Woman Trolls Men Harassing Her on the Street by Pretending She's Deaf, Doesn't Phase Them
Published June 28 2023, 9:04 a.m. ET
It's always annoying whenever you're just walking on the street, trying to go about your day, and then some stranger out of nowhere tries to stop you in your tracks.
Whether it's to ask you for money or get your opinion on a viral clip so you can help them create their own content they'll then upload to whatever lame social media channel they're trying to grow, or if you want to sign up for Hello Fresh, or set yourself up for a recurring monthly donation to save the conifers, it's always something.
And then there are dudes who try and go out of their way to hit on women who are just minding their own business, which can range from being annoying, to downright frightening and even fatal in some cases.
Depending on the analytics from various studies, anywhere from 65-85% of women have been on the receiving end of a catcall or some form of street harassment in their lifetime.
Plan International states that one of the best things people can do when it comes to catcalling is to simply ignore it and not directly address those who are attempting to grab your attention or initiate a conversation.
And this TikToker decided to take it a step further and pretend that she was deaf to the two guys who accosted her while
Erica Coughlan (@xeericacoughlan) posted a video of her being accosted by two men on the street who attempt to communicate with her as she pretends that she can't understand them.
She even moves her hands in front of her face as if she cannot hear them. One of the men calls her a "beautiful like flower" and repeats how attractive he finds her repeatedly throughout the video.
"Pov you get harassed by two men so you pretend to be deaf," she writes in a text overlay for the clip. "Unbelievable...let me see you," the man says before asking Erica if he can take a picture with her.
In the clip she pantomimes a form of non-existent sign language and the men persist in attempting to talk to her while they ask for a picture. A woman can be heard screaming off-camera, "She said no!"
The man looks back at this point before the clip transitions to another point in the one-sided conversation where the man asks the woman recording the clip, presumably a friend of Erica's, who urges her to tell Erica that he "fancies" her.
He then asks for the woman to try and get Erica's contact information. "I fancy you," he can be heard slowly telling Erica again, before turning again to the woman recording, pleading her to relay the information to Erica.
TikTokers were shocked that the man wouldn't let up on the conversation, or trying to get Erica's contact info. "The extent these men go to… idk whether to cry or laugh," one wrote.
Someone else thought that there was something off with the men who persisted, despite any exhibition of interest from the deaf-pretending Erica: "This is actually sad and crazy"
Another just thought that their behavior reeked of desperation: "why can’t they just accept a no and move on. this makes me so uncomfortable & i’m sorry this happened:("
For others, it was the man's begging that got them: "th desperation at the end, i can’t"
"When he started begging"
"not him whining and begging at the end lmaooooo"
Does this rank up there with some of the more cringe-inducing examples of street harassment you've seen?