When leaving a show at Milan Fashion Week, model Gigi Hadid was picked up by a stranger. She immediately reacted by elbowing him and yelling while other people tried to get him off of her. He dropped her and quickly ran away. However, instead of focusing on the fact that a strange man randomly picked up a woman WITHOUT her permission, news outlets quickly blamed Gigi Hadid for the incident in yet another case where the woman is blamed for something that was not her fault.
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Many women are coming out in support of Hadid while shaming headlines such as the one above, and I would like to join them. How is it okay for a man to pick up a woman without permission, but when the woman protects themselves they are blamed for hurting him? This is yet another example of male privilege. Women are encouraged to take self-defense classes and to keep their eyes open for attackers but when they are actually in a situation to use these skills they are shamed for doing so.
If someone I did not know randomly picked me up in the street I would react in the exact same way. This was NOT a prank, it was NOT funny. It was yet another example of women being treated as objects. Gigi Hadid should be praised for showing women that it is okay to protect yourself, not judged.
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Let’s talk about that “prankster” who picked her up. His name is Vitalii Sediuk and he is a viral “prankster” who has a history of incidents with celebrities. He put his head under America Ferrera’s skirt during a movie premiere, he tried to put bury his head in Brad Pitt’s crotch, and attempted the same thing with Bradley Cooper. This shows a history of unwanted touches by him to different celebrities, which more than validates Gigi Hadid’s actions, not that they needed to be validated. The second that Sediuk touched her without her permission her actions were validated.
Images via Gigi Hadid’s twitter account
It in unbelievable to me that in 2016 women are still being blamed and shamed for protecting themselves. Instead of focusing on how strong Gigi Hadid is, or congratulating her for protecting herself or for her quick thinking in a frightening situation, the media has shamed her for harming the man who touched her without her permission. Suddenly the perpetrator is the victim, sounds familiar right? Maybe it reminds you of a swimmer who lost his Olympic dreams? Or of any of the hundreds of similar rhetorics. Hadid should not have had to explain her actions to anyone, nor should she have had to defend her right to defend herself. I stand behind her and her choice to defend herself 100% and I hope that you all do as well. I am proud of her for standing up for herself and showing women that it is alright to fight back against unwanted attention. That is something that girls need to see in the media, not another article explaining away a man’s actions against a woman.