Do you think random horrible arseholes are getting worse?

[Designless]

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/17/men-push-abuse-women-street-stranger

I do think the days of most men not wanting to seem violent towards women in public seem to be sadly on the wane. A guy squared up to me, blocking my path, in the street recently after a minor disagreement (his dog jumped on me and I asked him to keep it under control). I said "excuse me are you trying to threaten me with your posture?" and he didn't reply so I said "ok then I'm going to call the police now" and he walked away, staring behind him. He looked pretty normal, like a guy with a job and maybe friends and family.

But maybe these guys have always been around and it's just bloody lucky if you dodge them.

Where can we live that's peaceful and far from them??

I think these things come in waves for individuals. I've had some awful experiences in the past, but over the last 18 months or so haven't encountered any threatening behaviour at all really.

I had similar recently from a guy who just let his dogs run in front of me, one aggressively barking and then squared up at me when I had politely encouraged them to move out of the way. I told him to fuck off..
Not sure if its getting worse tbh.

I was once violently shoved into the wall shelves in M&S any a guy barging past me. There was plenty of space! Same in Asda,a guy rammed me with a trolley as I was walking too slow, again there was plenty of space to go around me. The thing the second bloke didn’t realise was I wasn’t a lone woman and apologised profusely when my husband had a go at him. He backed down really fast when a man got involved!

I now refuse to more aside for men marching towards me, they look really confused when they have to move aside at the last second.

I can't stand these stupid fuckers. My husband is much gentler than me for a start. I suppose it's respect rather than fear.

Re moving aside I don't feel the same about this because I know that a lot of men are just a bit oblivious in a well meaning way. I know, why is it always on the woman (and why aren't we recognised as the better sex accordingly) but I just think intent makes the difference.

I do love an intelligent and well thought out contribution to a thread.

Sadly this is not that.

I'd say behaviour in general is getting worse. More people just don't seem to give a shit any more.

Yes. I was verbally abused in the street in broad daylight by a man for looking at him funny (I turned around as he was blasting music from his phone and not using headphones). He called me a fucking c*nt and said he would kill me. My previous stance was that men wouldn't dare abuse a women in public. I have revised that stance and am much more aware about when/when I am walking alone.

I think people in general are getting worse. Case in point with one of the troll replies above. Spam heads who believe everything Reform UK spout are everywhere and the media is twisting the opinions of anyone without the sense to do their own research. It’s a worrying world.

Yeah, Let Men Push Women Again

'Boomer' as an insult is just as bad as the post you are replying to @Hotvimtoandwaffles

What a weird dickish thing to say…

Because no one wants to fuck them

A man shoved me out of the way in M&S just before Christmas. I'm still a bit indignant about it. No need.

Another man threatened with the police in Aldi because I happened to keep being in the spot at the shelves he wanted. He ranted at the cashier about it. That was bizarre.

I won't move for men on pavements either, they always look surprised before swerving.

Maybe it also depends where you live? I’m in pretty rough part of West of Scotland…honestly the vast vast majority of people here are still polite, hold doors open, let you go in front in the queue if you only have a couple of items etc. If anything I’d say the men are more polite towards women than the women are.
I also go out running a lot locally and notice men who are out walking move waaayyy out of the way early and make an effort to give a nod or a small smile, probably trying to convey that they mean no harm.
Obviously you do get the odd arsehole or sometimes people with bad drug/MH issues that you’d want to give a wide berth but mostly people here are polite and friendly.

I mean I know the west of Scotland well enough to know what it's a bit of a mixed bag!

Yes. 100%. Case in point- I was on a walk and crossing a narrow (single file) footbridge with DS at the weekend. Quite long, has a sort of stopping place at each end. Man with massive Rottweiler - dog is also clearly blind in one eye - comes bargeing up the bridge in the opposite direction, squashing DS and I almost over the side. Dog can’t see us and starts freaking out as it passes- I’m not scared of dogs and my heart was racing.

When the man has shoved past I said something like “hey couldn’t you have waited?” And was met with a torrent of abuse and a tirade about how “the dog’s nervous”. Well yea, that was my point.

But this sort of thing seems to happen all the time now.

Had a truly horrible run in with some drunk men on a train early evening a few months ago. Again, I was with DS8, and these men start “bantering” about having sex with younger girls, calling their mates paedophile, quite graphic stuff. Couldn’t get out of the carriage without having to walk through them, and they were really intimidating. Politely asked them to please not in front of a child, was asked “why the fuck I was out with a child at night anyway?” “If you were a fucking good mum he’d be at home in bed”. It was 8pm. We’d been to an early show. So I text British transport police and greatly enjoyed seeing them waiting at the last stop for the twats.

Does seem to be always men. Does seem to be men who are very angry with women who challenge them.

Agree it’s where you live. One of my DC is at uni in Scotland and the people in his city are so lovely. We live in London though so not a high bar to beat friendliness wise 😂

I was called a cunt by a man because he was walking towards me and I didn't immediately move out the way. His wife/girlfriend just laughed and thought what he called me was hilarious. I was totally shocked.

There had been snow overnight and the roads had not been gritted I was on a steep hill with the traffic moving very slowly because of the ice. A Chelsea tractor was behind me driven by a man who was sitting on my bumper and agitated because the traffic was moving so slowly. The car in front suddenly braked. I braked and the car behind bumped into me.
I got out to see If there was any damage to my car, there wasn’t as we had all been going slowly . This ape of a man twice my size stood over me shouting that it was all my fault because I had braked. He was trying to intimidate. I looked him in the eye, stepped towards him and told him clearly and loudly not to bully me. He was tail gating in dangerous conditions and he was to hold his tongue and behave himself.
he backed off, shut up and crept back into his car. I think I must have reminded him of his mother. Bystanders were laughing at him.and I still chuckle about it when I think of it.

She may well bump into the guy who squared up to me, then...

I got called all the worst names by a twat in his car when I was trying to park in the only free space in a small tricky car park. I felt so intimidated I gave up and let him have the space. He couldn’t park in it either 😳🙄😄 and sped off with much angry testerical revving. Woman was sitting in the car with him …

We've always had dickheads, male and female. Everything does seem more vocal now, we're definitely hearing opinions and thoughts from all over the world whether they are good opinions or not. I think we are hearing the ugly thoughts from a lot of humanity and hearing twisted views from bot farms designed to create discord as well as powerful people playing dangerous games with news organisations and social media. It's quite overwhelming in a society design to spread fear to control the masses, especially since religion is on the decline (historic fear system).

I am in my 40s and don’t recall a time when men were scared to be violent towards women in public.