WATCH: "This man sits down next to me and he will not leave me alone."
A woman shares her experience about being harassed at her local coffee shop...
As women and men, there are many moments where we have all experienced feeling powerless, whether that was in the form of objectification, inappropriate behaviour from the same or opposite sex or just plain harassment. Regardless of the situation, it isn't something we wish upon anyone.
No one should ever feel like they are not being heard, especially when it comes to that feeling where someone is infringing your space and making you feel uncomfortable. As we approach the end of Women's Month, we saw this story and thought it was important to highlight and allow women (and men) to feel like they are being heard.
A woman is doing some work in a coffee shop and a man approaches her. From what we gather, he was trying to make a move on her and she was not interested. She made it clear that she was married and that she was busy (in an attempt to get him to leave), however he persistently continued trying to engage with her.
She was saved by the barista who happened to notice the situation and then she consequently left the coffee shop. But she did a shout out to the barista who helped her and the staff at the coffee shop. When we think about videos such as these on TikTok, it really makes us think about the amount of people that are actually benefitting from watching them.
Read more: #Unshaken: Durbanite Alicia Koopman - "The sky is not the limit, you have to go beyond that!"
Watch the video below from the woman who goes by @greenybeany420 (courtesy of TikTok):
@greenybeany420 what a great way to respond in this situation. thank u starbucks baristas !! felt much safer bc of you guys.
♬ original sound - ave
Read more: #Unshaken: Durbanite Alicia Koopman - "The sky is not the limit, you have to go beyond that!"
This was the response video from the barista who goes by @tiffanylemairclar (courtesy of TikTok):
@tiffanylemairclar @greenybeany420 I want to let you know that you are not alone and if you ever need help don’t hesitate to ask ##womenhelpingwomen
♬ original sound - Tiffany LeMair Clark
This story showed us that there are always going to be those people in society who try to overpower you, but in this day and age, with women showing support for each other and also speaking up for themselves, we cannot let those people get the better of us.
Many people commented on the first video saying that sometimes it's best not to say anything, because then these men become aggressive and their egos get bruised, so they end up being mean or rude. While others found it helpful and liberating that women can be there for each other and show love for each other on a public platform.
The women at East Coast Radio talk about this briefly in their talk about sexuality in the Unshaken podcast series. You can check it out here.
Image Courtesy of TikTok