Creepy older man with younger woman

[Dappy777]

There is a girl who sells the Big Issue in my local town. She’s quite young (probably early 20s) and very pretty. I think she’s either Roma or Kurdish, but not too sure. Anyway, this morning I was waiting for someone and this girl was standing about ten yards from me. An older man (English, late 60s, well dressed) went over and began talking to her. Something just felt off. Next thing, he got hold of her hand and stroked it in a slow, creepy way. I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but she looked very uncomfortable. I heard her mutter something like “yes, maybe,” then she blushed and he walked off (quickly, with his head down). I’m now kicking myself for not going over to her and asking if everything was OK. Should I have said something? You just know when a man is being kind and when he’s being pervy. That man made my skin crawl. Then again I might have completely misread the situation.🙁

I have had a run of bad experiences with creepy middle-aged men just lately. I opened my local paper to see a man who lives on my estate sentenced for stalking two young girls, and my friend was telling me that her 20-year-old daughter is being hassled and leered at by two middle-aged guys at work.

I know this behaviour is nothing new, but I sometimes wonder if it’s getting worse. Older men have always perved on young girls, but now, thanks to the internet, they can feed their fantasies like never before.

Yanbu to worry about her but you can't blame yourself

Plus, you dont know exactly what was said

There are other people to blame for her situation, selling the big issue, but that isn't you xx

Fwiw i was groomed. I only think kindly of the women who were uncomfortable but unsure of what to do. I think nastily of the women who blamed me, or sought to date the groomers

It’s awful isn’t it OP, I openly call them out when I see it now and they scuttle off. Do these creeps not grow up in their heads?

What sickens me is that he knows she's vulnerable. I suspect he was offering her money for sex (though, like I said, I might be completely wrong). God, that kind of thing makes me so f-ing angry😡. I remember going into town with my 12-year-old niece one hot summer afternoon. She was wearing a tight top and a fairly short dress. The number of leering looks she got from older men was disgusting. Time and again I caught men in their 50s and 60s, out shopping with their wives and kids, leering at her when they thought no one was looking. It would have been bad enough if she'd been 17 or 18, but she was so obviously a child.

I hope she’s ok too, OP 😔

There are far more paedos and teen obsessed creeps than we know, sadly. I live in a small village and we’ve got quite a few here and that’s just the ones we know.

Totally agree. I distrust the majority of men. If I had a 13-year-old daughter, I would be hyper vigilant and hyper protective. To be honest, I wouldn’t trust any man around teenage girls. I have just heard too many horror stories.