Komorebi

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She nodded and accepted my salty language like a seasoned sailor.

I’ve had experience with this before, in Prague a group of five girls and I were followed by three men at night. After a while they started yelling at us, the most common being “how much?” Meaning how much we “cost” as prostitutes. Seeing as they weren’t going to stop, I turned on my heel, faced them (which surprised them), spat at their feet and responded with “You couldn’t afford me.” This prompted the other girls to start yelling back at them as well, starting with our spitfire Czech friend to start slinging curses in Czech as she and the rest of the girls came up beside me. Needless to say the men backed off and pretty much fled. They weren’t expecting a fight. It empowered me and encouraged the rest of the girls to yell back too.

I’ve heard that a lot of people don’t know what to do in this situation because they’ve been taught all their lives to be polite and non-aggressive. Keep your heads down or whatever.

Keep in mind that studies have shown that rapists look for victims who won’t fight back.

Remember that nobody has the right to touch you without your consent or harass you, and you have all the right to make the biggest fuss about it that you can possibly make.

It’s so ridiculous though, that every time it happened, I would be so nice. I would either ignore them (if it was a slap), or if it was a lingering touch, I would gently remove their hand from my butt or thigh. Almost apologetic even, like I couldn’t look them in the eye. I felt like it was MY fault for wearing a skirt too short, or for wearing heels to high, or for being slightly tipsy in a place filled with men and it’s probably noticeable.

Regardless, it was never my fault.