Women of Ireland, how do you deal with creepy men?

199 points•338 comments•submitted by dazzlinreddress to r/AskIreland

If you haven't already guessed, true events led me to ask this question. So basically I had my first experience of being "watched". I was on the train yesterday and I was sitting right opposite this older man (maybe 70ish idk) who made me feel uncomfortable. When I got on the train, I sat down in my seat and briefly looked over at him. He waved at me and I awkwardly smiled back. When I turned my head, I could still see that he was looking at me and I turned back and he waved again. I gave a little wave in hopes that he would stop. Along the journey, I could tell that he was still looking at me every now and again so I just kept looking at my phone. When I eventually got near my stop, he started repeating the name of the station and I thought "ofc he's getting off at my stop". Well before the train got near, I got up and started walking away. I was wearing headphones but I could hear him shouting at me. He was saying "Why aren't you saying goodbye???". I didn't owe him anything. I was getting embarrassed so I just walked to the next carriage in hopes that he wouldn't follow me. Ofc the door at the other end of the carriage wasn't working so I had to head back. I hid behind the bathroom hoping he wouldn't see me and when I went to get off, I couldn't see him and got tf out of there.

Another note I want to add is that I wasn't trying to draw any attention to myself. I was dressed plainly and was wearing no makeup.

Ok so this post is really just me asking for advice.