This woman was saved from a male harasser by an ingenious female stranger

Unfortunately, even though women have made great strides toward equality in many arenas, street harassment is still a huge problem. But luckily, other women — even strangers — often have our backs. One woman was saved by a female stranger’s brilliant thinking when a strange man began bothering her.

Scottish writer Amna Saleem was waiting for her boyfriend outside when a man stopped and asked to buy her a drink. But when Saleem declined, the man continued to berate her, and it soon became clear he wouldn’t take no for an answer. Saleem later wrote on Twitter that when she told the man she had a boyfriend, he responded by asking if her boyfriend didn’t let her have friends.

Saleem tried her best to remain calm and avoid further agitating the man when another woman stepped in on her behalf.

"I was trying to remain polite so it didn't escalate, but I was getting irritated, at which point a lovely woman nearby intervened pretending to be an old friend," Saleem told Mashable in an interview.

Saleem said the woman’s quick thinking caused the man to become annoyed and leave her alone. She tweeted about her experience, earning more than 100,ooo retweets and 500,000 likes.

“Women are great,” Saleem concluded in her tweet.

https://twitter.com/udfredirect/status/954805372115734528

https://www.instagram.com/p/BdYlyxmBQv-

Some Twitter users responded to Saleem’s thread by asking what they could do to help people who were getting harassed. One man even asked how he could help women in a way that wouldn’t seem creepy. Saleem responded by saying that once a man had approached her saying a female friend wanted to talk to her.

https://twitter.com/udfredirect/status/955047042660929536

According to Bustle, Saleem has helped other women in similar situations before.

We love to see women sticking up for other women, and Saleem’s story shows that even the simplest intervention can be effective. We’re hoping that in the future we can end street harassment. But for now, we’re glad that Saleem is okay, and we applaud the amazing woman who stood up for her.

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