It’s an experience all women carry.
You’re walking home late at night, keys clutched in hand as you look over your shoulder every few minutes, just in case somebody is lurking in the shadows.
But for some women, there actually is someone there when they turn around.
Sharing her experience on Twitter, Gabriella Rich wrote about how she had helped a female stranger escape a stalker while walking home in New Jersey.
“Last night some girl came running up to me whispering ‘please pretend to be my friend this man has been following me for 6 blocks’,” the 22-year-old tweeted.
Gabriella hugged the stranger, leading the man to give up and turn around to walk the other way.
According to Buzzfeed News, Gabriella then walked the woman to her destination and the pair exchanged numbers, so they could ensure they both got home safely.
Gabriella’s tweet quickly went viral, gaining over 110,000 retweets and prompting other women to share their horrific stories of being chased, stalked and even physically grabbed by random men on the street.
But among the horrifying stories of women being followed and stalked, there were uplifting ones about women supporting other women – even helping complete strangers.
Speaking to Buzzfeed News, Gabriella shared why she chose to share her experience on social media.
“I simply just wanted to tell other females to always be safe because I can’t change a man’s mind, I can only protect women,” she said.
Watch: How do men and women avoid sexual assault every day?
Have you ever been followed or stalked?
Top Comments
Many years ago, I was once sitting on the bus when a young woman I didn't know came up to me, gave me an enthusiastic "Hi!" She then sat down next to me and whispered to me "pretend we know each other". So I did. Some creeper sitting behind her had been whispering disgusting things at her. I'm so glad she saw me and moved. We got off the bus together and he went the other way.
This happens so often. It's horrendous. The scariest time was when I was walking along a street in inner city Brisbane in broad daylight, looking at some clothing stores and a couple of guys, may have been African refugees, followed me in their car and kept asking me to get in (yeah right). I politely "declined" and walked faster, thinking they would take off but they followed me around the block. I ran into the back of a shopping centre and out the front, then slipped into another store up the street (in case they looked in the shopping centre.)
A couple of years later I reported it to crime stoppers because I heard of an similar incident on the news in the exact same place.
Another time a taxi driver was driving me home and got creepy, and kept asking if I had a boyfriend. Before we got to my house I asked him to stop, quickly paid and jumped out and hid behind some trees. He drove slowly around the street trying to find which house I went into. I didn't walk to my house until he was GONE.