Men are pushing women over in the street - as a trend

[IwantToRetire]

Experts fear that new types of misogyny and harassment – including spitting and pushing women over – are taking hold in the UK as they move offline

This type of targeted shoulder barging has a name: butsukari otoko. The term, which originated on the streets of Japan in 2018, describes a type of violence against women that is done in a crowded public space, most commonly train stations.

It could at first appear accidental, but it is actually intentional; it is gendered (men doing it to women), and done for misogynistic reasons.

Researchers fear it is gaining traction in the UK, spreading from online videos to real-life encounters. “It’s come out of a subculture that existed years ago in Japan,” says Megan Hughes, a researcher at the Alan Turing Institute’s Centre for Emerging Technology and Security, which tracks online extremism. “It is something that’s been around for a long time, and people are now recognising it and are speaking out, but it’s a really difficult thing to track.

“They are sometimes subtle collisions, which are designed to appear accidental. They’re making victims second-guess intent or motive, and that then makes it really difficult for people wanting to report a crime. So it’s really hard for us to monitor.”

Street harassment isn’t new, but many believe it’s getting worse. A poll by Zencity, which surveyed 1600 women, found that 69 per cent said they had first or secondhand experience of women being ill-treated within the last 12 months; 75 per cent of women surveyed said violence and harassment was a serious problem and asked whether it had got worse in the last five years – 42 per cent agreed, and 30 per cent thought it was the same.

Article continues at https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/men-pushing-over-women-street-trend-3845874?srsltid=AfmBOoq29csw2CYnH2QwNMgW8lX9zoYcwXTwbx8cTQP2Fr1LzvR33aT5

And https://archive.is/GMI7T

My mum is slow and walks with a stick. Recently, there have been bus drivers who have started moving before she his seated and a general lack of curtesy, it has been upsetting to witness.

There has also been two lovely young men who helped her with a suitcase after a long distance train journey. But, I am afraid this is more of the exception.

This is Strange, I was pushed over on an escalator in London last week

The world has gone mad. It’s the justice system. People are doing things and there’s no consequences. My friend has a broken arm because she was knocked over by an e-scooter on the pavement. The bloke was wearing a mask and he didn’t stop. Police could not care less.

I phoned 101 (or whatever it is) to report three motorbikes tearing around on my DD’s school field. The operator asked me ‘how it was affecting me’. It took over an hour for a policeman to arrive, obviously they never caught them and 120 children could not use the field for playtime or PE for the whole summer term.

It’s the justice system.

I dont think the men feeling entitled to bump into and even knock down women has anything to do with the justice system. This is about the incel culture, which isn't just "incels" young men on the internet, but more and more men feeling they can be hostile towards women.

Anti social behaviour is usually, although not always, a combination of family, local area and complete absence of police.

Yes, I do agree that it’s a part of the incel culture. I just feel like people are behaving however they like and getting away with it. Maybe less men would be pushing women if they even suspected for a moment that they would be punished. That their picture would be in the paper and their workmates and their gran would see it.

sorry. should have added more detail - in a railway station,
BTP were incredible, i would exhort anyone to contact them

Men have always hated women. They will never be truly our friends or loved ones. Even the ones who don't do shit like this benefit from the general wariness it creates in us women, since we can't know before hand who will be dangerous to us or not.

I was walking through a city centre today. The street is pedestrianised and it was really busy. Two lads careered down the street on their push bikes, deliberately aiming at women and laughing when they were scared. A couple of people shouted at them to stop and received a mouthful of abuse. DS commented that it was women they were cycling at and cackling. I might not have noticed otherwise.

I was pushed over in the street, but it happened about 5 years ago; I am now retired.
I knew it was deliberate, but assumed it was because I am an 'older' woman.
This happened in a busy London street (Holborn), and I was sort of barged as he went past. I fell onto someone and into a costamonger stall. The man had walked on, but as I was trying to pick myself up, apologisong (for some obscure reason) to the stall holder, etc , I looked after him and he turned presumably to gloat over the damage. He clearly knew what he had done, and did it deliberately.

I've had this happen to me twice. Being aggressively shoulder charged. Once, a few years ago, by a middle aged man who seemed to take issue with me being in his way whilst I was out with my family for a stroll around a local scenic spot; and then again a couple of years ago by a young, over-weight man in his twenties as we both tried to negotiate a restricted pavement area in the city centre. It really did feel like an assault on both occasions and left me feeling upset and angry.

They just hate everyone who gets in their way.

There’s a good chance that I’d end up hurt or killed if this happened to me because I’d end up pushing back. I don’t know what it is in me, but I don’t think I’d be able to just walk away. So I’d probably genuinely get done in by the guy.

"Hughes gives the example of ‘mewing’, an exercise which is alleged to improve the jawline (something that men in toxic spaces see as desirable because it is seen as masculine; conversely, some believe the reason women aren’t interested in them is because of a weak jawline)."

No, dahling. The reason women won't be interested in you, is simple - you are a c##t.

Makes me think of the Verve video……

I have to admit i was at an alternative festival gig many moons ago where a man kept stamping on me.

I had a bloody good right hook, and punched him hard in his face. He backed of pretty rapidly.

I don’t think it as new thing, it has just been noticed

I was an angry young woman in my defence

You had every right to be angry, @Bannedontherun!

If this happens to you, report it. Every time. It’s VAWG, they’re actively trying to make women feel unsafe in public spaces. If decent women are reluctant to take up public spaces, the weirdos get free reign. If it’s in public there may be CCTV, in most cases I imagine their phones and what they are saying / viewing will be worth a look too.

Its 10000% worse when you are a nurse. This type ov things happens all the time towards health care staff. And it's women attacking too

I too have this fantasy, but in reality (and I am pretty sturdily built), if you have been knock flying and the breathe knocked out of your lungs, there is no way you will be pushing back.

By the time you are back on your feet he will be long gone with a smug smile on his face.

Similar things happened near my local shops. My daughter spotted a young man deliberately trying to trip up elderly women by sticking his leg out. She told me as I haven't got great mobility since covid. Ironically whilst watching out for that, I ended up getting a load of verbal abuse from the occupants of a passing car.

I had it in a supermarket. 2 men were practically blocking the aisle chatting so I went to squeeze round them with my trolley

I could see a bloke look at me and start running towards me to slam into me from the side. I managed to block him with my trolley before he slammed into me

he started screaming and shouting, not because he was hurt but because he didn’t manage to potentially injure me. I reported him to security and carried on with my shopping

Personally I think every woman should learn krav maga

(Yes I do also think the cultural kickback against Israel is in part because we're losing our instinctive respect for women's rights in the west)

Really. Have never witnessed this.

Wow, I have heard of this happening but had no idea it was so common.

Near me a teenage boy recently kicked a teenage girl off her bike, as she was cycling along the road minding her own business. At least he's been charged. I don't suppose there will be any consequences for him though, there never seem to be, do there?

I had this happen to me too, on a coastal path a few years ago. The path was narrow, but still wide enough for two people to pass one another as long as both moved to the side. I did so, the man coming towards me didn't even though he'd clearly seen me, and shoulder-barged me hard as he passed. No apology and he didn't glance back when I remonstrated with him.

Other public harassment in the past year has been a male jogger passing me from behind and saying "C**t" loudly as he did so, and a boy saying "BItch" as he passed me. I've been harassed and insulted by men in public before, but it's usually been as part of some kind of altercation, not just insults for the sake of insults.

What also happens a great deal is men muttering under their breath as they pass: something I can catch what they say (always insulting), but other times not. It's clearly a deliberate tactic as they never look at me as they pass, never move closer to me, so to anyone nearby it would seem like nothing had happened at all. Any CCTV would also of course show nothing.

I'm always on my own when out and about which obviously makes me more of a target, and it's got worse since I let my hair go grey a few years back (I'm now 59). Such men seem to be positively angered by my daring to exist and be outside and I suppose my age makes me seem utterly pointless to them. The muttering is almost always from men around my age or older.

In all these cases I always call out after them (except with muttering I can't make out), but usually with something less than what I feel as it happens so suddenly and before I know it, they're gone. To anyone else nearby, of course, it just looks as if I'm some barmy lady randomly calling out at strangers.

I used to hold my own in mosh pits in the 90s. Because anyone who bashed into me got a cigarette burn very quickly.

A taser would also get the job done.