gregf83 

How many people chase down those who are threatening them? She felt offended not threatened.

FBinNY 

Nobody (that I noticed) is minimizing anything. (see my post No.15 for my opinion)

The guy is a jerk, plain and simple, and nobody is defending him. But not every act is a cause. We need to maintain a sense of perspective and proportion.

Those making strawman arguments, inaccurately accusing others of "minimizing the incident" need to understand also.

mr_bill

Read this thread again. Notice what you didn't notice.

SMH.

-mr. bill

kevindsingleton 

So retro! There's no such thing as "opposite", any more!

kevindsingleton 

Well, I'd certainly make him stop, but I wouldn't engage law enforcement, or the media, if that was the end of it.

If I can, I'll stop laughing long enough to ask you "WTF?", but, I'm still not calling the police. If you had a wiener dog with you, though, I won't be able to stop laughing, so you can just sashay on!

kevindsingleton 

Agreed. That's the "feminism" component. She wasn't threatened, at all, and was not reacting out of fear. She intended to make an example out of this man, and put him in his place. The world is changing. The meek are inheriting.

FBinNY 

I put the (that I noticed) there just for you --- and it worked.

But it doesn't change the intent of the post, which is that blowing this out of proportion with strawman comparisons is just as bad as "minimizing".

gregf83 

This. If you want a 'cause' it would be far better to improve road safety by getting people to stop texting while driving. Texting in a car does far more harm to society than a random tap on the ass/back.

gregf83 

And that was an appropriate response. He will either learn and not do it again or continue to be an ******* like many others in the world we have to get along with every day.

kevindsingleton 

Maybe I'm a dinosaur, but life's not better because of overly-sensitive p*ssies.

wphamilton

Comparing it to a flirty waitress is minimizing it. Saying that it should have "some" consequence, but is so far below a criminal act is minimizing it. Several people, including you, have gone down that road.

Any act within these parameters IS a cause: threatening or unwanted physical contact that cause her to fear physically, along with the realistic capability of following through. You can look for perspective and proportion all you want, as long as it's all proportional to the perspective of criminal assault because that's the reality.

wphamilton

You can read this very forum and yet question that? All of the chasing down and banging on windows and video recording, after a car threatened them?

You don't know what she felt any more than I or anyone else, but she acted angry, not "offended". Anger is a typical response to being threatened. It is much more reasonable than any of these minimizing guesses, such as "she was offended".

FBinNY 

Yes, comparing it to a flirty waitress is making light of it, which is why I posted my facetious response to that.

OTOH - comparing it to an officer doing it under cover of a badge is exaggerating it.

Trying to assign what I feel is (an opinion) appropriate weight to it, (someplace between the waitress and cop) is just what it is, not minimizing nor blowing it out of proportion. I understand we disagree on the level it (what was described in the OP) rises to, but I never have problems with those I disagree with. My world allows for a wide spectrum of opinion, and you and I live at different places on that spectrum, which is OK in my book.

In any case, what any of us here think doesn't matter. This is a forum, we state what we think, and others do likewise. Readers can agree, disagree or neither. However, we aren't the ones who actually rule on these cases and I, for one, am happy not to have to. So I'll say what I think, respect those who do likewise, and leave it to those who must decide what to do about it.

In any case, this isn't really a bike advocacy issue. If we continue to debate the assault, battery or sexual misconduct aspects, the mods may move to to P&R or some other more appropriate sub-forum.

mr_bill

About half of the people on bicycles (more if you count their allies) would disagree with you.

Listen to them.

-mr. bill

FBinNY 

Why?

Does everybody always have to agree with a majority opinion (if there is one)?

Even if I'm a minority or one, I don't feel compelled to change my mind.

In any case, the debate on this thread isn't about bicycles, it's about a slap on a butt which just happened to occur on bicycles. Whether you or I or or others (majority or minority) believe this is fodder for A&S or P&R doesn't matter. What the mods think does, so I'm happy to leave that to them.

Moe Zhoost

The real tragedy is that this poor girl is probably losing sleep over this and may decide to abandon cycling. With a bit more resilience she could have shed this perceived trauma and gone on with her life.

CB HI

So you believe it is OK and a none issue if you slap any unknown woman on the ass. You really are crude.

CB HI

Your so uncoordinated that you could not slap this woman on the ass?

tigrpal

I believe her response is appropriate. She confronted him verbally. Reporting to the police is appropriate. What if this guy has a pattern of behavior whereby he's riding around looking for women on bikes so he can get his jollies by slapping them on their butts. Most people would think he's a pervert if he is doing that. The police wouldn't know this if they don't have multiple reports. The pictures help the police ID him.

As far as the media is concerned, mostly likely, they heard it through police reports and/or scanners and then contacted her. It's how they get much of their news.

atbman

Yes, it's well known that women, being emotional creatures, are incapable of telling where they have been slapped. They frequently confuse their lower back with their ass. Your conclusion that she had over-reacted is undoubtedly one arising from a rigorous analysis of the story - leaving aside the fact that he said he did it "because she was too slow". Perhaps he also had difficulty in telling the difference between her being too slow and serving into his path.

Have you thought of taking up a career in writing fiction?

Oh, by the way, my wife was also assaulted in this fashion - you probably don't know her, but I look forward to your assessment of why she was mistaken. The fact that we live n the UK should be no bar to your ineffable insight into such things.

mapeiboy

This is Canada you are talking about where the first offender ( killer) will serve few years in jail max . Good luck try to get justice from that man .

CB HI

He has no original ideas. Does not lead to a good fiction writer career. He is on par with most movie critics, and might be successful in that endeavor.

bakes1

He has no original ideas?
Are you a psychiatrist or more specifically his psychiatrist? Or maybe his biographer?
Very weird thing to say either way bud

CB HI

Well bud. It was pretty easy for many of us to realize you would get banned.

Some things do not require being a psychiatrist to understand them.

NYMXer

Anyone want to take bets on how long it takes his alias to appear? With him gone, the general IQ of this site went up, thank you moderators.