Audacity Seems to be On Sale

I don’t know where some humans purchase their audacity from. It seems to be on sale these days because some creeps walking around in human form appear to have pockets full of it.

Yesterday, I went to the market to get a few things, which I wrote about but while I was busy trying to squeeze my way through the crowd, a man suddenly whistled loudly. I turned around because, naturally, I wanted to know what the commotion was about. A few other people turned too, then I saw him.

He was leaning against a little shack with both hands shoved into his pockets. His shirt wasn’t even properly buttoned, and there was something about his entire appearance that made me immediately uncomfortable. Then our eyes met and instead of looking away like a normal person, he motioned for me to come over. I seriously ignored him. Then he said out loud that he liked me and wanted me to come to him because he wanted to make me his. Just like that.

The audacity was almost impressive. Almost, but I didn’t say anything to him. I’ve learnt that some people go about looking for a reaction from others and the moment you give them one, they can turn the entire situation around and somehow make themselves the victim.

I wasn’t interested in discovering what kind of person he was, so I simply turned around and continued walking. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the end of it because the man followed me.

He kept asking if I wasn’t the person he had been talking to. Then he asked who gave me the right to walk away while he was speaking to me. That was when I stopped finding the whole thing merely irritating. I became frightened because what exactly was I supposed to do? Stand there and argue with a strange man in the middle of a crowded market because he had decided I owed him a conversation? Absolutely not.

So I quickened my steps. I noticed some women around the market watching the situation, and from the way they reacted, I got the impression that this wasn’t the first time this man had harassed women there. They simply advised me to ignore him. So I did and kept walking but he kept talking and following me.

At that point, I wasn’t even thinking about the things I had gone to buy anymore. I just wanted to get away from him. I hurried through the market, grabbed the most important things I needed and started looking for somewhere I could feel a little safer.

Then, thankfully, I spotted some policemen across the road. I crossed over immediately and reported the man to one of them. Interestingly, the moment he noticed that I was speaking to the police, he disappeared into the crowd. Typical behavior.

The police told me to go on my way and assured me that they would handle it. So I went home, shaken and annoyed and even grateful too.

Grateful that I made it home without being followed all the way there, grateful that I wasn’t assaulted and that the situation didn’t escalate into something worse as that is the part that bothers me most.

I shouldn’t have to calculate the possible reaction of a strange man simply because I refused to entertain him. I shouldn’t have to wonder whether ignoring someone will make them angrier nor do I have to think about how quickly I can get to a police officer because a stranger has decided that my walking away is an insult to his ego. And yet, women have to think about these things all the time.

A woman can literally mind her business, walk through a market, buy her groceries and go home, and somehow someone else can decide that she owes him her attention. And if she doesn’t give it, she suddenly rude, proud or disrespectful. She thinks she’s better than him. Anything except the simplest explanation that she just doesn’t want to talk.

I mean no is literally a complete sentence, silence is also an answer and walking away should be allowed to mean exactly what it means. Leave women alone.

I don’t know what some people are putting in their pockets these days, but I wish they’d stop selling audacity in bulk.

Posted Using INLEO