A year and a bit ago I was at a charity run with one of my girlfriends. There was a guy there that I had known from years ago, and I smiled at him. I was simply being nice. Later on, I stopped to tie my shoe, and he came up from behind me with one of his friends, and slapped my ass. He gave a ‘whoop’ to express his achievement and his friend laughed. No one around me questioned what had just happened, and carried on. I never really talked about it, or mentioned it to anyone. I was 16 at the time and I just thought that everyone experienced this from time to time. I felt belittled and embarrassed, but at the same time felt that it was such a small thing, and therefore didn’t choose to follow him up on it. I wish I had.
