abaya

Gilda, a similar thing happened to me in Zambia. This cocky guy wanted to have a picture with me and the other female student with me (from America). This was pretty typical behavior in Africa... people want pictures of you with them.

So he stood between us, his arms around our shoulders, and there was this moment when his hands touched/grabbed our breasts from the side... I blinked and thought, did that just happen?

The picture was over, the guy left, but I looked at Jen and wondered if the same thing happened to her. I asked her later and she said yeah, and we were both upset about it... feeling much as you did in the comic shop. I've actually never been touched like that before. I also was thrown off since I was in a very foreign setting, and knew that if I responded as a Western woman, something bad might happen.

Anyway, I've always prided myself on having the "don't fuck with me mojo" [Edit: just saw Raeanna's post, and I think she's right on the money... that's what I am usually very conscious of, in terms of body language and looking like a kick-ass woman.], but I didn't have it in this strange, foreign situation.

I've resolved that if any man or woman touches me without permission, in any country, they're gonna get a nasty verbal warning, slap in the face, or knee in the balls, if not worse. Sometimes these things deserve a physical response... I dunno. It is assault, to me, and I guess I feel like someone's asking for it if they cross that line.

__________________
And think not you can direct the course of Love;
for Love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.
--Khalil Gibran