Men are pushing women over in the street - as a trend

I think it’s men realising they can get away with something if they can excuse it as an accident. It’s not new. I’ve not been barged into that I recall. Like previous post said I have had men touch me as they pass by as if to do it by accident but funnily a woman has never had to place her hands on either side of my waist when passing by.

There's an excellent BBC Eye documentary, Catching A Pervert, which is a good starting point for info on Japan's deep problems with misogyny & sexual assault. Trains seem to be focal point for that there. Worrying it has spread : via gaming forums maybe? Also maybe manosphere forums?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001mp06

I’ve yet to be barged out of the way but have had several instances where a man has ‘accidentally on purpose’ bumped into me and grabbed me around my waist or around my shoulders so that I wouldn’t fall. 😣
Never happens when I’m with DH

I had another incident around a decade ago in a northern French city. There was a massive festival taking place and I found myself in a crowd crush: more and more people were surging into a street, unaware that it was closed at the other end.
Naturally everyone was getting pushed this way and that, just by the force of the crowd. But all of a sudden a young man behind me used both his hands to shove me in the back, effectively using me a battering ram to force his way through the crowd. After a while I managed to move to the side and he and his friends (all male) laughed as they went past.
I simply don't believe that they would have dared do that to a man.

There’s nothing you could have done ‘wrong’ by accident that would warrant someone pushing you by the throat!

Just after COVID, I was walking along a tube platform, a man walking the opposite direction stuck out his arm, hand on my throat, and pushed me backwards. I stumbled but didn't fall. I was massively shocked. It had been witnessed by other who checked I was OK.
I did go to the BTP who quickly found the footage. They did write later asking if I wanted to take it further but I didn't as I was second guessing that I had done something wrong (I was pushing luggage, but carefully, in front of me). It's stuck with me as I had just arrived back in the UK after being out of the country for over a year, I was so happy to be on my way to see family and then that happened.
I am horrified to think this may not have been an isolated incident and that many other women are experiencing 'insignificant' incidents that don't get dealt with because it would be making a fuss or we know it would not be taken seriously.

It’s not new. I had an incident over 20 years ago when I was pushing my daughter in her stroller. A man deliberately barged into my chest. When I turned around he was laughing.

It’s not all men but a substantial minority that pose a threat to women and girls.

I think this is absolutely correct. We have been sleepwalking into this for decades. Look around the world at what has been happening to women's rights. The method and means might look different in Afghanistan, Australia, Iran, Brazil, Scotland, just to give a few different examples, but the direction of travel is the same.
Germaine Greer was right.

It's worrying, especially if any of these idiots are targeting older or more vulnerable women. Not just for me (awaiting a knee replacement op) but more so for my frail 89 year old mum who walks with a stick. She'd probably never recover if she went over.

Just out of interest I searched on Google and found this on Etsy, might have to invest, though would probably look ridiculous on 60 year old me. If someone could design one with longer spikes I think they'd be on to a real money maker.

You got it backwards, chuck. It’s the men and the TRAs who are bashing women. Not vice versa.

As the world goes rapidly backwards no doubt we will soon be told as women we shouldn't go out alone.
I do think this is part of it. The idea that ensuring we are unsafe out and about without a male minder will take away both our confidence and our freedom. I have no doubt at all that at least two sections of society who find these things offensive are actively making us unsafe for that purpose.

Oh yes, I can absolutely guarantee that when my much taller DP is with me that no men will do anything untoward to me in his presence. It's only when I'm alone that the knuckleheads chance their luck 🙄

Oh and like you @stargirl1701my DP is also a former rugby prop forward. So fucking irritating to have this experience of them feeling it’s ok until they clock the big bloke.

And to say, I’m no stranger to gigs and did plenty in the 90s including Oasis first time around and never got slammed into back then despite being in my late teens/20s

This is interesting. I’ve said this on another thread but I went to one of the Oasis gigs at Wembley recently.

I’m an average sized, 5ft6 woman and my partner is a big bloke, ex army, total teddy bear type but I suppose to a stranger looks as though he can handle himself.

A few times both inside and outside the gig men barged into me, I think not realising I was with DP (it was really busy) then would do a massive double take when they realised I was with him and would start apologising profusely to me. Like literally almost begging me not to be upset by it.

It was really odd as it wasn’t like DP was squaring up to him, they were just barging into me as obviously they felt it was their right to do, then clocked who I was with and immediately backtracked.

DP went to the toilet a few times and when he wasn’t there I got barged into multiple times and it was noticeable that when he was back it was like there was a magic force field around me.

@SidewaysOtter I do think you should be able to simply say “OK”. But then they get expelled. It’s unacceptable that teachers are expected to put up with this stain on society.

I did have cyclist appear to aim at me on Westminster Bridge earlier in the summer. I gave him a right bollocking. He disappeared quickly once he clocked my DH (former rugby prop forward).

All joking aside, someone was telling me recently that there's been issues at her grandson's school with primary age boys telling female teachers that they won't be told what to do by a woman. PRIMARY AGE KIDS. And at a 'naice' school too, not an inner-city sink.

I would tell them to bugger off out of my classroom and teach themselves. Well, I wouldn't, but I'd be forever on the verge of it, which is one reason why I'd never be a teacher.

Love the jumper story, @SidewaysOtter ! Big man barging women out of the way, to little boy being told off by his mum, instantly.

Latterly, I got the Alpha male nonsense from secondary school pupils. Sad to hear that it’s reached primary.

Sadly it's not a new thing. I once had a man shove his whole body into mine as I walked through London, probably about 20 years ago. He literally just tried to barge me out of the way. Sadly for him, my jacket had hook-and-eye closures and several caught on his jumper. So he was forced to stand there while I unhooked my jacket and told him exactly what I thought of him!

I never have an issue with patriarchy chicken but then I have a firm stride and bitchy resting face coupled with a dead-eyed stare so everyone gets out of my way

All joking aside, someone was telling me recently that there's been issues at her grandson's school with primary age boys telling female teachers that they won't be told what to do by a woman. PRIMARY AGE KIDS. And at a 'naice' school too, not an inner-city sink.

I've played patriarchy chicken a few times and had some quite hard shoulder barges when I didn't jump out of the way of men. There was one time it went well, though. About 15 years ago me and DH were walking along a pavement and came around a corner to be met face to face by a lad on a bike and another walking alongside him. The lad on the bike was facing me and I unthinkingly held out the jacket I was carrying, just as a matador would in a bullring, causing him to falter and crash into the wall, with his mate laughing at him. It was very satisfying.

I’m a runner and because I have felt so unsafe at times, I now carry a defensive weapon that is absolutely not legal (police issue) but is the only thing that makes me feel better and isn’t bulky.

If I ever had cause to use it, you’d just know I’d be in more trouble than my attacker.

FGS ‘mental health’

You mean you’re getting frustrated / upset / angry / whatever. That’s not the same as ‘mental health’.