Has the #MeToo movement become a witch-hunt to a significant degree?

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This “following” seems weird. As a man I just don’t get it, except for maybe a very small percentage of mentally ill men. Normal men have other business to attend to than following women around.

I know that occassionally I have found that going about my business I’ve taken a one or two turns after a woman entirely by coincidence. It occurred to me that the women might have thought I was"following" them. I think one of two might have even given me an accusing look. Whenever a stranger makes eye contact with me I normally smile. Perhaps they’ve gone later to contribute these incidents to the “stalking” statistics. I think the survey questions are often framed in terms of what the person felt, rather than any objective facts.
 
ConstantLearner said:
Technically, grabbing her arm would be an assault and battery, but I doubt the police would do much since he let go.
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No. It isn’t criminal. I wasn’t harmed.

Call the police?

"Officer I was just taking the bus and making small talk " with a whole bus of people saying “I didn’t see him do anything wrong”

There wasn’t anything criminal about what he did. That’s the point. Someone can be creepy and aggressive without being criminal.

Not get off the bus? What if it’s the last stop? Why go out of MY way and end up further away from home, and then having to figure out how to get back from an unknown area.
 
Edmundus1581 said:
This “following” seems weird. As a man I just don’t get it, except for maybe a very small percentage of mentally ill men. Normal men have other business to attend to than following women around.
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Yes, it sounds weird to any average male. They might smile and throw a pick up line, but not stalk.

Perhaps in urban areas there exists a small group of males that are avowed stalkers. It seems like some socialization/mental deficiency to me, but I have no experience.
 
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F_Marturana said:
No. It isn’t criminal. I wasn’t harmed.
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It doesn’t matter if you were harmed or not. Grabbing someone without their consent is considered an assault and battery under the law. Any police person who is on the up-and-up would recognize it as such. And, if the police decline to file a charge, you can do so, but you have to know the person’s name, and if it goes to a trial, and the person is found not guilty, he can sue you for false arrest, not the police.
 
F_Marturana said:
No. It isn’t criminal.
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No, but it is illegal, at least in Texas. It would normally be just a citation, unless he was difficult. Then he would be taken overnight to jail. Also, no one can be sued for filing a complaint like that, as it is the police that affect the arrest.

Also, there is nothing wrong with calling the police because you are frightened, at least here. It is better than taking a chance. The police may take no action (they won’t, unless you insist), but that doesn’t mean the call was wasted.
 
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ConstantLearner said:
It doesn’t matter if you were harmed or not. Grabbing someone without their consent is considered an assault and battery under the law. Any police person who is on the up-and-up would recognize it as such. And, if the police decline to file a charge, you can do so, but you have to know the person’s name, and if it goes to a trial, and the person is found not guilty, he can sue you for false arrest, not the police.
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These situations rarely have the evidence or witness statements to go to trial or formal charges. But the police showing up can calm things down and it may turn up the person has a record or even pending charges. It’s likely the person is a habitual offender.
 
In my state it isn’t. One needs the intent to harm and needs to cause injury.

Otherwise, when I hold on firmly to my child crossing the street that’s also asssult and battery.
 
As I said, people on the bus would have said “we didn’t see anything unusual. He was just talking”

This happened over 20 years ago, not a recent occurrence.
 
F_Marturana said:
Otherwise, when I hold on firmly to my child crossing the street that’s also asssult and battery.
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No, that’s flawed. You’re comparing a minor with two adults. A minor can’t distinguish between protection and assault. Not legally. Using your definition, a man who stops his car and picks up a minor he does not know and carries him across a road no longer traveled would not be guilty of anything because he meant no harm.
 
No. You described an abduction scenario. I wasn’t abducted. And I wasn’t a victim of assault and battery.
 
Yes, it WAS assault and battery. It’s my personal opinion, you’re making excuses for not reporting it. It is against the law in ALL 50 states.

Battery is a general intent offense. This means that the actor need not intend the specific harm that will result from the unwanted contact, but only to commit an act of unwanted contact. This also means that gross negligence or even recklessness may provide the required intent or (in criminal matters) mens rea to find a battery.

 
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casslean said:
It’s called practicing self-control and being respectful.
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Ah, yes. Such as your practice here…
casslean said:
And while we’re at it, let’s go ahead and pretend that it wasn’t generations of men and their “dumb ideas” about women that got us here today.
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Self-control and respect ought to apply across a broad spectrum of life and living. It is precisely the very narrowed application of both that may be the problem that some here are attempting to identify.

The idea that only men lack respect and self-control in the domain of X and that, by itself, justifies a complete lack of respect and self-control by women in domains A, B, C, …Y and Z is a reminder that principles and not victim-status or equality of outcomes should be what guide how society functions.

Clearly, what most posters seem to be wanting is greater clarity in terms of how justice and fairness would resolve the issue.

Yet, your “contribution” that generations of men and only men with their “dumb ideas” about women are to blame, as if women have always been merely innocent and uninvolved bystanders is patently ridiculous.

It is both unfair and disrespectful towards women who lived in previous generations by providing a false narrative about them as a group, and is unfair and disrespectful of men because you paint all men with the same broad, dry and slimey brush.

If you expect all men to take up the feminist cause, a la Justin Trudeau, expect blowback – and I mean that seriously. Real men won’t sit back and be told who and what they will be by women, just because women want them that way. Ain’t gonna happen.

You can read that as a threat if you want, but it isn’t one. Each man has just as much a right to self-determine as each woman. What is intolerable is that some women (and some men) want to pigeon-hole all men as… And all women as…

This is fundamentally the issue. A few decades ago it was called stereotyping and seen as a problematic way of viewing the world. Today, it has become an intellect-crippling epidemic.
 
I think you just want to pretend you are correct.

Assault and battery is illegal in all states.

What happened to me wasn’t assault and battery. I know. I was there.
 
Lou2U said:
Even if the victim does everything they can to ensure the perpetrator is caught, there’s no guarantee they’ll end up being charged. I don’t know the system in the US, but in the UK, the Crown Prosecution System decides whether to go ahead with a case. If they decide there’s insufficient evidence, they won’t go ahead and no charges will be brought. Then the perpetrator is free to continue their behaviour, despite attempts by the victim to have it otherwise. And even if there is sufficient evidence, there’s no guarantee there’ll be a guilty plea or verdict.
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Here’s an anecdote from a different area of law enforcement:

Some people we know own a music business. Some weeks ago, some creep kicked down their door and stole a bunch of expensive equipment. Happily, they have video surveillance and were able to get footage of the guy and his car. The victims know exactly who robbed them and where he lives. However, the police is not interested in pursuing the case.

I’m not in law enforcement, but it seems to me that in this day and age, if the police wanted to pursue this, it would be possible to talk to the guy’s neighbors (did you see him unloading stuff? did he suddenly have money?), get permission to look at his phone, check his social media, check his prior criminal history, get a warrant to check the house, etc.

However, the police didn’t pursue it because they didn’t want to pursue it–and this was a very doable case.
 
F_Marturana said:
What happened to me wasn’t assault and battery. I know. I was there.
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What you described WAS an assault and battery. Maybe you did not describe what actually happened or are under the false assumption that battery must induce harm. If you actually read the article, you’ll see that one need have no intention of harm and no harm need be done.

“Battery is an act of unwanted contact.” That is taken directly from the law article. Did you want the contact? That is the only way it would not be battery.
 
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I’m omitting the state I live in for privacy.

criminal law prohibits varying forms of assault. The basic requirement for any assault conviction is that the defendant cause physical injury. Factors such as the seriousness of the injury, the use of deadly weapons, and the mental culpability of the defendant determine the degree of his or her offense.

Intentional assault offenses require differing degrees of intent on the defendant’s part to cause physical injury. Where intent to cause serious physical injury is an element of the offense, the prosecution must prove that the defendant intended to cause serious physical injury beyond a reasonable doubt. This specific intent requirement applies to first-degree and certain second-degree assault offenses.
 
I believe this. My aunt was born in 1940. She died in 2010. Just a few years before her death she revealed to my mom she had been raped in 1956.

When I learned this, I understood my aunt so much better. She had undiagnosed PTSD. My heart breaks for her.
 
F_Marturana said:
criminal law prohibits varying forms of assault. The basic requirement for any assault conviction is that the defendant cause physical injury. Factors such as the seriousness of the injury, the use of deadly weapons, and the mental culpability of the defendant determine the degree of his or her offense.
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No it’s not. LOL

An assault can be, “Stop, or you’ll be sorry.” Just those words.

An assault is a crime defined by criminal statutes as either: an attempted battery, or “an act intended to create a reasonable apprehension of imminent harm that is either harmful or offensive.” Thus, a defendant can be guilty of assault even if they did not physically harm the victim. The crime of assault usually results in misdemeanor charges. Misdemeanors are punishable by fines and time in jail (not prison) for up to one year.

www.legalmatch.com

Assault: Legal Definition, Elements, Examples, Charges, Penalties and Defenses

Assault is a separate charge from battery. It is generally defined as an attempted battery. Read this article to learn more about assault.
www.legalmatch.com www.legalmatch.com

Criminal assault requires more. But again, words are all that are necessary, words that create the fear of an imminent action to harm.

No wonder there’s so much confusion about harassment!
 
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"A defendant can be guilty of assault even if they did not physically harm the victim.

“The common characteristic in all assault charges is that the defendant creates a fear in the victim that they will suffer physical harm as a result of their action.”

www.legalmatch.com

Assault: Legal Definition, Elements, Examples, Charges, Penalties and Defenses

Assault is a separate charge from battery. It is generally defined as an attempted battery. Read this article to learn more about assault.
www.legalmatch.com www.legalmatch.com
 
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