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Nail-biting video shows a woman as she realizes a creepy man is following her

She was only halfway through her run when the man's behavior forced her to stop.

@lacie_kraatz/TikTok
Lacie films as the mysterious man visibly gets closer.

It’s no secret that even the most seemingly safe of public places can instantly turn dangerous for a woman. Is it fair? No. But is it common? Absolutely, to the point where more and more women are documenting moments of being stalked or harassed as a grim reminder to be aware of one’s surroundings.

One of the most common and frightening experiences many women can relate to is being followed by a strange man. It's scary because it's difficult to tell the difference between a random passerby who just happens to be walking in your direction and someone who has malicious intentions. At least, at first. But sadly, most women have learned how to pick up on the clues.

Lacie (@lacie_kraatz) is one of those women. On April 11th, she was out on a run when she noticed a man in front of her displaying suspicious behavior.


stalking, harassment, women, girls, men, danger, safetySadly, creeps don't need the cover of darkness to be creeps. Photo by ølı on Unsplash

Things got especially dicey when the man somehow got behind her. That’s when she pulled out her phone and started filming—partially to prove that it wasn’t just her imagination, and also out of fear for her safety.

“Hello. I’m just making this video so that women are a little more aware of them,” she begins in the video. “See this gentleman behind me? Yeah, this is what this video’s about.”

According to Lacie, the two were initially running in opposite directions. But at some point after seeing her, the man stopped in the middle of the trail and waited for her to pass so that he could follow her path from behind.

“Now, I know what you’re thinking—‘Why are you suspecting that he’s following you?'” Lacie continues. “Well, let me tell you. I was just walking like this, and I look up, and he’s in front of me, and he just keeps doing a ‘peek’ like this behind him, over and over again.”

Lacie added that at one point, she even made an illegal crossing when “do not walk” sign was still up in an attempt to put some distance between herself and the man. After looking over her shoulder, she noticed that the man was visibly “speeding” to keep up.

In case there is still any doubt, Lacie then begins to run to see if the man will follow suit. Sure enough, he does.

Luckily the man eventually seems to give up, though he still seems to be watching her from a distance. Lacie ends up safe back home, but she didn't even accomplish what she set out to do that afternoon.

“I couldn’t even finish my run,” she concludes. “I only ran like a mile and a half. I wanted to do 3 miles, but no—creepy men just had to be creepy f****** men today.”

Watch the harrowing encounter here:

@lacie_kraatz

#foryou #ladies #awareness

Countless women empathized with Lacie in the comments section. Clearly, this was not a unique circumstance.

“What I do when I’m being followed is act feral,” yet another person shared. “Like I’ll bark and growl really loud and flail my arms around. If you look crazy, you're doin' it right.”

Another added, “Man, nothing pisses me off more than men who make me feel uncomfortable doing things that I NEED to do for my health and well-being.”

Others tried to give their own tips for handling the situation, from finding nearby police or fire stations to using a variety of running trails to simply notifying the first visible passerby of what’s happening and asking to stand with them.

And of course, the resounding advice was to use the public space, and modern-day technology, to one’s advantage.

As one person wrote, “Girls we have got to normalize turning around and yelling at people following us. Let them know you know, take pictures of them, scream, make a scene."

Experts say the most important thing is to stay in a populated area as long as you're being followed. If you can pop into a store, do it. And always let a trusted friend or loved one know where you are. Giving a family member access to Find My Phone or a similar tracking app could be a lifesaver.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

It’d be nice if these kinds of unsettling interactions didn’t exist. But here we are.

Some estimates say around 75% of women have been followed by a stranger at some point in their lives; a shocking, tragic statistic. They're also around four times as likely to be continuously stalked compared to men. It's not fair that women and girls have to deal with this, and that they're forced to develop a keep instinct for when danger is present.

At the very least, it’s good that women are speaking up more so that these situations are easier to spot early on and women can know how to navigate them in the safest way possible.

And as for Lacie, she went on to join the US Coast Guard and regularly posts updates about her life in the military. Safe to say she has no problem taking care of herself these days.

This article originally appeared two years ago. It has been updated.

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Casey Affleck dropping out of the Oscars should motivate us all.

A lot has changed in just a year.

Last year Brie Larson presented Casey Affleck with the Oscar for Best Actor, and it was ... uncomfortable.

Just a year earlier, Larson had won the Oscar for her powerhouse performance in "Room," playing a woman who was held kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and forced to live in captivity with her young son. Hers was a moving performance that reflected a lot of Larson's own advocacy work for victims of sexual harassment and violence. But then she was asked to present one of acting's top honors to Affleck, who had been sued on multiple occasions for sexual harassment years earlier.

The audience erupted in applause as Affleck's name was announced and he took the stage — with one very notable exception: Larson. After offering Affleck a polite hug, she stood off to the side, motionless. In a pre-#MeToo, pre-Time's Up environment, her reluctance to follow the unspoken rules of being a presenter was a statement in itself.

[rebelmouse-image 19532043 dam="1" original_size="450x280" caption="Larson stands still as Affleck takes the stage in 2017. GIF from Oscars/YouTube." expand=1]Larson stands still as Affleck takes the stage in 2017. GIF from Oscars/YouTube.

"I think that whatever it was that I did onstage kind of spoke for itself,” she told Vanity Fair when asked about whether she was trying to make a statement by not clapping. "I’ve said all that I need to say about that topic."

Since then, a lot has changed in Hollywood — and Affleck will be absent from the Oscar stage this year as a result.

It's Academy Award tradition that the previous year's Best Actor winner presents this year's Best Actress award (and the past Best Actress presents Best Actor). But Affleck, who was scheduled to present, will not be in attendance when Hollywood gathers for the show on March 4.

Deadline reported that "Affleck did not want to become a distraction from the focus that should be on the performances of the actresses in the category and that is why he made the proactive move," calling it "a no-win situation."

Affleck accepts Best Actor during the 2017 Oscars. Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images.

Thanks to the activism of the past year, actors like Affleck are finally being held accountable for their actions.

It's proof that, when journalists, witnesses, and survivors speak out, they have the power to change the world for the better.

Without Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey's bombshell New York Times exposé detailing megaproducer Harvey Weinstein's history of sexual assault and harassment, and without some of the brave actresses willing to go on record for it, it's hard to imagine that the #MeToo movement would have taken off the way it has.

In a world without the #MeToo movement (which was founded years ago by Tarana Burke, but given fresh life post-Weinstein), it's easy to picture Affleck on stage this year, again receiving cheers from a complicit audience. It's easy to imagine his past sexual harassment suits being brushed off as ancient history, or for audiences to be urged to separate the artist from the art; it's easy to picture a culture that has continued to laud the likes of Roman Polanski or Woody Allen treating Affleck the same way.

[rebelmouse-image 19346263 dam="1" original_size="750x555" caption="Tarana Burke poses with Affleck's "Manchester By the Sea" co-star, actress Michelle Williams at this year's Golden Globes. Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images." expand=1]Tarana Burke poses with Affleck's "Manchester By the Sea" co-star, actress Michelle Williams at this year's Golden Globes. Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images.

But activists, journalists, and regular, everyday people helped change that. Continued pressure and momentum can help reshape culture in powerful ways. The fact that Casey Affleck will not be on stage is a reminder that we can make the world a better place if we use our voices to advocate for a more just society.

In a world where cynicism and despair often win out, stories like these might just lend a little hope.

#MeToo demonstrators. Photo by Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images.

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Actor Rose Marie shamed her harasser in 1954 and paid dearly for it.

To hear some critics tell it, sexual harassment and assault are modern problems brought on by loosening sexual mores, the infiltration of women into male spaces, and the abandonment of "traditional" values.

A tragic counterpoint is the story of "The Dick Van Dyke Show" star Rose Marie who, at 94, wrote an op-ed for the Hollywood Reporter about being harassed at work in 1954 and her heartbreaking experience when she tried to verbally shame her harasser.

Rose Marie. Photo by Michael Buckner/Getty Images.

Marie wrote that her moment came on the set of the musical "Top Banana." The actor and comedian clapped back at her harasser — a producer on the film — and, predictably, suffered professional consequences as a result.

The producer of the film came up to me after I'd run through the song called "I Fought Every Step of the Way," which had boxing references, and said that he could show me a few positions. He wasn't referring to boxing. I laughed it off, but he said he was serious and that the picture could be mine.

Well, in front of everyone onstage, I said, "You son of a bitch, you couldn't get it up if a flag went by." Needless to say, that didn't go over well with him, and all my musical numbers were cut from the film. I had no idea that his reaction to my refusal would be so bad.

I realized then that the rumors of the casting couch weren't jokes and why some actresses were getting breaks and why others, sometimes way more talented, weren't.



Marie's story illustrates why victims of harassment and abuse often don't "fight back."

A recent University of Michigan analysis found that less than a third of all people who have experienced workplace harassment reported it. Of those who didn't, most were afraid of being branded "troublemakers" and being subjected to sidelining, marginalization, or worse.

Those fears are founded. A 2016 Equal Employment Opportunity Commission analysis found that 75% of reporters experienced some form of retaliation.

If we're only hearing about these stories now, that may be because victims finally feel they will be believed.

Dustin Hoffman. Photo by Lars Niki/Getty Images.

The stories themselves span decades. In 2004, former writers assistant Amaani Lyle sued Warner Bros. for racial and gender-based harassment she said she endured in the "Friends" writers room almost 20 years ago. (Lyle ultimately lost the suit in 2006.) Earlier this year, writer Anna Graham Hunter described being verbal harassed by actor Dustin Hoffman on the set of "Death of a Salesman" in 1985 — 32 years ago. And those are just the very tip of the iceberg.

When it comes to gender-based harassment and abuse, there was nothing good about the "good ol' days."

Women were harassed, abused, intimidated, and blackballed in the workplace back then too. Their overwhelmingly male bosses helped forge a culture of silence where victims were often too isolated and too professionally vulnerable to speak out.

We should be grateful that those days are, slowly but surely, coming to an end.

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Dutch men around the world are holding hands in support of a gay couple that was attacked.

Dutch people from the Netherlands to New York are rallying in support of a gay couple who suffered a devastating assault in the city of Arnhem.

According to a New York Times report, the couple, Jasper Vernes-Sewratan and Ronnie Sewratan-Vernes, said they were holding hands when a group of teenagers attacked them after a party.

In response, two straight Dutch politicians, Alexander Pechtold and Wouter Koolmees, showed up to an interview holding hands.

A hashtag started — #allmenhandinhand — to show solidarity against anti-LGBT violence.

Protesters marched hand-in-hand in Amsterdam.

And the show of solidarity soon spread around the world — with Dutch United Nations staff taking part in New York.

Dutch diplomats in Greece joined hand-in-hand as well.

As did the members of N.E.C. Nijmegen, a Dutch soccer team.

The Netherlands was the first country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage, and rights for the LGBT community enjoy broad public support there.

"In the Netherlands, we think it's quite normal, but apparently for some people, it's not," Pechtold, the leader of the liberal Democrats 66 party, told 4 News. "So I think it's important this week that we show that it's absolutely normal."

Politicians across the political spectrum vowed to take a tough line on anti-LGBT violence in the wake of the assault.

Photo by Lex Van Lieshout/AFP/Getty Images.

"New government or not, this is top priority either way," conservative Prime Minister Mark Rutte said at a news conference.

In the meantime, the sight of hundreds of Dutch men holding hands around the world should be a wake-up call that couples of all genders in all combinations expressing their love in public will never go back to not being normal.

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