1 post tagged “hayes valley”
I was harrassed on the way to work this morning. Just walking to Civic Center BART along Grove St. when this guy passed by very close heading the other direction beside me.
He reached down & behind as he walked by and grabbed my ass. There was absolutely no mistaking this for a bump; it was a multi-finger grope.
I turned and said "Hey! That was total bullshit, man!" and he kept walking, but sped up.
In retrospect I should probably have laid down a shrill tirade at him about what his damn problem might be and how pathetic it was that he couldn't find anyone who wanted him to touch them - public shame being probably my best weapon - but I was so shocked and threatened that I just warned the next woman coming down the street and confirmed that a guy leaning on the wall had indeed seen it happen.
I hope he tries it again this weekend against a ferocious femme with long sharp fingernails and a fast & mighty scratch reflex.
As for me, my growing re-connection to Hayes Valley as a neighborhood has been nipped in the bud. Okay, it sure ain't another drive-by shooting next door to me, but clearly the place has a long way to go before you can consider yourself safe there.
It must have been ten years since I was so blatantly sexually harrassed. I'll be paranoid for a while about straight men, particularly straight men who look like that guy. Fortunately, those slim black dudes who dress like they get their velour tracksuits at the same boutique as the rich white ladies from the tennis club can be spotted a mile away. Thinks he's pimpin', but he's wimpin'.
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A friend at work has reminded me since I was actually grabbed that this would be sexual assault.
Swell.
