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 witnessed a man let his dog terrify a woman to the point of standing on a park bench screaming and trying to fend it off with her shopping trolley.

He looked amused.

The dog was in a "friendly" bouncy mode, rather than aggressive (scant consolation to her) but he should not have let the dog approach into her personal space let alone continue. I heard the kerfuffle before I got round the bend and saw it. It was not resolved ASAP.

I do wonder if a level of racism was involved.

As I approached, I told him that he was breaking the law and committing an offence by allowing the dog to terrify her and the dog was legally out of control so put it on its lead. I deliberately went for the pompous, assertive approach, and fortunately that did throw him a bit because I was clear about the law.

He paused for a moment as though he was going to argue back but decided on a token gesture of putting the dog on the lead, and humouring the silly little woman challenging him (I am small!). The terrified woman was still watching on the bench having not stepped down yet.

Once the dog was on the lead, I ran on pretty quickly to get away incase he changed his mind and got funny.

Naturally 5 minutes later I saw him with his free range mongrel designer dog roming around freely. Quel surprise.

He really did not give a shit about how much he'd let his dog terrify her.

At least I had warned a (female) dog walker with a "give space" lead to give him and his dog a wide berth before that point. She thanked me as she decided to leave the path and go cross country.

Calling the article 'woke' for talking about this aggression towards women does seem like the kind of thing a harder section of Reform Suppprters might do.

I know they vary a lot : NARSALT.

I love dogs but I definitely think bad dog owners are getting worse.

I honestly wish all XL Bullies had been culled : I don't trust their owners to handle them.

Not worth it : unfortunately the average man is much stronger and one risks a nasty facial injury if you get punched back. For this reason I don't try to directlychallenge in various situations ( including pavement walking etc)

Sometimes I wish I lived in Naomi Alderman's The Power!

Sadly I agree.

I understand drug issues in Glasgow have worsened : could they be behind some antisocial stuff?

I do wonder if increased use of drugs has a lot to do with shifting behaviour boundaries in society.

Plus lack of policing/ legal action.

In town there's phases of where the anti-social behaviour builds up between police campaigns (which tend to shunt it off to the periphery for a while) and it creates a vile atmosphere where you really don't want to linger and just get from A to B as efficiently as possible.

Last summer I was in a nice licenced cafe mid-afternoon and a drunk (plus whatever else he was on) was trying it on with me saying things like "I'm a sexual being". 🤢 I went for the grey rock approach as I suspected that any attention would encourage him. The staff refused him service and conracted the other bars/ cafes to warn them to refuse admission/ service. It's difficult for the staff to handle as it can easily escalate to aggression and violence very quickly.

Not quite what the OP was about, but the increased and changing nature of drugs cause more people to be more aggressive or unpredictable than 15+ years ago, and it makes society less pleasant for the rest of us.

I suppose you think women should never bother reporting rape then? As it so very rarely leads to a conviction anyway, it must be just a waste of police and court time, in your opinion.

Honestly, what am I reading.

This. I notice even OP has talked about being bolshy back to the male perpetrator, and it always makes me think of the risks involved in taunting a violent male, and the potential for escalation.

Someone who's willing to shove a woman is exactly the sort who could become more violent if humiliated by her. It's infuriating and it's not fair, but I'd just ignore that kind of thing for fear I'd be injured if he lost his temper (and report to security if in a place where that's possible).

I retired from my permanent teaching post in 2018. Latterly, I had a handful of teenage male arseholes squaring up to me.

When I started teaching in '84, the unwritten law was that a boy never threatened a woman or a girl. No one wanted to be called the ultimate insult: "Lassie basher!" The result was that it was very easy for a female teacher to break up a fight between two boys.

The code of chivalry is no more, alas.

Men in general are angry that women won’t put up with their sh*t any more.

I can tell you that it happened so fast we were just stunned. He was a large man, behaving erratically so neither of us was going to deck him. She ran to security and they went after him. He was so aggressive that we would have been putting ourselves in danger otherwise. To be fair, she doesn’t need me to stand up for her, she’s a powerhouse in her own right but we both know when to retreat and this was one of those situations. Hideous.

I believe it's men seeking revenge for equality.

Really? I think you'll find that even the Daily Mail agrees that women shouldn't be treated like shit.

But then you probably think the Daily Mail is "Woke", too.

You're assuming she has never done it before. She could be in hot water if she has.

That’s really unsettling, and you handled it well. Calmly calling out his posture and mentioning the police clearly worked.

Aw, did everyone clap?

I’ve honestly never experienced anything like what people are describing on this thread.

I’m in rural Cumbria and work outdoors and alone - I I bump into lone men every single day (cycling, running or walking their dogs) and have never once felt unsafe or intimidated.

I think there are a lot of unhappy people in this country. The women tend to just internalise it. Men tend to lash out. Men probably think women’s equality has made their lives worse. The dominance of violent and extreme porn has objectivised women further, females are seen as things to hurt and push around, and when that doesn’t transfer to real life they have issues. The young girl in the chemist - idiot thug probably found her attractive, resented that fact plus subconsciously realised she would never be interested in him, so gave her a shove. In his warped mind that was a victory.

I think men and women have gotten worse in terms of behaviour. I have been threatened at work by both. Overall it feels like some people think

I'd say male and females.

Not long ago, I saw a woman reverse into a parked car. I followed her into the shop and politely asked if she knew she'd hit the car. She claimed she hadn't but backtracked when I showed her.

I offered her a pen and paper to pop her details on the car in case of damage and she flipped. Shouting and screaming at me, videoing me.

Very bizarre.

A man barged into me in the street deliberately last year. Hurt my shoulder.

I agree with you.

I've had a few occasions where a male has been combative or aggressive towards me, I inevitably just ignore as I'm scared of what it could escalate to if I were to challenge them and its made me realise that Germaine Greer was probably right when she said women have no idea how much men hate them.

I was told to 'move out the way you fat bitch' for not moving quickly enough out the path of an oncoming man in our town last year. I am a size 10.

And another where a jogger and I crossed paths on a really narrow pavement - he shouted aggressively 'Oi you've just banged into me' ignoring the fact he also banged into me. Neither would have dared to say it to a man.