Sexual predators



The spate of male sexual assaults against women in the news of late jogged a memory of an assault against me.  My assailant was neither Donald Trump or Bill Clinton or Bill Cosby.  Just another misogynistic man asserting his power over the lesser species. 

I was a newlywed pushing my shopping cart down the cereal aisle at the local grocery, vaguely aware of another shopper behind me.  My peripheral vision caught a movement, then a hand caressed my ass, before the figure passed ahead.  I was stunned but not too stunned to identify this person as a totally unknown man.

I was at a complete loss of how to proceed.  I was frightened that he was waiting ahead of me.  Or waiting for me in the parking lot. I panicked but found the store manager, told the events, and was walked out to my car.  I was shaking so hard I could barely drive.  This was long before the age of cell phones so there was no recourse except to drive home.  

And during the drive home I asked myself if I’d brought this on myself by being dressed provocatively; if I’d shaken my ass at the person behind me just boasting of my tight ass.  This is what women do, doubt our actions, because the vast majority of women aren’t predators.  We are the nurturers of children and don’t comprehend the actions of the likes of Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, or Bill Cosby.  And that’s just three men.  

Something of a similar nature occurred to a cousin who was lost in San Francisco.  She was crying and trying to figure out how to get home, a perfect victim, when a random man exposed his penis to her.  She reacted in terror, exactly what that pervert wanted.  She gathered herself together and focused on getting home.  Then another man exposed himself to her.  This time she was taking no shit and took off at a run, chasing the perv, who was struggling to pull up his pants while running away.  And she was swearing like the loggers daughter she is.  I love this visual.

And like to think if that man at the grocery had come into my view again, I’d have chased him down and rammed him with my cart.  At full bone-crushing speed.

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