It's an unfortunate aspect of our society that plenty of men still feel like they have the right to grab and catcall women in the street. Despite the fact that we are living in 2018, some men still engage in this archaic and unacceptable method of courting a woman, with one man paying the consequences for his unwanted and unsolicited advances.
When Leanna Carr, an American powerlifter, was sexually harassed on the streets of Dublin, Ireland, she hit back. Literally.
Carr was minding her own business in the Irish city when a stranger groped her from behind. When she turned around to confront him, rather than apologise for his actions, the man said: "You're an American, you probably like it."
Taking to her Twitter account, Carr said:
"While walking down the street in Dublin earlier this week, a man grabbed my butt. He proceeded to laugh hysterically and said: “you’re an American, you probably liked it”. Apparently traveling solo has made me a better person bc my first reaction was to punch him in the face."
The tweet was accompanied by two photos showing off her bruised knuckles and has been liked over 20,000 times.
Speaking to the Independent about the ordeal, the weightlifter said:
"I was walking in a hurry to catch my bus when I felt someone grab my bum, hard. I turned around a little shocked initially and said ‘what the f*ck’ to him. He started laughing, and said ‘oh you’re an American… you probably liked it."
"I am never a violent person, and I have never punched anyone before… but I became so angry and had so much adrenaline that my reaction was to punch him. I got him on the cheekbone, hard.
"I started yelling a couple more things to him like ‘don’t ever touch a girl like that again, I could get you arrested’. He became very mad and I thought he was going to hit back.
"But there was an older couple next to us who saw the whole thing and the gentleman told the scumbag to keep walking. The man started laughing again and then crossed the street to disappear in the crowd of people."
While Carr was understandably "shaken" by the incident, she decided to carry on with her travels.
"I was a little shaken and wanted to go home at first," she said.
"I spent a couple days in Galway and went back to Dublin for another day, and I truly met the most amazing Irish locals who were very welcoming and kind.
"I realise situations like this could happen anywhere. There are ‘bad eggs’ wherever you go. I left Ireland with more positive than negative experiences. This situation just made me keep my guard up a bit, which is a smart thing to do when travelling solo internationally."
"Maybe you haven’t seen it, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. No matter what country you’re in. Sexual harassment happens every day from complete strangers and most women do not know the correct way to respond.
"In the past, I probably would have felt too shocked and timid to have dealt with the situation. I probably would have just walked away… and that man probably would have continued to prey on innocent women.
"I never use Twitter and didn’t write the post for attention, but I’m glad it went viral. This is something that is very common and hopefully, it encourages more women to feel comfortable and able to stand up for themselves if it does happen to them."
Well played Leanna, hopefully, your punch will deter the man from harassing women again.
