Leanna Carr fights back.
A female powerlifter has attracted a flood of internet attention after posting on social media that she punched a man who groped her in public.
She made this post on social media:
While walking down the street in Dublin earlier this week, a man grabbed my butt. He proceeded to laugh hysterically and said “you’re an American, you probably liked it”. Apparently traveling solo has made me a better person bc my first reaction was to punch him in the face 😳 pic.twitter.com/qJ82a3iimI
— Leanna Carr (@Leanna_Carr) April 21, 2018
The 26, year old was visiting Ireland as part of a European vacation. She told Ireland Independent:
“I was walking in a hurry to catch my bus, when I felt someone grab my bum, hard. I turned around a little shocked initially, and said ‘what the f*ck’ to him. He started laughing, and said ‘oh you’re an American… you probably liked it.’
“I am never a violent person, and I have never punched anyone before… but I became so angry and had so much adrenaline that my reaction was to punch him. I got him on the cheek bone, hard.”
She actually said that in retrospect punching a male stranger was not the best idea. She quickly became afraid he would hit her back.
“But there was an older couple next to us who saw the whole thing and the gentleman told the scumbag to keep walking. The man started laughing again and then crossed the street to disappear in the crowd of people.”
She says that she will take extra precautions in the future, but ultimately her actions and their consequences were positive.
“I did get lucky that the altercation didn’t end up badly for me. Going forward, I do think it’s important be trained for self-defense and be a little more cautious of my surroundings, especially while traveling alone. I think he will think twice before he does that again to a woman.”
Leanna says she wasn’t looking for attention with the post, but is glad it went viral.
“This is something that is very common and hopefully it encourages more women to feel comfortable and able to stand up for themselves if it does happen to them.”
