How about verbal sexual harassment, would this warrant the same response?
The boy was treated by the school nurse and didn’t require a doctor visit, hospitalization or stitches, so he couldn’t have been hurt that badly.
Nowadays, apparently sexual assault can be anything ranging from brutal rape to an unwanted touch. I really dislike that these things can be put in the same category. It diminishes the truly awful things that happen to people.
I can’t imagine advocating potentially lethal violence in retaliation for something like this, unless she feared for her life or thought she would be raped right then. Sure, if she needed to push the guy or even smack him, okay. Better yet, step away and tell the teacher. Manslaughter…no.
But it wasn’t verbal sexual harassment, was it?
The controversy over her method of self defense shows that It obviously cuts both ways!
a kick in the family jewels might have been more appropriate that stabbing him with scissors.
“A slap or kick would have sent the message without risking serious injury.”
Wouldn’t that be nice. When my kid was cornered in a music practice room in middle school, the boy was entirely undeterred by a kick. Fortunately he only had verbal harassment in mind. I offered to get her a pair of steel-toed shoes. She chose the alternative of never being without a buddy in that part of the school. (Talking to the teacher had already been ineffectual.)
For sure. This idea that you are entitled to injure or kill someone because you’ve been “disrespected” is insane.
Then again, we don’t know the entire story. Maybe she was fearing for her life.
It is possible that a push or punch could cause severe injury or death. If a fight occurs, that is always a possibility, whether or not the responding party is justified in fighting back.
She was assaulted not disrespected.
Manslaughter?
Ugh I hate the glitch I get sometimes that doesn’t post my whole message.
Anyway, in 1st grade, my child was accidentally “stabbed with scissors”. Another kid was goofing around while carrying them and hit my child in the hand. I was called to take her to the dr because her thumb was gouged, blood all over her clothes.
I never considered that it was man slaughter
Back in the Dark Ages, if a male homosexual came on to a man and the man reacted violently, he could credibly claim self-defense, since being approached by a homosexual was so threatening to a heterosexual male. I never understood why a woman couldn’t claim the same defense when a heterosexual male came on to her.
This seems extreme.
I can understand the girl smacking his hand away or even instinctively punching him.
But stabbing him with scissors after multiple attempts? Seems over the top. Both of them are wrong. It was in the middle of a classroom. She was in no danger. Tell him off. Smack his hand away. But stabbing? No.
This one is hard. I am not a lawyer so I don’t know how the law would treat this.
My initial reaction is a pair of scissors is rather dangerous. Would a good old kick in the crotch or slap have been more appropriate? Using an instrument to me changes it. What instrument is ok and what is not? Scissors? Knife? Axe? Gun? Just spit-balling here folks. Don’t go attacking me for asking questions.
3puppies:
"If it is true that complaint was made to the teacher and nothing was done about it, the girl probably would have taken the scissors to the teacher as well.
I am surprised that sharp-pointed scissors are still allowed in classrooms."
Goodness, what a thought. Generally by high school age, students know not to attack each other with scissors and to “use their words”.
For me, physical assault is when your body is actually hurt. Lifting a skirt, as reprehensible as it is, just doesn’t fall into the same category and doesn’t warrant a violent response. Of course, we might not know the whole story and it’s possible he did it multiple times before and she was just driven crazy and lost control. In this case this kind of response can be understood and forgiven, but still not celebrated.
“Wish I’d thought of this 45 years ago when it happened to me. I was 10 and I have never forgotten the humiliation”.
I’m sorry that happened to you. You should have kicked him in the nuts. I know that we all think of what we should have done later though.
Teen Defends Herself Against Sexual Assault
Good for her.
What if it were reversed? What if the girl, in inappropriate playing around grabbed the top of your (assuming you are male) waistband and pulled it out or even unzipped it, not exposing you (which is what the story said)? Would you feel that stabbing her with scissors was an appropriate and justified response?
I would think it was way over the top.
That’s just it. Was it ‘sexual assault’? If there were people around, what really was her chance of being assaulted? And by that I mean, hurt physically.
Back in middle school, 100 years ago, the boys used to snap the girls bras when we first got them. I would never have hit the boy or done anything other than give him a hard look. Same with the old Italian practice of pinching bottoms. I would never have stabbed the guy in Rome who pinched my bottom by Trevi Fountain. I walked away.
This seems an overreaction. Unless she reasonably feared bodily harm, for which we don’t have all the information needed to assess that.