In today's thoroughly depressing news, women on Twitter are sharing their stories about men who can't take 'no' for an answer, and it makes for horrifying reading.
Actress Jameela Jamil posted a shocking tweet detailing how she once rejected a man, and was punched in the face as a response.
Jameela wrote: "I once said no thank you to man when I was 19 and didn't have an excuse... and he punched me in the face. After that whether or not I have a boyfriend, I say I do. Being a woman is truly, constantly scary. It's like existing on thin ice."
In an earlier tweet, the actress and campaigner detailed another unpleasant incident in which she was badly treated after turning a man down, tweeting: "Was out at the shops with my friend. Man ogles me. Man then approaches me to give me his number. I explain I have a boyfriend but thank him for the offer. Man then threatens my career, saying I better remember that I rejected him. And then Shouts at me that I'm low class..."
In response to her tweets, women around the world started to share their own awful experiences of misconduct from men they rejected.
Advert
One woman wrote: "Throwback to the guy who insisted that me having a girlfriend wasn't a good enough excuse not to date him because "girls don't count" and managed to get all my contact info except my address and harass me from multiple accounts for months. now I say I have a boyfriend, too."
Another tweeted: "One pulled a knife on me, because my answer was 'no, thank you'. Surprisingly, that didn't change my mind, so he stabbed my handbag, and I punched him in the face."
Another woman wrote: "I once had a guy come up to me on the street and say, "I hope your husband or boyfriend doesn't mind me talking to you." I wanted to be like, "Motherf*cker, what if I MIND YOU TALKING TO ME?!"
The thread is depressingly long, with countless women detailing violence, intimidation and threats because of rejections. Jameela summed up the thread by writing: "Let a bitch live", and we couldn't agree more.
She also wrote: "We need to teach children about rejection, so that we can change the way we see rejection as a society. We need to de stigmatize it, so that it doesn't feel like the ground is swallowing you up when someone says no, however nicely. This would lessen their need to lash out.
"Jesus Christ... read the replies in this thread. Let this be an education to everyone out there about our experience as the disrespected/disregarded gender. I'm so sorry to you all for what you've been put through for daring to govern your own vagina."
Featured Image Credit: PA ImagesTopics: Celebrity News, Real