Woman harassed at New Year's Eve festival speaks out
After being groped at a music festival, the young victim asked us all, "what is the difference between men and women being shirtless?"...
Listen as KZN and Damon react to the topic in the podcast then read more below:
A music festival which is synonymous with nudity has been thrown into the spotlight after a man cupped a young girl’s breasts and then ran away. It seems that he did it to possibly 'show off' to his friends.
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The victim, Madeline Anello-Kitzmiller, retaliated by punching the perpetrator so hard that her hand had to be bandaged, sending an important message to both the victims and perpetrators of sexual harassment.
Another partygoer, who was taking a video of the festival, happened to film the man as he grabbed Madeline’s breasts and shared it online, attracting thousands of views and very divided comments from the online community.
Read: Is our view of sexual harassment biased towards female victims?
Although Madeline received some love and support from the online world, she also received a fair amount of abuse from people saying that she was ‘asking for it’ by being topless and exposing her breasts.
The young lady then hit back, saying that she saw plenty of naked men that day who were receiving absolutely no attention for their lack of clothing.
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Do we honestly live in an age where a woman’s dress sense gives a man the right to touch their body or should women and men alike be able to wear whatever they want, without the threat of being groped?!
Do you think Madeline was right to react the way she did by physically assaulting the man?
In light of the #MeToo movement and Times Up campaign, what are your thoughts on the incident?