image credits: heysheybae
Image credits: heysheybae
Image credits: heysheybae
Image credits: heysheybae
Image credits: heysheybae
In her second video, the TikToker detailed how the shifty guy wanted to avoid deleting the photo of her address for real
Image credits: heysheybae
Image credits: heysheybae
Image credits: heysheybae
Image credits: heysheybae
Image credits: heysheybae
Image credits: heysheybae
Image credits: heysheybae
Image credits: heysheybae
In an earlier interview with Bored Panda, Jorge Arteaga from 'Hollaback!' told us what men can do to make sure that women feel safer on the streets.
“Check yourself, your friends, family, everyone. Anytime they make abhorrent comments like ‘she was looking for it, or she shouldn’t have walked down that street or worn that dress, she should’ve walked with friends.’ Harassment, physical violence, or sexual assault are all horrible occurrences, and there is no justification for it,” he said.
“Stop normalizing harassment and violence toward women (in the most intersectional expression possible). Hold your friends accountable for those inappropriate jokes or comments when it’s just the ‘guys.’ The next time a woman denies your or your friend’s advances, do not be persistent,” Arteaga gave advice to men everywhere.
Another woman shared how she tricked a creepy guy by asking him to check if a car was her Uber
Image credits: saoirse12345
Image credits: saoirse12345
Meanwhile, this woman made a clever move by jumping in and out of a train to get away from 2 creeps
Image credits: lemlabel
Image credits: lemlabel
Hesheybae realized that the guy was taking a close-up photo of her dog’s collar which had an address on it. She asked the man to delete the photo which he did and that should’ve been the end of it. However, the woman then asked him to go into his iPhone’s ‘deleted album’ and delete it from there, too.
The man was… less than cooperative to put it lightly. He claimed that there was no such thing as a ‘deleted album’ on his phone. The TikToker chased after him until he finally said ‘fine,’ and deleted the picture from the album. Or so he claimed!
As it turned out, he was lying. When the woman asked him to show proof that he in fact deleted the picture, he started acting cagey. It was only when she said that she won’t stop asking until he does so that he showed her the album. And what do you know? The picture was still there.
Hesheybae vocalized what we’re all thinking: what would’ve happened if she hadn’t realized that the man was taking a photo of her address on her dog’s collar? And what would’ve happened if she hadn’t insisted that he delete it?
Here's how some people responded to the videos. Some of them even shared similar stories of their own, proving these aren't one-off cases
Have you ever had a similar creepy encounter like the ones these women spoke about? What do you do to stay safe in public? Share your thoughts in the comments below, dear Readers.