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A woman's scary story of harassment got an infuriating reaction from men

Still, she came away from the viral experience encouraged by all the good people out there.

With one simple tweet, Nathalie Gordon had the attention of men and women everywhere.

Women who saw her tweet probably knew more or less what kind of story was coming.

Men, on the other hand, were in for an eye-opening ride.


Gordon began by recounting a seemingly casual encounter with a man on a bus.

The conversation between Nathalie and the stranger quickly escalated from casual to obnoxious to downright scary.

"I'm horrified and turn to ask him to stop doing it. He laughs at me," she tweeted next.

When she ran to the front of the bus to report the man to the driver, the driver reportedly told her to "sit somewhere else."

The bus driver was no help.

"You're a pretty girl, what do you expect?" the driver asked her. Gordon had a pretty powerful answer to that.

As Gordon's tweets went viral, similar stories from countless other women poured in.

Several women responded about their own run-ins with creeps on public transit.

One woman wrote that, in her case, it was the bus driver himself who wouldn't take "no" for an answer, actually following her off the bus one day and insisting on a date.

"The stories I'm being told [from women] are harrowing," Gordon explained over Twitter direct message. "There's a real sense of hopeless when you see these messages en masse."

Then men began responding to Gordon's story, many unthinkingly proving her exact point: They just didn't get it.

Quickly, the Not All Men brigade was out in full force. So were the Victim Blamers, and the This Never Happened gang.

Some of their responses were truly vile.

One man even responded by writing a lengthy screed from the perspective of Gordon's bus driver, in which he tried to explain that the bus driver's right to say "no" to helping a female passenger avoid being sexually harassed or assaulted is what equality really looks like because the bus driver shouldn't have to "fight her battles for her."

To them, Gordon has one simple answer: "Men, your input isn't necessary here. Just listen."

"Don't find fault or shout your opinion over people talking about actual experiences," she later wrote. "Just listen, read these stories and be a better, kinder, more informed, supportive and understanding man for the women in your lives."

Despite the critics and the doubters, Gordon says she came away from the discussion feeling encouraged.

"For every guy saying something cruel there's 10 rushing to my defence," she explains.

"They've recognised that women don't want, need or expect to be saved. We want people standing beside us going 'This is wrong, we need to find a way to stop this from happening.'"

"I know so many good men and this has confirmed that there are plenty more out there," Gordon says. "I just hope they are as vocal in real life as they are on Twitter because they have such power if they do."


This article originally appeared on 5.11.17

via Giphy and Daniel Barnes / Twitter

"Jane the Virgin" actor Greice Santo revealed that a scene featuring her and Looney Tunes character Pepé Le Pew has been cut from the upcoming Warner Bros. film, "Space Jam: A New Legacy."

The film is a sequel to the 1996 film "Space Jam" which paired NBA legend Michael Jordan with Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies characters.

Santo and Le Pew were supposed to appear together in a black-and-white scene parodying "Casablanca" where she beats up the cartoon skunk for being sexually aggressive.


Le Pew has come under fire recently for being seen by some as the epitome of rape culture. The French skunk was known for being overly aggressive in his pursuit of a black cat known as Penelope Pussycat. Le Pew would kiss the cat's arms and hold her in a deep embrace, even when they protested.

Every time a female fought back against Le Pew, he'd misinterpret it as a sign of interest.

Simply put, "no" never meant "no" to Le Pew. In a 2021 column for The New York Times, Charles M. Blow wrote that Le Pew "normalized rape culture."


While some will say that cutting Le Pew from the "Space Jam" sequel makes the character another victim of today's intolerant "cancel culture," criticism of the skunk isn't a new thing.

Comedian Dave Chappelle realized that Le Pew was a terrible example for kids back in 2000, when he made fun of the skunk in his "Killin' Them Softly' standup special.

Warning: Strong language.

"Some wild shit! Like, I was with my nephew, sitting there watching Pepé Le Pew, and I said, 'Now, pay attention to this guy because he's funny. I used to watch him when I was little," Chapelle says in the bit. "And we're watching gPepé Le Pew, and… Good god, what kind of fucking rapist is this guy? Take it easy, Pepe!'"

In the bit, Chapelle's nephew responds to Le Pew by taking a terrible lesson from the skunk — sometimes you just have to "take" what you want from women. That's the exact reason many of today's parents don't want him in their children's movies.





Many men don't understand the constant anxiety countless women experience every day surrounding the fear of being sexually assaulted.

This lack of empathy has been in the forefront of the American consciousness over the last few years, especially since Donald Trump entered the center of the political arena. He's been accused by multiple women of sexual assault and rape, was friends with a man accused of sex trafficking minors, caught on tape bragging about sexually abusive behavior, and has supported men for Senate and the Supreme Court who've been credibly accused of assault as well.


Disney heiress visits theme park undercover and leaves 'livid' over working conditions.

The shocking thing about Trump is not that a man in power has attempted to wield it over women — it's that his actions haven't deterred his supporters.

A.R. Moxon, author of the upcoming book, "The Revisionaries," came up with a brilliant, yet brutal metaphor to help men understand the constant fear and anxiety that potential sexual abuse causes women. It also helps them understand how women feel when powerful men such as Trump are able to get away with the abuse because the system supports them.

Penguins in New Zealand repeatedly detained after showing 'complete disregard for police authority.'


He used the analogy to explain how women felt about the Brock Turner rape case.

He then applied the analogy to President Trump.

The analogy also applies to Trump's support of Judge Roy Moore and Brett Kavanaugh.

Men, imagine if you got kicked in the nuts and it made you pregnant and then the government forced you to carry the baby to full-term.

In October 1991, Anita Hill sat before five white male senators during Clarence Thomas' Supreme Court confirmation hearing and bravely spoke her truth.

As her former supervisor, Hill said, Thomas had sexually harassed her in the workplace. Her recollections and testimony — given long before the #MeToo era helped change the way we see sexual harassment and assault — were criticized, questioned, and brushed aside by congressional leaders. Thomas was confirmed to the Supreme Court shortly after.

But Hill's voice was instrumental in helping pave the way for survivors to speak up.


Photo by Jennifer Law/AFP/Getty Images.

Nearly 27 years after testifying, Hill — now a professor at Brandeis University — sat down with John Oliver on an episode of "Last Week Tonight" to chat about how we can keep moving forward in ways that empower and protect survivors.

"There's been a tremendous amount of change," Hill said. "There's been a change in public attitude, and there's been a change in the amount of information that we have about sexual harassment."

But for all we've learned, Hill still gets an incredibly frustrating question.

"So far, much of the approaches we've had is to put all of the burden on women," Hill noted. "One of the questions I get that just sort of sticks out with me is: 'How do we raise our daughter to make sure that she doesn't set herself up to be a victim of sexual harassment?' These are the kinds of things that we're thinking — 'If we fix her, then she won't encounter this problem.'

"In reality, she is not the problem."

Photo by Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images.

"She is not the problem" — men are. Can we keep saying that until it truly sinks in?

Because instead of focusing on teaching men about consent, society often tells women that their clothing or the amount of alcohol they consume are to blame for the actions of abusers. It's nonsensical.

More awareness campaigns are urging men to speak up and stop sexual assault when they see it. The #MeToo movement has challenged Washington and Hollywood alike to rethink how we view and respond to harassment and assault. So we're headed in the right direction in many ways.

But still, Hill believes men "need to step up."

"At this point in time, there are no innocent bystanders," she continued. "If you are aware of something — you acknowledge it, you know it's wrong, but you don't do anything about it — then it's the same as participating in it."

Watch Hill and Oliver's interview, which starts at about 17:50, below: