This is the reason why a couple of weeks ago after filling my car tires with air, I sped away when a guy in a car pulled up next to my window.

As I was walking around my car, a red sedan was pulling out of the gas station. A man was inside the car. He stared at me like he was mentally undressing me. I was not wearing anything “victim-blamers” would deem provocative. I was wearing trousers and a blouse as I was coming home from work.

I ignored the guy, wanting to flip him off, he left the gas station. I got inside my car, took my time wiping my hands with lysol wipes. A minute or two later, I noticed from the corner of my eye, a similar red sedan entering the gas station and pull up next to my window. The guy said “hey.” My natural reaction was to immediately drive away. I did not turn to look at him. I did not acknowledge his presence. I just shifted my gear to “drive” and left the gas station.

Maybe it was a different guy who just wanted to see if I was done at the air pressure station, I don’t know. As a Hispanic woman in Miami, this unfortunately happens quite a bit. At FIU, there were various incidents of a guy coming up behind women and grabbing their butts. I did not meet one person in the student body who did not find this funny. IT.IS.NOT.FUNNY.IT.IS.SEXUAL.ASSAULT.

To guys who were brought up to be respectful towards women: when you come up to me at a bar or coffee shop and I ignore you and tell you to fuck off, either implicitly or explicitly, it is not because I’m always a dick (sometimes I, am). It is because all the creeps out there have ruined it for you. I refuse to acknowledge any man who stops me on the street to ask me a legitimate questions (such as asking for directions), because I’m just going to assume that you, like the others, are being a creep.

Until we stop finding this sort of behavior funny and start punishing the offenders, I will refuse to talk to men I do not know and user pepper spray or a taser, if need be. It might be extreme, but it is the only way I know to deal with sorry excuse for human beings.