Thanks, #59. Well worded.

I've known people who use "jumpiness" or "reflexes" just as an excuse to hit people with impunity. They love going to haunted house attractions.

That's fine, Levvy. Because people who enjoy hitting us at the House of Shock (new Orleans haunted house) get a lovely surprise. They get hit back and some charges on top. It's very much frowned upon here, to go to a place like that and claim 'jumpiness'.

I like this House of Shock place's attitude. I wish the place I worked at had that kind of spirit (though it was still otherwise fine - and I never got hit myself, thankfully).

Levvy- for a haunted house to have that sort of attitude, they have to somehow get a license to allow 'touching'. Most haunted houses don't have that ability. I really don't know how they acquired such a thing, but it's very nice at times like those.

Read #62 and then STFU.

I've been grabbed, shouted at and other things that made me feel uncomfortable. I do get a paranoid around men and honestly, when a guy comes up to me I am on guard and am thinking about what to do if things get ugly. However, I always wait to see what's actually going to happen before acting. Even if you feel something on your ass that doesn't necessarily mean a pervert - it could be someone accidentally brushing their bag against you or, at that height, very easily a child not looking where they were going.

At what cost? A little preparation goes a long way, but to the point that OP will blindly attack someone JUST because someone touched her? The touch wasn't aggressive nor sexual in the least. IT WAS A TAP ON THE SHOULDER! You can't fully trust everybody you meet in passing, nor even your neighbor. We get that. But seriously, use common sense and keep it in perspective. Not everyone is out to rape and torture and kill and eat you.

Kicking someone in the jimmies now equals "preparation", apparently. Boy, that song in The Lion King must have confused you with how few nutshots it involved.

If it would "scare the bejeesus" out of you to be tapped on the shoulder, then you should stay barricaded in your home, alone, because you are a crazy ass bitch. Oh, and I doubt that sexual assault statistic because, apparently, women can decide retroactively that they didn't want to have sex after being the aggressor as long as they have had a few drinks even if the guy was more drunk than the woman.

He could of walked into her field of vision waving his arms at her? She has eyes, ears aren't the only way to get someones attention.

I would say the exact opposite. Earphones are fine - even when I have mine on loud I am still aware of my surroundings. And lashing out in the way OP did is not okay.

Sure, I don't blame someone for lashing out just because they become aware of the existence of others. If that someone happens to be a horse.

It depends on the earphones - when mine are in, I can't hear anything, which is why I don't use them walking around. I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that people look at this and see 'woman punched man in nuts' and avoid the whole 'woman startled by man when vulnerable'. I think the situation is her own fault, that if she couldn't keep track of her surroundings with her earphones in then she shouldn't have been wearing them, and that she should develop a better way of handling sudden surprises than punching someone below the belt. At the same time, I don't think someone, especially a person made vulnerable (be it by gender, or if they were disabled, or old, or if for any other reason they were disadvantaged physically or by social agreement) should be condemned for doing what they needed to feel safe. Yes, she was a bit of an idiot. Yes, she should tone down the attack in the future. But if he had been an attacker and not an unfortunate helpful person, and she didn't have any kind of defensive reflex, it could have been a very different story and it is a sad reality that those sort of situations are more common that anyone would like.

Or how about this: Start blasting peoples' genitals AFTER you confirm they're actually dangerous.

Did you even read the FML? "I was shocked and whirled around to hit HIM in the crotch"