Read on Twitter
Let me tell you all about the day that that I realised that GBV was not about extreme acts of violence but about the small, normalized acts of micro aggressions by men as they relate to women. It was a Sunday morning at Rosebank, my car was parked in a fairly empty parking lot
A guy sees me walking to my car and asks to walk with me. I say no but be contineues to walk with me. This guy is good looking, in his 20s and presented as a young professional might. While walking he asked for my number and I declined because I dont give it to strangers
Mans insisted. Asked if I had a boyfriend.if that's the reason I didnt want to give my number. I said no it was just not what i wanted to do. We got to my car and he again said he wanted the number because he wanted to get to know me, that he was a good guy who thinks I'm pretty.
Then things went sideways. He calmly moved himself between my car and myself and leaned with his back against my door and said "I really think you should reconsider". I realised that I was in a parking lot alone with a guy and my car door was blocked by him
So I decided to give the number in hope that he would then let me leave, but I give a wrong number (change the last digit). He punches it into his phone and then says, "now let me call you and see if it's the right number". Well of course my phone didnt ring. He asked to see it
Then asked for my real number this time with my phone in my hand. Then called it to see his call come through. Then he left. The entire interaction was calm. Never raised his voice, or got aggressive but I knew I was not safe. If I shouted noone who came would have seen violence
I never forgot the fear I felt and the subtle way he use his body to remind me that I couldn't just get into my car and I should reconsider the number. Yes I have experience violence that was much worse at the hands of men, but that day was an important lesson.
