“Stop That Right Now. You Never Do That To A Woman Walking On Her Own”: Woman Shares How A Guy Called Out His Friends’ Jerky Behavior

We reached out to Amy on Twitter to hear if she thinks situations like this are common. "I think that the fact that this thread resonated with so many people, and that their reaction when the guy spoke up to his friends was generally delighted shock and relief, shows how common it is to experience harassment and how rare it is for someone to intervene," she told Bored Panda. "I’m lucky that I’ve never been attacked, but I have had people follow me, make comments, act in ways that made me uncomfortable. I think almost every woman has. I was moved but sadly not surprised by the number of people who responded sharing their own experiences, and devastated by how many of them didn’t have the same ending this did."

Amy went on to explain how women are taught from a young age that they are responsible for their own safety. "I remember my all-girls secondary school giving us self defense classes when we were 15 and teaching us to keep our keys between our fingers. I never heard of the all-boys schools being taught not to harass or how not to intimate women." She also noted that it's also not just women who experience these situations. "While my thread refers mainly to women’s experiences, pretty much every group that is not white, cis het, or male has these concerns and experiences. LGBTQ+ people and people who aren’t white also experience large volumes of harassment, and it’s up to everyone who is not part of those groups to speak out when they witness them being targeted," Amy told us.

Lastly, we asked Amy if she had anything to say to men who are bystanders to help them understand how important their voices can be in these encounters. "I wish that that guy calling out his friends wasn’t so rare that it went viral on Twitter, but I’m also really heartened that he did. He probably continued with his night and completely forgot about it, but for me, that meant I went into the apartment feeling hopeful, not upset, uncomfortable and worrying that I had narrowly avoided being attacked."