Years ago, Mum got flashed by some idiot in the woods where she used to walk her dog. She ignored him but, as she walked past him, she said, “I’ve seen better on a mortuary slab.” (She had been a nurse.)
I was horrified when she told me, but she said she felt safe because of the dog and that she’d said it in order to deflate his ego. She didn’t hang around to see if anything else had deflated.
We don't report these incidences and we should. The copper that murdered Sarah Everard had a known history of flashing.
Once these men get a taste for it it tends to escalate.
The woman PC recently murdered had her dog, just a little Jack Russell iirc but they can be very protective. Rachel Nickell was also killed walking with her son and dog - I'm hazy on the memory but it may have been a German Shepherd. Unless the dog is a trained protective dog I can't see it making any difference to a determined man.
I don't want to sound hysterical but as every woman who has ever had to try fighting a man off will know, we don't have the physical strength to succeed so we MUST rely on our wits. That means taking every threat seriously including the 'harmless' local flasher. A sharp, cutting remark will deflate their ego but said to the wrong bloke when he's had a bad day could be the tipping point.
I'm guilty myself when I was younger of using an insult to their pride and joy in an effort to look as if their flashing didn't affect me when inside I was rather shaken. The most frightening time I was flashed was in my own shop at 6am in the morning. I'd just done the papers and was polishing the counter (with my lovely M&S polish that smelled like Rive Gauche - funny how you remember certain things). In comes a large local rugby player - one of the lads revered by the rugby-loving community I lived in at the time. He pulled it out over his joggers and slapped it on my counter (I kid you not!). My instant reaction was to spray it with polish and tell him to get that dirty thing off my counter. Obviously the wrong thing as the next thing I knew he was round the counter and I was pinned against the wall by my neck. He was strangling me with his forearm while groping me but stepped back seconds later (thankfully but it felt like minutes) when the bell above the door went to announce another customer. He called me a bitch and left. The customer, another local man asked if I was ok and I said yes even though I really wasn't.
I don't want to preach or go on but this is NOT harmless behaviour. We need to report and the police need to take it seriously. There are enough of these flashers out there and as soon as lockdown is over they'll be back with a vengeance as they can't stop themselves. Report EVERY incidence you hear of and force the police to start taking notice.
I'm so sick of hearing about men that were 'just joking' as they're not. And anyway, who do they think they are? Julia Roberts? (Cos we ALL know she's NOT joking when she says that.)
I do LOVE the insults, though. I'm just concerned that our bravado and cavalier attitude treating flashers as harmless is going to lead to a more serious crime against another woman.
