I am in the habit, as some of you will now, of taking our two little dogs out for a walk several times a day. The first walk of the day is important – and very necessary – for them. Mostly, well always until now, these walks have been quite safe and within the confines of normal dog walking, relatively uneventful.
Last Saturday however, something new occurred. I was approached by a young man (I say ‘young’ as he was probably 20+ years younger than me) who initially seemed to be saying good morning and asking directions. My Spanish isn’t yet up to scratch so I may have misunderstood some of what he said. He then moved towards some bushes and gestured for me to follow, which I didn’t because I was quite puzzled.
It was at that point that he exposed himself, pulling out his (not overly impressive) organ and waving it up and down with his hand in front of me. I stared numbly for several seconds because I simply could not register what I was seeing. Then it hit me. I was being flashed by this total stranger!
I left hurriedly. I didn’t feel frightened or too vulnerable in this instance, I seldom do in one to one situations. But I was pretty stunned and surprised.
And of course, honest to goodness, I can declare that this never happened to me when I was a man. It is beyond appalling of course that this should happen to anyone, and a real eye opener to me. I mean I have been warned about this sort of thing. But it wan’t going to happen. Ever. Not to me. Right?
I have no idea what this particular pervert was thinking. Was it just an opportunity to scare a solitary woman? Did he recognise me as being transgender, and was actually excited by that? In either case, I feel he felt he had the advantage, he felt safe. He felt he could do it with impunity.
What an ugly, horrible, man.