A woman starts recording on her cell phone, gets out her car to confront a man she says sexually harassed her. The video (below) shows the exchange of what seems to have been the guy saying hello to her and she did not welcome that greeting AT ALL:

Some people may say that she was the one that ultimately harassed the man. Can’t a man just say hello?

We certainly cannot argue that our society is patriarchal. The 19th amendment was not ratified until many after the founding of our country. It took almost a hundred years of fighting for women to have the right to vote. In the 1960 to the early 1980s there was another wave of women’s rights that were established, such as equal pay, gender discrimination, reproductive rights—wait, we are STILL dealing with these very issues. But back to my point, could it be that she had just reached her boiling point?

We can gather with the discussion happening in the video, that the man just said, “hello." But do we make a judgment merely on just what someone says, or can we consider tone, body language, intent etc?

We will never know if his “hello” was meant as a friendly greeting or meant as a sexual advance and belittlement. This video may seem like she may have been a bit overzealous but is her action so unfounded or uncalled for? Women face harassment on the streets at a rate where we are expected to just “deal with it”. I think on this occasion, her cup runneth over. She just had it, enough was enough.

The harassment women face on a daily basis is real and it should be taken seriously. We can be quick to say that the man didn’t seem like he meant any harm, but can we ever consider how SHE felt?

Think about this video, this woman’s reaction and then watch this second video….

What do you think now??