Shit. I'm sorry I'm only just commenting, I've been lost for words.
I wholly empathise with your anger at having to deal with this sort of shit and feeling unable to do anything. I know I don't dress like you do, but I've been verbally abused, spat at, and generally randomly harrassed in the street for little or no reason. I greatly respect that you look the way you want to look and refuse to be cowed by the cretins of the world.
Also one time 2 friends and I were beaten by a similar number of young men outside a nightclub for reasons we're not sure about, and spent the night in hospital- but mostly just waiting to be checked over for any damage, of which there was apparently none, just cuts and bruises and lots of blood. The slighter of my friends got the worst, having been kicked a lot whilst on the floor; he also said he thought he'd seen one of them smash a bottle. But after all that, we're still around, and never encountered the attackers again, that I know of.
So I generally find myself wanting to fight back against these shits that I so often seem to encounter, but aside from the fact I'm not strong and not a fighter, I know that depending on what I try and how it goes, there could be the risk of
Getting hit harder for trying
Ending up with them or people they know launching a full on vendetta against me (or people around me)
Getting arrested, and plausibly going to jail.
And that I think is the main reason I feel so frustrated about it; perhaps if you try to fight back these things will not apply, I don't know, but the risk has generally put me off the idea too much, and probably other people too. Perhaps things are sufficiently different in America. Meanwhile, I note Drewkitty, Scruffycritter, and the anonymous poster in between have some interesting points on such things.
I don't think I have any advice, except take time to heal your injuries, try not to let it eat you up, and don't let the bastards grind you down (I'm glad at least it sounds like they're not managing that).
Anger
I wholly empathise with your anger at having to deal with this sort of shit and feeling unable to do anything. I know I don't dress like you do, but I've been verbally abused, spat at, and generally randomly harrassed in the street for little or no reason. I greatly respect that you look the way you want to look and refuse to be cowed by the cretins of the world.
Also one time 2 friends and I were beaten by a similar number of young men outside a nightclub for reasons we're not sure about, and spent the night in hospital- but mostly just waiting to be checked over for any damage, of which there was apparently none, just cuts and bruises and lots of blood. The slighter of my friends got the worst, having been kicked a lot whilst on the floor; he also said he thought he'd seen one of them smash a bottle. But after all that, we're still around, and never encountered the attackers again, that I know of.
So I generally find myself wanting to fight back against these shits that I so often seem to encounter, but aside from the fact I'm not strong and not a fighter, I know that depending on what I try and how it goes, there could be the risk of
- Getting hit harder for trying
- Ending up with them or people they know launching a full on vendetta against me (or people around me)
- Getting arrested, and plausibly going to jail.
And that I think is the main reason I feel so frustrated about it; perhaps if you try to fight back these things will not apply, I don't know, but the risk has generally put me off the idea too much, and probably other people too. Perhaps things are sufficiently different in America. Meanwhile, I note Drewkitty, Scruffycritter, and the anonymous poster in between have some interesting points on such things.I don't think I have any advice, except take time to heal your injuries, try not to let it eat you up, and don't let the bastards grind you down (I'm glad at least it sounds like they're not managing that).