Everyday sexual harassment is tragically something that a lot of women are forced to put up with. Whether it's the builder catcalling at you on your way to work, or your boss consistently making lewd jokes at your expense, it's not acceptable and needs to be stopped.
But you know what the difficult thing with 'casual' incidents like these is? They're normally here and gone within the blink of an eyelid. Almost every woman out there will admit that, a lot of the time, when a stranger assaults you in the street, it seems time-consuming and futile to report the incident, so you're bound to continue with your day as if nothing ever happened.
However, a light was shone on behaviour like this recently when a sports reporter was sexually harassed on camera. This time, the fleeting harassment was not to be forgotten and led to outrage from people across the world.
Columbian reporter Julieth Gonzalez Theran was doing a live World Cup broadcast in Saransk, Russia, for German news channel Deutsche Welle, when she was interrupted by an unidentified male.
Footage of the broadcast shows the man approaching Theran - who was busy explaining to the camera that she was standing in front of the World Cup countdown clock - grabbing her by the breast, kissing her on the cheek and walking off. Amazingly, the sports reporter completely keeps her cool and continues with her report like a true professional, despite having just been assaulted.
She later took to Instagram to discuss the shocking situation, claiming - quite rightly - that she did not deserve the treatment she received.
"I was there for around two hours preparing my things and nothing happened to me," she wrote. "But when we were live that man took advantage of it. He came at me, gave me a kiss and he touched my breast. I had to continue, afterwards I tried to see if the man was still there but he had left. We do not deserve this treatment. We are equally as professional and deserving. I share the joy of football but we must identify the limits between affection and harassment."
She was certainly not alone in her outrage. Dozens of people commented on her post, venting their frustration that she was put in that situation. "That’s NOT ok!!! A guy can’t walk up to someone he doesn’t know and kiss and grope her. He took advantage of her being on TV. He should go to jail. Just because she is a beautiful reporter doesn’t give him the right to do what he did," wrote Instagram user mtfbwy1976.
Fellow Instagrammer pjcai also commented, posting: "To those idiots who say this is not at an attack, just an affectionate kiss, and he inadvertently touched her breast - you're full of crap. No way could a woman go kiss a man and grab his crotch on live TV."
We can only hope that drawing attention to disgusting incidents like these sends out a powerful message that this behaviour is not - and will never be - acceptable.
