Manila, Philippines — A recent post of a woman narrating how she surprised a harasser as she defends herself, pointing a taser near his face, has gone viral on Facebook. The netizen also called out on the aggravating status of women in street harassment and catcalling.
University of the Philippines alumna, “Katrina Isabel Trillana” shared on Monday her experience after being harassed on the streets. But in this case, instead of typically walking away like most of women, Trillana didn’t back down to her offender, fired up a taser she’s holding and points near to the harasser’s face.
As told in her post, the 21-year old was on her way home waiting in a jeepney terminal when a middle-aged man suddenly whispered in her ear, "Hi, sexy."
This is when she points her taser near the man’s face and answered back, “P******** mo, ano sabi mo? Ano sabi mo ulit?" (M***********, what did you say? What did you say again?)
“People near us were already looking and he just stared at me aghast BUT unapologetic. I gave him the finger and walked towards the jeepney stop. I just kept on staring at him as I was waiting for my ride and yet not once did he look at me straight in the eye like he did when he was harassing me. Minutes passed until he decided to walk away to the farther end of the street.” she wrote.
Though a highly dangerous act, Trillana admitted that she felt satisfied by it. Though her anger on the incident didn’t not fade.
She revealed that what angers her is the fact that she needed a weapon to walk unharmed at night. Trillana also stated that she could have tasered the offender right there and then but she couldn’t, stating that the country’s law prevents her for two things: (1.) no one else heard what the harasser said, and (2.) physical assault is not committed in the incident.
“...without those two premises, there are no charges to the attacker and the victim might even be the one pressed charges against. Add victim-blaming to me too for wearing a dress today, because if our own President harasses women all he wants, why can't they, right?”
Trillana shared that this kind of situation has happened to her repeatedly. And repeatedly, she fights back but no one ever apologized to her.
“We live in a culture where a man gets away with his shortcomings by playing deadma or putting the blame on something else. Often a woman gets killed just for fighting back, and often a man gets away just by pleading based on his "nature as a man."”
Trillana then challenges men whom her post reached to man up and “respect woman the way you want to be respected.” She then bravely stated: “If you will continue to oppress, then suck it up, because you will get oppression too -- the way you deserve it.”
At the end of her post, Trillana addressed women to stop walking away, to stop being silenced, written in her post; “because the moment we shut up about things that matter is the moment we are silenced into submission.”
Trillana’s post immediately went viral with more than 4,000 shares and 13,000 likes/reactions gaining praise for both her bravery and words. It also gained quite few criticisms after the UP alumna mentioned President Duterte’s infamous catcalling issues before.
--Mae Tuazon, The Summit Express
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| Photo Credit: dawn.com |
As told in her post, the 21-year old was on her way home waiting in a jeepney terminal when a middle-aged man suddenly whispered in her ear, "Hi, sexy."
This is when she points her taser near the man’s face and answered back, “P******** mo, ano sabi mo? Ano sabi mo ulit?" (M***********, what did you say? What did you say again?)
“People near us were already looking and he just stared at me aghast BUT unapologetic. I gave him the finger and walked towards the jeepney stop. I just kept on staring at him as I was waiting for my ride and yet not once did he look at me straight in the eye like he did when he was harassing me. Minutes passed until he decided to walk away to the farther end of the street.” she wrote.
Though a highly dangerous act, Trillana admitted that she felt satisfied by it. Though her anger on the incident didn’t not fade.
She revealed that what angers her is the fact that she needed a weapon to walk unharmed at night. Trillana also stated that she could have tasered the offender right there and then but she couldn’t, stating that the country’s law prevents her for two things: (1.) no one else heard what the harasser said, and (2.) physical assault is not committed in the incident.
“...without those two premises, there are no charges to the attacker and the victim might even be the one pressed charges against. Add victim-blaming to me too for wearing a dress today, because if our own President harasses women all he wants, why can't they, right?”
Trillana shared that this kind of situation has happened to her repeatedly. And repeatedly, she fights back but no one ever apologized to her.
“We live in a culture where a man gets away with his shortcomings by playing deadma or putting the blame on something else. Often a woman gets killed just for fighting back, and often a man gets away just by pleading based on his "nature as a man."”
Trillana then challenges men whom her post reached to man up and “respect woman the way you want to be respected.” She then bravely stated: “If you will continue to oppress, then suck it up, because you will get oppression too -- the way you deserve it.”
At the end of her post, Trillana addressed women to stop walking away, to stop being silenced, written in her post; “because the moment we shut up about things that matter is the moment we are silenced into submission.”
Trillana’s post immediately went viral with more than 4,000 shares and 13,000 likes/reactions gaining praise for both her bravery and words. It also gained quite few criticisms after the UP alumna mentioned President Duterte’s infamous catcalling issues before.
--Mae Tuazon, The Summit Express
