I've made the point before that responses to harassment are not always so simple to interpret- sometimes it is actually safer to not challenge it because it can be very dangerous to argue, challenge, disagree, or explicitly state that you want to be left alone. So the only other option is often demonstrating passive disinterest or at times "being polite" because EVEN passive disinterest is enough to elevate the situation. Then it becomes the victim's fault because they "didn't explicitly state" that they did not want to be endlessly hit on, talked about, approached, catcalled, looked over again and again, etc etc etc, though the alternative might have induced greater harm to them.
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This is what I get scared might happen, honestly, because there is no way to know it won't.
Quote:
Daniela Saavedra, a friend, said that the group had passed the man twice before and that he had catcalled Schwartz's girlfriend each time. "
All he said was, 'Can you please just stop?'" Saavedra said. "The man then sort of trailed behind them, and that's when he attacked."
The man stabbed Schwartz nine times in the back, face, neck and arms, puncturing a lung, Saavedra said. She said gashes on his arms required about 60 stitches each, while the cuts to his back just missed his spinal cord.
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Man stabbed for asking someone to stop catcalling his girlfriend.
Also:
ABC News San Francisco