AITA for breaking a man’s nose because he apparently didn’t know what “Stop”means?

A Redditor shared a tense story about a grocery store encounter that turned physical after a man ignored her requests for personal space. While heading to her car, she noticed a man who had been following her around the store and began making intrusive small talk in the parking lot.

Despite her repeated requests for him to leave her alone, he continued to approach her, eventually standing just inches away. Feeling panicked and trapped, she instinctively broke his nose with a palm strike before quickly getting into her car and leaving. Read her full story below for more details.

 

‘ AITA for breaking a man’s nose because he apparently didn’t know what “Stop”means?’

I (21F) went to my local grocery store the other day to get 1-2 items and then go home. As I’m grabbing said items (they were on different isles), i see a man (45-55) following me quite closely. You may say “oh maybe it’s just a weird coincidence?

he wanted something on that isle”. No. He didn’t pick up or LOOK at anything, didn’t even have a cart, (A little more context: I was wearing a dress. Not ridiculously short, but it was short because it’s 90 degrees outside). Anyways, I got uncomfortable and just went and checked out.

Didn’t see the man until I was almost to my car. He walks up and try’s to start making (awkward) small talk. How old I am, the fact that my license plate is a different state then the one i was in, where i was coming from, if i have a boyfriend. I told him I wasn’t interested, and asked him to please leave me alone.

He didn’t, and got closer to me. I have a very big ICK about people boxing me into small spaces (trauma) and so i said, quite loudly, “Please back away from me, I don’t like this”. He laughed and basically said “Awwwh she’s upset, what a sweetheart” and is now 3 inches away from me.

So, I panicked, and slammed the palm of my hand into his nose, which broke it. He began screaming at me, but I was having a panic attack, and just got into my car and left.

I told some friends about it, and some say i’m at AH because I could’ve just ducked away and some say that that’s a completely normal response for someone who has trauma.. So…AITAH???.

See what others had to share with OP:

theory240 −  NTA. Trauma doesn’t enter in to it. After being told to leave you alone, they continued to try to physically impose themselves upon you… At that point, running simply makes you prey.

A violent response, like you made, will often throw the attacker ‘off their stride’ and allow one to escape. There was nothing improper in your actions and you likely prevented far worse from happening to yourself.. Well done!. —

SunsetAndVodka −  NTA and duck everyone who says that women have to sit down and quietly take s**t from creepy men

desertrat_1000 −  Ya did good. Taught that masher a valuable lesson. Maybe saved a few other women the displeasure of his advances.

Weird_Local3555 −  NTA Even without trauma,it’s a normal response.

Purple_Skelly_dog −  NTA – But the friends who are telling you that you are TAH for defending yourself certainly are! Let’s see what they would do in that situation.

RafflesiaArnoldii −  NTA, he should have left after the first “no”. Crystal clear self-defense. He kept getting in your space after repeated warnings and mocked you to your face, you don’t have to stand there and suffer unwanted touching.

MiniBassGuitar −  WELL DONE! I wish all of these creeps could get a broken nose AT LEAST for their actions.

Ok_Original_9063 −  he got what he was asking for. he is lucky only with nose broke. I applaud you potentially you dodged a bullet. And I bet he will be cautious next time he try’s that

walkingmelways −  NTA; he FAFO.

sewing_mayhem −  NTA. Also, I’m f**king proud of you. Awesome job defending yourself from that c**ep. He knew he was making you uncomfortable, he was getting off on it, shown by the fact that he had you boxed in with no escape, and his little quip about it being sweet that you were upset.

You responded completely appropriately, you repeatedly told him to back off, gave him multiple verbal warnings, and when he kept invading your space, you responded with enough physical force to get him to back off and for you to get away.

If you had tried to duck away, there’s a good chance that he would have grabbed you to stop you from leaving. Him grabbing you would have put you in much more danger, since you are now at least partially restrained and can’t freely move to create space, shove him away or hit him to defend yourself.

You owe this guy nothing, not your time, not your conversation, not your comfort which he was invading, and definitely not your apology. He is a predator who followed you around and outside of a public area to at best intimidate you into going out with him and at worst a**ault you.

You responded completely appropriately to being placed in immediate danger. If he doesn’t want to get his nose broken, maybe he shouldn’t get within nose breaking distance of people. Maybe he’ll think twice before trying to c**ep on a woman in the future.

Do you think her reaction was justified, given the man’s refusal to respect her boundaries? How would you respond in a situation where someone ignores your requests for space? Share your thoughts and opinions below!