Last night, standup comic Gaby Dunn was sexually harassed while performing at a small show in the East Village. She wrote about her experience here, and it’s pretty horrifying:
When he first started talking, I had tried to do that thing women are taught to do where you’re distantly polite to a man who is attacking you in the hopes that things don’t escalate. “Just smile and make a joke so he doesn’t hurt you.”Part of me is so sick of that line of thinking. Even though I’m still scared, I mock him a bit saying he hangs outside the CVS all day and telling him I know he’s just going to show me pictures of his dick on that camera, basically joking that he’s a crazy Internet creeper come to life. The audience laughs and is on my side, but it’s very, very uncomfortable and I am visibly unnerved. The more upset I get, the more he grins a disgusting, slimy grin at me. I wish I were braver.
It’s gross and awful that there are people like this guy around making the comedy stage an unsafe place for women (or for anyone!). Good for Dunn for speaking out about what happened, and reminding the rest of us to support each other and keep talking.
