I’m sure I’m not going to be the one to break it to you- the world is an unsafe place. We are constantly hearing stories about women getting raped, or molested or eve-teased. And the sad part is that it happens so often that we almost get habituated to it in a way.
26-year-old Leanna Carr a power-lifter and strength trainer Leanna Carr is from Colorado, and was visiting Dublin. However her experience wasn’t too good overall. She took to Twitter to share a picture of her swollen knuckles.
While walking down the street in Dublin earlier this week, a man grabbed my butt. He proceeded to laugh hysterically and said “you’re an American, you probably liked it”. Apparently traveling solo has made me a better person bc my first reaction was to punch him in the face 😳 pic.twitter.com/qJ82a3iimI
— Leanna Carr (@Leanna_Carr) April 21, 2018
He sexually assaulted her by grabbing her arse and even went on to give a cheeky response saying that she is an American and hence might even have liked it. The guy obviously didn’t know who he was messing with because soon after got a hard punch into the face.
The post went viral and Leanna talking to the Irish Independent said,
“I am never a violent person, and I have never punched anyone before… but I became so angry and had so much adrenaline that my reaction was to punch him. I got him on the cheek bone, hard.”
Sexual violation sometimes makes victims uncomfortable and confused, many-a-time they close up and don’t understand how to react. Not this lady though, she took matters into her hands (quiet literally!)
She also admitted that had it not been in a public place, she wouldn’t have been this confident. But because it happened in daytime and on a hustling and bustling street, Leanna realised that she had to teach this pervert a lesson.
She did go on to say that violence isn’t always the answer and that she was lucky that the altercation didn’t end up badly for her. However, she thinks it’s important that one must learn self-defence. She said,
“I think he will think twice before he does that again to a woman.”
This was her first solo trip and hence was even more nervous about it. However, I think she handled the situation pretty well.
Twitter instantly hailed her as a hero and the post garnered a lot of attention.
1 . Did you?!
https://twitter.com/remmers_marty/status/987797152461197312
2. Woohoo!
https://twitter.com/___C_h_i_n_g___/status/988088960239878144
3. Absolutely!
Let my voice to this chorus!!! Solo traveling teaches you so much 💗 the best way to go. High fives!
— Social Distancing Page (@schatzipage) April 22, 2018
4. Yes.
Respect all women in the world, they are not toys, that's guy should shame his act.
— Muhammad siddiq (@siddiqsiddiq364) April 21, 2018
5. Some people were concerned by how Dublin looked for tourists after this.
Sorry that that was your experience of Dublin. Hopefully you’ll have more positive than negative memories of your time here.
— Damien O'Meara (@damien_omeara) April 22, 2018
6. Those bench presses helped.
Good form too. Power and precision through first two knuckles.
Excellent work.
— – : | 🏴 | : – (@boardmad) April 22, 2018
7. Mine too!
You are my hero.
— Annie (@asch0lz) April 22, 2018
8. Amen!
Best choice, even though he may well deserve a physical reminder to treat women with respect.
— analogue man (@allan_duggan) April 21, 2018
While most people sent her positivity and love, there were others who doubted the credibility of the post and how such a thing could happen in Dublin. Leanna said,
“I never use Twitter and didn’t write the post for attention, but I’m glad it went viral. This is something that is very common and hopefully it encourages more women to feel comfortable and able to stand up for themselves if it does happen to them.”
Isn’t this so inspirational? I think that guy is definitely not going to try another stunt with a girl and if he does there’s always self-defence. You go gurl!