Women are subjected to harassment by men almost every step of the way and the instances are very minute. Whether it’s inappropriate touching at a crowded place or just staring without consent, all of it is harassment.
A similar instance happened to TikToker Calla who sat at a bar with friends casually when a stranger tried to make her very uncomfortable. This strange man kept pushing his chair close to Calla and it wasn’t fun for her at all.
It’s clear at the start of the video that the TikToker was unimpressed with the man’s close proximity as she looked at him standing close behind her and pulled a face, prompting him to pull his chair slightly away, but despite her evident discomfort, the man still proceeded to lean his arm on the back of her chair.
YouTube
When he nudged Calla in the back with his elbow, Calla quickly turned around and the man acknowledged his actions with apparent sarcasm, saying, ‘Oh sh*t I touched her again.’
The man evidently was doing all of this purposely and didn’t learn from the encounter as the video then cut to him with his arm resting again on the back of Calla’s chair, taking up much of the space behind her and preventing her from leaning back. She again confronted her, but the man responded by arguing that he was talking to her friend, not her.
YouTube
Calla after that had lost her cool and this was when she shut off the guy completely with her response. She said, ‘You were talking to her about me and talking about my trauma because, yes, for the last f*cking 30 years of my life [people] don’t know how to keep space… They touch you inappropriately, they talk to you inappropriately, and they be in your motherf*cking space inappropriately.’
This entire incident and altercation were shared by Calla’s friend who captioned the video, ‘Normalize checking men.’ Calla later shared the video to her own TikTok page, adding the hashtags ‘personal space’, ‘entitlement’ and ‘women power’.
Many people on social media lauded Calla’s response and praised her for shutting the guy off. One person shared Calla’s frustrations and wrote, ‘I cannot stand people that act like him! ‘I don’t have an issue with me getting in YOUR personal space, you should relax’.’ Another commented, ‘Why is he acting like the victim? Leave her be.’
A third user dissed the man for ‘gaslighting’ Calla by making her feel as if her reaction was unwarranted, writing, ‘Triggered. When they gaslight you and try to make you feel like you’re overreacting for normally reacting to their disrespect.’
The footage has gone viral and honestly, this should be seen by all men out there who think harassment is cool or that they can get away with anything.