Powerlifter hopes the offender will “think twice before he” grabs another woman from behind in public.
An American tourist went viral on Twitter, having punched a man for sexually harassing her on Aston Quay, in Dublin city center.
Leanna Car (26) was walking close to her hostel on Tuesday when she felt someone grope her, from behind. When instinct kicked in Carr, a powerlifter, turned and punched the offender. She was quickly backed up by locals who witnessed the mans offending actions.
Speaking to the Irish Independent she said “I was walking in a hurry to catch my bus, when I felt someone grab my bum, hard. I turned around a little shocked initially and said ‘What the f*ck’ to him. He started laughing and said, ‘Oh you’re an American... you probably liked it’.
“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.
“I started yelling a couple more things to him like ‘don’t ever touch a girl like that again, I could get you arrested’. He became very mad and I thought he was going to hit back.
“But there was an older couple next to us who saw the whole thing and the gentleman told the scumbag to keep walking. The man started laughing again and then crossed the street to disappear in the crowd of people.”
On Saturday Carr shared her experience on Twitter and has since garnered 20,000+ likes. She hopes her post will raise awareness of everyday sexual harassment.
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
Carr is a post-graduate student studying Sport-Exercise Psychology. She's also a strength coach, powerlifter and pro-natural figure competitor, according to her Instagram account.
“I didn’t think expect it to have such a large reach, it’s almost all been very positive. A lot of the responses were from women saying that I made the right decision, congratulating me and saying it was well deserved. Many locals from Ireland and Dublin apologized on behalf of the man who did this,” Said Carr.
“Two or three people thought I fabricated the story... saying they’ve never seen a person walk up to a complete stranger in Ireland and do this.
“Maybe you haven’t seen it, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. No matter what country you’re in. Sexual harassment happens every day from complete strangers and most women do not know the correct way to respond. In the past, I probably would have felt too shocked and timid to have dealt with the situation. I probably would have just walked away... and that man probably would have continued to prey on innocent women.
“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.”
Carr was only on the second day of her vacation when the incident took place. She said, initially, it had left her feeling discourages as a solo traveler.
“I’ve never travelled solo and for this to have happened made me a little nervous,” Carr told the Independent. “My first reaction was a little guilt, wondering if I had done the right thing in the situation. I probably would have reacted differently, say if I had been in a dark alley alone with him. I guess I felt more confidence acting the way I did because it was still light out and on a busy street.
“I don’t think violence is always the answer, and I did get lucky that the altercation didn’t end up badly for me.
“Going forward, I do think it’s important be trained for self-defense and be a little more cautious of my surroundings, especially while traveling alone. I think he will think twice before he does that again to a woman.”
The 26-year-old powerlifter when on to stress that the incident has not marred her visit to Ireland.
“I was a little shaken and wanted to go home at first. I spent a couple days in Galway and went back to Dublin for another day, and I truly met the most amazing Irish locals who were very welcoming and kind. I realize situations like this could happen anywhere.
“There are ‘bad eggs’ wherever you go. I left Ireland with more positive than negative experiences. This situation just made me keep my guard up a bit, which is a smart thing to do when traveling solo internationally.”
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