This woman took to Reddit to share her boyfriend’s experiences with non-consensual touch in order to raise awareness of a problem that affects men and women alike.
The most recent incident occurred in a store when a woman “smacked his butt” out of nowhere. “He was bending over to get something off the shelf,” she wrote in her post.
“At no point had he ever seen this girl before, and did not want this to happen at all.”
This wasn’t the first time something like this happened when she was out with her boyfriend. While they were dancing together at a club, a woman once again touched him from behind.
This situation showed the apparent disrespect for the couple’s relationship and his physical boundaries, and it got her thinking about sexist double standards on sexual harassment.
She wrote her post hoping to “draw attention to the lack of empathy men get when being sexually harassed.”
But, she added, “Nobody should be touched without consent ever.”
She even admitted that culture teaches us all to ignore men’s feelings and emotional boundaries in a way we aren’t taught to do with women’s emotions.
And in terms of physical violations, it can be equally challenging to dismantle our internalized sexism. “I think women (like myself) often forget that this emotionally affects men just as much as it does women.”
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Redditors agreed, sharing their own experiences with unwanted touching and creating a vulnerable space in the comments for others to come forward with their stories.
For example, one contributor wrote, “I’ve had these experiences myself. I didn’t realize until like months afterward that “yo, this woman straight up sexually harassed me.”
Since male sexual harassment is rarely discussed in popular culture, this woman empowered several commenters to support her position and agree to spread messaging about men’s boundaries.
“Consent is not something only women are entitled to,” one person wrote. “Let’s use the golden rule people!”
You can read the original post on Reddit here.
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