this happens in a public park.

first time this happens to me afaik. I was just stretching with black leggings and a t-shirt. I noticed him 100 yards away walking around but always looking at me. Upon making eye contact he would look away but as soon as I turned to stretching, he’d look at me.

He started slowly approaching me and at one point stood at like 15 yards from me, but still separated by a fence. At that point I decided to cut my work out short and left avoiding eye contact.

I consider myself lucky because he didn’t follow me.

What scared me the most is he was bigger and taller than me.

If this ever happened to you, how did you react? How do I react next time this happens?

  • Shortstack@reddthat.com
    3·
    21 days ago

    Lots of people giving advice here, but I’m not seeing the most important advice being emphasized.

    Always trust your gut. Listen to that uneasy feeling and act on it.

    We developed this intuition over millennia for a reason. Your subconscious will pick up on cues even if you consciously aren’t catching it.

      • Shortstack@reddthat.com
        1·
        21 days ago

        Pulling out your gun and shooting the brown skinned dude going for a jog is a little bit different than packing it in and resolving to do yoga another day

            • Free_Opinions@feddit.uk
              0·
              20 days ago

              If what I’m saying even remotely resembles something your caricature of the “other” might say, then the only logical conclusion, of course, is that I must be exactly like them.

      • ormr@lemm.ee
        1·
        20 days ago

        Yes that moral imbalance also striked me when reading this. When grandma has a gut feeling towards brown people and talks about that, she’d be called a bigot here. But when it’s about men, the highest upvoted advice is to listen to the feeling of fear in your gut…

        • Droechai@lemm.ee
          2·
          20 days ago

          If people only listened to their gut all people from a different culture which similar but not same body language as well as people with a disability would be even more estranged than today.

          What does your gut tell you about the guy in line at the tell who keeps his hand in his pockets and fiddling with something who then seem to panic a bit when someone tries to look him in the eyes? Is it a robber or an autistic person who don’t want to show his hand due to having a stim toy and have learned to not stim in public view?