h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

A friend told me that she was once convinced she was being followed by a would-be assailant. Her tactic was to greet him like an old friend & chattered inanely at him until she reached her destination.

Is there any 'best tactic' I wonder? It's probably going to depend on the particular circumstances.

On humorous note, another friend was driving along behind a white van one Winter's evening. When they stopped at traffic lights, the side door opened & 4 blokes, starkers except for their shoes, got out, ran round the back & in the other side. A little further on they had to stop again at a level crossing, out got the blokes - but this time apparently the driver locked them out. They were eventually let back in, but not before they'd felt the full force of the weather!

Beware white vans!




It has been said that police questioning can get very compromising. I'm not sure if it's an urban myth but I vaguely remember a woman saying that her little girl had been "touched up" by some perv and when they reported it to the police the policeman took the little girl on her lap and asked her things like "where did he touch you" - "where did he want you to touch him" - .. "show me".. It's hard to know who to trust these days.

>>A friend told me that she was once convinced she was being followed by a would-be assailant<<

I think this comment by Teaswill is quite telling in that some people blur the concept of flasher with physical attacker. I spoke about my confusion as a youngster with seeing a flasher, and the reaction of the adults about me. Presumably they associated the flashing with the possibility of a physical attack, where as I did not.

I have not yet seen a flasher that I thought would actually attack me. On the contrary as I have said I've always found them pathetic and inadequate. But I can see how they are maybe hoping for their victim to fear a physical attack.

I got flashed on the train to work one day. A group of women were sitting in the next group of seats up, and one of them started looking at me, without attracting the others' attention. The lay-out of the seats meant I could see her legs, and she started to open them slightly while looking at me. Then she put one leg on the ledge at the side, showing me her panties. It was really, really, erotic...


Then a guy called Harry I'd worked with about 2 years before got on at the next stop and sat in front of her. I had to pretend I wasn't horrified to see him. The ba***rd!

I would have thought there is a bit of a difference between a man flashing a woman and vice versa. A man is basically showing off a thing he can shove violenty inside a woman because he's usually physically stronger. Even though I've never felt that myself and just laughed to myself at the man's desperation, I can imagine how some women may feel that.

A parallel would be females 'flashing' knives at their male victims to create the equivalent feeling of anxiety. Not that they'd use the knife of course, like the male isn't going to use his 'tool', but the threat would be there.

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Definitely. There's no hint of violence or a threat when a woman does it (at least, when it happened to me).

Once, when walking through Soho years ago, I noticed an old woman (about 70 at first glance) approaching me. She was wearing a long coat which, much to my surprise, she opened up to "flash" at me when I was a few feet away. The view has been burned on my memory ever since. Underneath the coat, she was wearing a push-up bra which was visibly failing, no knickers, sussies and fishnet stockings which couldn't hide the bruises and veins. She then asked me if I was "Looking for a bit of fun". I was too shocked and embarassed to come up with a quick retort and just said "No thanks" before crossing the road.

This is the closest I've come to being flashed at.

Close? What would you consider the real shebang?

I don't think it counts when it's a business proposition

Oooh that's a good line. Think it'll work in court?

SOme time ago I was sitting an exam in another school, and was chatting with the other students. One girl from another school mentioned that at her school there was a corridor outside the girls' dorms which the boys would habitually run down dressed in nothing other than (open) dressing gowns and slippers, but this is all it ever amounted to. She went on to say that "obviously this is where we would all go every night for amusement!"

However, I don't know whether or not this was true.

Um. That's streaking, which is different, and far less threatening, because it is impersonal. There is a group audience.

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It's also more acceptible in our culture, which does have an effect on people's reactions.

(Now, streaking in a school context, where you know the audience, is a bit closer to flashing. But it's still different.)

TRiG.