Speaking up against sexual harassment in public places is important, but it can also be dangerous when the perpetrator is violent as Aisha Walker found out when she stood up to help a woman being sexually harassed on the bus in Winnipeg.
Walker told reporters at CTV Winnipeg that the man “He just kept asking her if she wanted to dance” and despite the woman’s clear lack of interest the man kept “shaking up to her” and tried to “grind up on her.”
Walker rightfully got upset and when she saw no one else was taking action she decided to speak up. She first switches spots with the woman on the bus and then began berating the man, “I was swearing at him, I was insulting him, name-calling.” Soon another man came and took the side of the first guy and began threatening Walker.
“He said I don’t give an F-word and get out of my effin’ way, and we can take this outside if you want and handle it that way,” Walker said.
Walker says she “questioned” the man, and he responded by hitting her.
“I guess he didn’t want to be questioned because, at that point, he struck me in the face with all of his might and immediately got off the bus.” (via CTV News)
It was up to Walker herself, after again, being struck in the face, to tell the bus driver what happened in order to get aid.
As a result of the punch, Walker sustained a black eye and her teeth were chipped badly. Walker is currently hosting a Go Fund Me page to pay for her broken teeth since she can not afford it herself. Walker explains the extent of the damage on the page itself, “I have several shattered teeth. To be specific, 3 of my top front teeth and 4 of my bottom front teeth are chipped. 3 of these chipped teeth have visibly exposed nerves or roots or whatever. It literally hurts to breathe.”
Nevertheless, Walker has no regrets about standing up and would gladly do so again. “I will never stand by and watch a woman go through that without saying something, without helping. I’m beyond disappointed that on a bus full of people (it was really crowded too) I was the only person willing to do something. Because I wasn’t the only person who noticed what was happening, several people were watching this drunk man attempting to grind up on this stranger with looks of disgust in their eyes.”
And that is what is truly disgusting about this whole thing, while it is great that Walker spoke up, but it came up to just her against two grown, drunk men, one who had no qualms about punching her in the mouth. None of the men on this bus felt the need to help her and no one else even alerted the driver to the incident? It all fell onto Walker and that’s a shame because while she certainly made a difference to the victim, in the end, they were on their own. The only way to change these social structures is if everyone fights back against these type of people. The David vs Goliath idea of one person defeating a powerful evil is a great story, but when it comes to dismantling social injustice it falls very short in practice.
(via CTV News Canada, image: StepanPopov/Shutterstock.com)
Want more stories like this? Become a subscriber and support the site!
—The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—
