Is It Wrong to Call This 20-Year-Old Who Punched a Street Harasser a Hero?
A photo of a woman grinning and flashing the bandaged hand, injured after punching the misogynist sack of shit she overheard threatening to rape a stranger, has amost 56,000 notes on Tumblr and counting. The assailant says she never intended for the image to go viral nor to become a role model for the thousands of people who are now virtually applauding her actions.
Last weekend, Kelsey, the 20-year-old Minnesotan behind Ignite My Thoughts, was walking home after last call when she heard two men catcalling a woman across the street who was "obviously intoxicated." When the woman silently quickened her pace, one of the guys allegedly said, "Fucking cunt, I'd take her into the back alley and show her what I'm made of. She won't even see it coming," and then laughed.
Kelsey turned around and punched him in the face, and — if you couldn't tell by her mischievous grin — she has no regrets:
I hope your mother/girlfriend/sister/friends/everyon
The day after the incident, Kelsey was at work when she received a message that her blog post was "going viral." By the time she got home, the entry had tens of thousands of notes and Kelsey had hundreds of personal messages — some congratulating her, others threatening to rape her. "Hey you crazy bitch, he was joking about rape, not raping the drunk bimbo, not even plotting on raping her, he was JOKING," one person wrote. "Wow. And you seem proud of what you did. Seriously, you're the one who deserves to get raped."
"I don't regret [punching the man], though I do understand that there are other ways that the situation could have been handled," Kelsey wrote in a follow-up post. "At the time, however, what he said as a 'joke' also seemed very much like a legitimate threat." She pointed out that the blog post was for herself and her friends and she wasn't trying to make a grand statement about fighting back: "I'm not telling people to go out and hit 'everybody who offends you' (though many of you are believing that was the point). However, I do believe that serious action needs to be taken towards rape culture."
The "responsible" part of me knows that violence is never the best answer, but there's an irrepressible little voice in my head that wants to thank her, because few things make me feel more vulnerable and frustrated than street harassment. When I've tried to talk back to catcallers, I've been called a dyke (because obviously I'm disinterested in men if I'm disinterested in being the target of aggressive obscenities), a bitch and a slut. I would never physically fight back, but, honestly, that's mostly because I'm a 5'2'' weakling. I'm not saying what she did was right, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't happy someone taught that asshole a lesson he hopefully won't forget.
Source at Jezebel.
Unfortunately it appears she had to take her tumblr account down, where she reports she's turned herself in. Fuck you, world. I hope she gets off with nothing on her record and infinite internet high-fives for the rest of her life.
A photo of a woman grinning and flashing the bandaged hand, injured after punching the misogynist sack of shit she overheard threatening to rape a stranger, has amost 56,000 notes on Tumblr and counting. The assailant says she never intended for the image to go viral nor to become a role model for the thousands of people who are now virtually applauding her actions.
Last weekend, Kelsey, the 20-year-old Minnesotan behind Ignite My Thoughts, was walking home after last call when she heard two men catcalling a woman across the street who was "obviously intoxicated." When the woman silently quickened her pace, one of the guys allegedly said, "Fucking cunt, I'd take her into the back alley and show her what I'm made of. She won't even see it coming," and then laughed.
Kelsey turned around and punched him in the face, and — if you couldn't tell by her mischievous grin — she has no regrets:
I hope your mother/girlfriend/sister/friends/everyon
The day after the incident, Kelsey was at work when she received a message that her blog post was "going viral." By the time she got home, the entry had tens of thousands of notes and Kelsey had hundreds of personal messages — some congratulating her, others threatening to rape her. "Hey you crazy bitch, he was joking about rape, not raping the drunk bimbo, not even plotting on raping her, he was JOKING," one person wrote. "Wow. And you seem proud of what you did. Seriously, you're the one who deserves to get raped."
"I don't regret [punching the man], though I do understand that there are other ways that the situation could have been handled," Kelsey wrote in a follow-up post. "At the time, however, what he said as a 'joke' also seemed very much like a legitimate threat." She pointed out that the blog post was for herself and her friends and she wasn't trying to make a grand statement about fighting back: "I'm not telling people to go out and hit 'everybody who offends you' (though many of you are believing that was the point). However, I do believe that serious action needs to be taken towards rape culture."
The "responsible" part of me knows that violence is never the best answer, but there's an irrepressible little voice in my head that wants to thank her, because few things make me feel more vulnerable and frustrated than street harassment. When I've tried to talk back to catcallers, I've been called a dyke (because obviously I'm disinterested in men if I'm disinterested in being the target of aggressive obscenities), a bitch and a slut. I would never physically fight back, but, honestly, that's mostly because I'm a 5'2'' weakling. I'm not saying what she did was right, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't happy someone taught that asshole a lesson he hopefully won't forget.
Source at Jezebel.
Unfortunately it appears she had to take her tumblr account down, where she reports she's turned herself in. Fuck you, world. I hope she gets off with nothing on her record and infinite internet high-fives for the rest of her life.
Also, I hope this ends up on the front-page of LJ.
Edited at 2012-07-10 04:01 am (UTC)
Fixed.
it's awful that she's gotten so many threats over this. i wish the best for her.
Edited at 2012-07-10 04:20 am (UTC)
Edited at 2012-07-10 04:28 am (UTC)
I don't know what I'd do in the same situation. I would probably just yell at him if I felt brave enough or angry enough to do so.
That's what I was thinking. When two guys are catcalling and "joking" about raping a drunk girl just across the street, this girl probably went into fight or flight mode and chose fight.
...Is this actually a question? All street harassers deserved to be punched, repeatedly, until they stop fucking harassing people.
I was sexually abused both as a child and as a teenager. And guess what I do to men who verbally abuse, harass or grope me or other women? I fucking beat the shit out of them. I've beaten misogynistic assholes with my bare hands, with tree branches, with wooden chair legs and with vacuum cleaner pipes! One motherfucker got his face introduced to a stone wall several times in a row.
As far as I'm concerned, she deserves a goddamn gold medal for probably saving that woman from something utterly horrible. And then these bastards come out and demand that we all be fucking pretty pictures of demure restraint that smile and quietly take abuse, because rape culture is all a fucking joke, isn't it?
B) Pretty sure nobody weaselly enough to prey on the helpless and steeped in male entitlement would have the guts to step forward and admit in public
i) he thinks rape is funny, and
ii) he got his ass kicked by a girl
I say, give her a key to the friggin' CITY.
For that matter, I hope HE gets identified by all the attention that's come up from this, and that he gets publicly revealed and shamed for being the piece of shit he is.
The only "official" thing would be if he decided to sue her civilly for medical bills. But as you point out, the asshole would have to go public... and I don't see that happening.
Edited because I can't spell.
Edited at 2012-07-10 05:06 am (UTC)
This is the patriarchy starting to dimly realize that they DON'T get to have everything, and that long-held privileges are withering away.
I *do* think more/better information is working it's way into mainstream discussion, which is a positive. I also think as time goes on, some of the furthest out and most egregious bits of oppression will fall by the wayside as sufficient numbers of men come to realize and accept 'this is bullshit'. I also think those men will also hold other bits of misogyny near and dear and resist losing everything - 'that is privilege, but this other thing is fine and I don't want you to change it'.
I don't realistically hope that it'll happen overnight, but I believe it'll be a gradual process, perhaps with some backwards steps, but ultimately leading forward.
"The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice" -MLK
I wish I could say "I would have done the same thing" but I am terribly afraid of being overpowered by whoever is evil enough to make a joke about raping someone.
...just disgusting.
I really hate men sometimes.
I will forever hate all the dudebros and others who trivialize rape and make jokes out of it. I once had two male ex-friends randomly throw me to the floor and pin me while hanging out with friends. I started screaming and begging them to leave me alone (which they refused), and then after my best friend (who knew I'd been raped a year before) showed up and basically kicked their asses into the next room they were just like, "she knew it was all fun and games!" ....how the hell is society's views about rape and women so fucked that that's considered acceptable behavior?
I know I'm ranting too much rn but I loathe rape culture.