How to deal with drunk men "hitting on you" as you walk down the street?

[Dundundun18]

I didn't know how to describe it apart from "hitting on" haha. I'm 26 btw.

Anyway, drunk men obviously gain all the confidence in the world.

I was walking back home after popping to the shop and there were 3 drunk men (looked around early 20s).

As I was walking past, one started asking me my name, to which I ignored. He walked beside me and he then asked me how old I was, to which I said "does it matter?"

He asked what my problem was and that he only wants my name. And then stopped following me and as I looked he started pointing his finger at me to come towards him.
I just kept walking to which he kept shouting "just wanted her name".

This has never happened in my life so I don't know if I dealt with this right - did I come across rude or snobby?

I know it's not a big deal in the grand scheme of life but obviously he was really drunk so now I feel bad that I was quite rude with my "does it matter?"

Do not worry in the slightest about being perceived as rude or snobby. There’s no reason for him to know your name or age. If you’d told them it would have been on to the next slurred demand.

I’m glad I’m fat and getting old and this stuff is happening to me less and less frequently because it’s so fucking annoying.

I think you dealt with it perfectly, you don't owe him your name or age. You were not rude at all, if anyone was rude it was him. Why do men not get how uncomfortable this makes women feel?

It is a big deal and you were exactly in the right to be rude- or ruder. Some men still don't understand how threatening it is to a woman, even if they " mean no harm". We need to bring all our sons up to understand this better.

@JeanClaudeVanDammit i just found it quite embarrassing as it was near a busy beach so lots of people around as he was drunkenly shouting haha!
First time it's happened to me in my life haha

I just ignore people (men) like that. As I always say on MN, nobody is owed engagement from other people. You get told you are rude if you don't respond to people - well why does their need to be a nosy pain in the backside outweigh my need to be left alone? And when it's a drunk man, that is magnified a million times. Ignore ignore ignore.

Thanks everyone i wouldn't have overthought it if it wasn't such a busy day today as it's so hot, so lots of people about

I wouldn't worry about how you came accross to them, but I'd have had my fun with them (assuming they were high spirited, not nasty) and chatted about what a nice time they were having without giving any personal information.

In their weird drunken heads they were just being friendly and I find life is better if you're friendly back.

You weren't rude. You are allowed to state your disinterest.

And he's probably just as obnoxious when he's sober

I don’t think you can do much. Just ignore and wait it out, it stops eventually. Now that I’m older I couldn’t get a man to look at me if I ran screaming naked through Tesco

Looking back to those days 😂 I would say ignore all together, say nothing, but grow a thick skin as they may then shout insults. Any attempt to not be rude is often misconstrued as encouragement. Who cares if you are rude to an annoying drunk who thinks it's OK to harass girls on their own?

I would ignore, I wouldn’t be ruder as suggested as you don’t want them to end up assaulting you

I totally ignore these men. Don’t engage at all. They shouldn’t be drunkenly approaching lone women on the street and there’s zero requirement to give them the time of day.

Also, pretending to answer in a foreign language usually gets rid of the absolute weirdos who think it’s okay to fall in to step as you walk along even though you’ve ignored them. Absolute cringe, these men.

Just don't engage.

You were not rude. The drunk man was totally in the wrong. Next time, just pretend you can't hear him and keep walking. I promise you, not one single person will think "look at that rude woman, ignoring that lovely friendly drunk".

Were YOU rude? Why, oh why, as women are we conditioned to think like this?

Had you been rude he would have invited no less, but this isn't not advisable as some of these 'men' can turn very nasty when rejected. Best not to give this drunk, intrusive man another thought.

I bark at them.

Like a dog.

They think I'm batshit and leave me alone. And usually leave the whole area.

Try it.

say "Fuck off"? why worry about speaking in a foreign language or appearing rude or mean? Are the men thinking about this?

In my experience women are too worried about being 'rude' when approached by men. The onus isn't on us to be polite to men, the onus is on them not to hassle us without any encouragement! We need to get more rude, not less

I usually find that a friendly 'fuck off drunk cunt', with a smile works. The word cunt said from a well dressed and confident middle age woman tends to shock them into silence.

I'd answer with an obviously fake name "Mickey Mouse", or something. Don't try anything too confrontational though unless there are people around. You don't want to risk being assaulted in a deserted street.

Why would you care if you came across as rude? I find that such an odd thing to be concerned about. Why would the good opinion of some drunken, lecherous louts matter to you?

To me, the more obvious concern would be how to deal with situations like this effectively. Minimum interaction for maximum safe deterrence.

What used to annoy me was when they would say something like “God, I only wanted to talk to you”. Why? Why me? I don’t owe you conversation - go and talk to that man over there.

I’m firmly middle aged now so doesn’t happen any more.

I'm happy to be considered rude by someone trampling social boundaries, whether their drunk or not!

*they're