A man just shouted at me in the street

[Dallia]

“Why are you wearing a curtain?”

I kind of smiled awkwardly and carried on crossing the road to him shouting “oi, you, I’m talking to you!”

I was absolutely mortified, lots of people were watching but no one said anything.

Why do people do this? He seemed like a “normal person” and it was really intimidating. He turned back to look and I thought he was going to start following me. Has anyone ever had weird random things shouted at them in the street, or is it just me

For the record I was wearing a stripy maxi dress as I was on my way to get a spray tan. Really wish I’d had a witty comeback.

I think we should all develop a lexicon of witty comebacks so we have them to hand
I'll start
"Show us your tits"
"I can show you some tits driving a van just look in the mirror"

Any more?

I once got told to fuck off by two young lads in their shite boy racer car for absolutely no reason at all while I was walking back to my car at about 10pm.
The satisfaction was bliss when they zoomed off-and scraped the car down the entire length of the car park wall 👍. I might have smirked a bit pissed myself laughing

I was standing by a woman at the bus stop once who was touching up her makeup with a compact. A car drove by with the window down and the idiot inside leaned out and yelled "slaaaaaaaaaaaag!" at this poor woman. She was visibly upset by it. It's just shitty.

Just remembered an incident some years ago when I was a teenager and had gone to Trafford Centre with some friends. As we waited for one friend we sat on the floor to the side opposite a shop. A man went past and stuck out his tongue making licking gestures. Ugh I've never got up so fast. We were sat as normal teens do on our bums, hardly inappropriate FFS.

Jusy found this: Like a wild animal, the human predator wants an easy conquest. He does not want his job to be any more difficult or hazardous than it has to be. He will seek out those he perceives as weak, submissive and unlikely to fight back

From this site: www.protectivestrategies.com/victim-selection.html

Wonder if it's true.

Eugh, it's happened more times than I can remember, but there are a few that I think are really nasty, genuinely try to scare you. There is this allyway that's a bit of a short cut from my local supermarket to my house. I'd never walk down there at night, but thought it would be fine in the day. Two young men walking towards me, one snears loudly to the other "she's brave walking down here on her own, she's going to get raped", and they both grinned at me. My heart was pounding when I passed them, nasty little fuckers.

Haven't rtft, maybe he had torettes or something? It says more about him than you regardless, people will have been staring more at the guy shouting insults at randomers, than the person getting flack for no reason.

He will seek out those he perceives as weak, submissive and unlikely to fight back

Men who do this perceive all women to be weaker than them.

A man in a van once leaned out the window and actually clicked his tongue at me. As if I were a horse. As if his mate was sitting beside him saying "that's right, dave, just don't look her straight in the eye, you'll scare her off...".
Twat.

I was delivering leaflets for the Greens during the last election campaign in a small rural town. A car stopped at a red light and one of the passengers yelled "SLUT" at me out of the window.

I am 54, slightly overweight, & was dressed in old jeans, trainers & a sweatshirt for comfortable walking .... it was very surprising!

This was about lunchtime, so not even after dark ...

Last year, I had a man shout at me "I bet you don't get many of them to the pound!" with reference to my breasts.

When I lived in Italy, I got frequent references to La Cicciolina. (That dates me a bit!)

I just ignored them and carried on.

Oh I also remember on Halloween a group of us had gone out trick or treating (so reasonably young). We'd reached a stretch of road which had no street lights (in the country) and a man in a van pulled up and said in a really creepy voice "do you want some sweeties for you bag?". My friend just screamed "run!!" and we ran into the woods. Luckily the man just drove off.

It is usually men - another case, as if we needed any more, of toxic masculinity.

But I am a member of a ladies running group on Facebook and a couple of the ladies in that group have experienced horrible comments from other women. So it does happen, but probably 0.0001% of the time.

Do girls and women get guns and go and shoot schoolkids in their old school? There was one case wasn't there? One out of the (very) many. Not sure what we can do about it as a society. I hate terrorists being referred to as terrorists. No they're male murdering arseholes. Don't dignify them with a cause. Call a spade a spade.

AngelsSins that’s fucking awful. My DH thinks I am paranoid because I walk with one of my keys through my knuckles at night. I always think if anyone attacked me I would try and stab them with it. It’s actually really sad thinking about it...

I've seen a reverse of this, two women leering at two men from a van. It was a joke but kind of sad

And how do they choose their victims? It's never happened to me.

It seems to happen to me a lot I am late-30s and dress for comfort rather than style. I'm a bit of a daydreamer, so I wonder if it's because they can see I'm distracted and unlikely to realised what's happening and get my shit together fast enough to respond?

Do girls and women get guns and go and shoot schoolkids in their old school? There was one case wasn't there?

I remember the case you refer to but don't recall the details other than it formed the basis of the Boomtown Rats' song "I don't like Mondays" as the shooter gave this as the reason for the shootings.

I am fifty now so officially invisible unless I am driving 'too slow' or getting in someone's way.
Thank FUCK.

I had thirty years of being shouted at in the street.
I have been threatened, sworn at, told I am wearing too much make up or the wrong clothes, told to smile, told I am ugly and the supposedly benign 'banter' 'gis a smile love' etc.

I have never understood women who like being cat called. One woman told me it made her feel good and like she 'still got it'. I wanted to tell her the men doing it didn't give a fuck what she looked like and wouldn't be able to pick her out of a line up. But that would have made me a feminazi I suppose.
Lets not get started on the online me-rail of a cat calling thread where a transwoman giggled gleefully about she loved it because it meant she 'passed'.

Being told you are dressed in a curtain or that you or fat or that you have nice tits or even that you deserve to be raped for wearing a skirt..all the same thing.

Thirty years ago when I was first going out with my husband, I was walking through the pub car park to meet him and a car with two young guys stopped next to me. The driver wound the window down and asked really politely if I was looking for my boyfriend. I replied, and he said " that's a shame, cos my mate wants to fuck you". I was so incensed I started pulling him through the car window. He tried to wind it up so I opened the door. DH watched the whole thing thinking I was messing around with a friend . I just remember the overwhelming anger.

I got hit in the street last week. Walking along minding my own business when the man approaching me started screaming and flailing his arms and whacked me hard on the shoulder. It really made me jump and it hurt, however he was clearly a nutter (technical term used by us MH professionals) because he didn't even seem to see me and continued shouting and flailing down the street. Ignored by everyone of course because we are Londoners and refuse to be startled.

Men yelling out of vans is normally really annoying but a few weeks ago one really made me laugh. I was standing waiting for the lights to change and texting when someone yelled out of his van in a very camp, childlike, sing-song voice 'OOOOOH, Are you texting your BOYFRIEND?' Again it made me jump but then we both burst out laughing and I continued chuckling on and off all day.

Sorry this happened to you
I've reached a stage of having so much anger, Id likely hit the next guy that shouts about my tits.

Men, can't they be chemically adjusted?

A friend of mine got punched in the face whilst we were waiting for a bus, a random woman came over and just punched her, the woman obviously had mental health issues and thought my gripe I’d had looked at her wrong.

I work in mental health and it’s not rare for people with mental health issues to just shout out random things that come into their heads, a bit like thinking out loud. I’m sure people were staring at him rather than you though he probably didn’t notice or care at the time.

It's depressing. Anyone would think they hate us. Doesn't Germaine Greer say that they do, and most people don't realise the extent of it. Because in the workplace they are constrained from acting out overt sexism which must be why it bursts out of them when they get the chance.

I wonder if there are any mums and sisters who have caught their men kin doing this, and did they call them out on it.

As a teenager, I was getting on a bus with a friend when a man, and I use the term loosely, leaned his head on my shoulder, hissed "filthy slut" at me and licked my neck. The friend I was with reacted like lightning, spat in his face and pushed him off the steps of the bus. Still makes me shudder to this day. As other posters have said, some men are cunts.