wphamilton

What if it were an armed female cop, who has stopped you on "suspicion" and groped you? One might imagine that he'd like it, but in the actual situation it's not pleasant. The action tells you that the other person can and will do whatever he or she wants, and the physical ability to carry it out makes it threatening. Literally, criminal assault.

That's the difference between the flirty waitress and the stranger slapping the girl's butt, and everyone minimizing the incident needs to understand it. Males are typically more powerful physically. The woman may not be capable of resisting well enough to escape. She doesn't know this man, what he's capable of or what he intends. Of course it's threatening to her.

Why did she chase him down - I don't know, I'm not insider her head. But it wouldn't be an unusual reaction to fear. What happens the next time she's on that road? Does she look over her shoulder, in case he sneaks up on her again, assaulting her again, forever? Or suck it up and accept that every man passing her has the right to do the same thing and maybe will?