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 was told to “move out of the way you heifer” by a charming man on the underground recently, the cheek of it given he was the one weaving through the walkway while texting on his phone fucking zombie

I was once pushed into the side of a train by a man who was running to get on before the doors shut (I’d just got off) and he cheered when he made it. I was in his way so he just shoved me.

last week in my child’s school car park a man who’d parked so badly I had to park hanging out of my car parking space confronted me to tell me he saw me hit his car with mine and when I said I hadn’t he told me he had fucking eyes and as I couldn’t drive I should stay at home where I belong.

I think the dofference now is that as a society/community, we have become too scared to challenge the behaviour, leading to increased incidents.

Dd and I going through a family sized barrier at train station yesterday. A man and his (older) son who, in retrospect, i realised we're actively fare dodging, aggressively got in my way as we came through. He claimed he had tapped and it was his right of way. I was confused because I 100% knew it was my right of way and barriers had opened for me so I didnt step back and let him go through. he shoved me, hard, with his arm/body - enough to cause mild pain in my breast for a few minutes. Guards did nothing. people standing around did nothing. And no one even attempted to check on me either.

Dh is terrified I am going to be attacked one day because I cant help getting involved. Im the person who, In a situation like that as a bystander, woukd probably attempt to intervene.

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
This is known as patriarchy chicken @BashfulClam It’s the most fun you can have on a pavement.

I was with my daughter (who lives and works in London and is very streetwise) in Boots in Covent Garden. We were browsing makeup. A “man” came over and purposely shoved her hard with his shoulder so that she lost her balance. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It was so purposeful and a clear assault. Came out of nowhere and was targeted. She’s petite and slim but she straight away went to security to report it and they pursued the man. We left the store. She told me that this is a common thing and fuelled by the likes of Andrew Tate and his followers. I’m not a snowflake. I lived, worked and grew up in London myself but I’d never experienced something like that.

Its not the reform supporters who are screaming in the faces of those with different opinions and breaking into businesses and attacking female police officers with a sledgehammer hammer though is it? Why do some people try to shoe horn reform into every post about someone displaying dickhead behaviour?

Same age and I've never known it to be socially acceptable

The response for all of these guys is "sorry to hear you're a spare male that no one will really miss 👍🏻"

I think there have always been men who have abused their partners in public. I can remember seeing that many times over the years.

What I think is new, is the unfocused, unbridled aggression from men towards women they don’t know.

Yeah. It's scary how resentful and bitter a lot of guys are.

I 💯 guarantee you that all the blokes in the stories described here will vote reform.

Sadly yes. People like this seem to feel more entitled to do what they like nowadays.

I don't think it's political tbh

Definitely this I have noticed but mainly online.

To be fair, it's plausible that these men are equally aggressive towards other men. DH has a real road rage problem, and (much to my embarrassment) he yells at pretty much anyone who has the audacity to drive in front of him. It can also extend to people walking slowly in front of him. I can easily see one of these stories (here or in The Guardian article) being about him. It's completely unacceptable, and I'm sure he has ruined many people's days.

That being said, he absolutely does not limit himself to women. He behaves the same way with men.

He justifies his anger issues by blaming OTHERS for their sense of entitlement. As in, "this [completely random stranger] feels entitled to take over the whole street/pavement! Don't they even care that they're causing a traffic jam? Do they think the whole world revolves around them?"

He doesn't see the irony.

They are terrible to male cyclists! DH had an elderly man literally drive at him whilst minding his own business on his bike at traffic lights.

How would he react if I stopped and pointed out that it was obvious from his behaviour that his family would be better off without him, however that might come to pass? Tears or knock me out? Those guys rarely have a third gear.

These guys don't ruin my day... I usually ruin theirs but I pity anyone tragic enough to be trapped with them

I have noticed a considerable increase in total nutters on public transport. I don't mean 'charming local character' I mean 'if I look at this man in the wrong way I'm getting beheaded'.

Yes, totally agree.

I had that happen to me but he turned and walked into me, I had been in a queue with him so he knew I was there. However he accompanied with a "sorry sweetheart!" He was thirties and muscular so it really hurt.

Agreed OP. I live in a major city and I’ve definitely noticed an increase in male aggression. In my case it’s been from much older men - one who looked like a respectable retiree shouted ‘fuck off’ in my face when I was walking towards him and didn’t immediately step out of his way

It's not just men I'm afraid. I had a similar interaction with a woman in the children's playground who had brought in her dog. I asked her why - the whole world knows it isn't ok to do that. She became verbally abusive, I called the police. She became physically violent and sustained an attack over a number of minutes. I wasn't rude, I didn't shout, threaten or become abusive or attempt to engage in any way beyond my initial question and yet this person felt it was ok to respond with more aggression and violence than I've ever witnessed from a man. I sustained various injuries, not to mention the psychological damage to the various children including my own, their friends and a selection of others who were present. I'm not discounting male violence or aggression but it's a fallacy to believe women cannot also behave this way and for reasons that are just as unacceptable.

(*Most unfortunately for this person, there were a number of witnesses who saw her deranged behaviour and even less fortunately her social media is linked to the 'friends of the park' Facebook page and it took very little time to identify her. The police investigation is now at its secondary stage and she will be receiving a knock at her door sometime in the not too distant future.)

Bastard! He knew what he was doing. Vile article. I’m sorry this happened to you 💐

I can think of the odd incident in the past decade, mostly driving / parking related but I don't actually think it's getting worse IME. I feel like I'm generally treated with respect. When I was a teenager / young woman I was frequently shouted at, called a fat cow, ugly bitch, etc (I'm 50 now). Or perhaps it's to do with age and the fact I don't go out in the evening much, don't often use public transport, etc.