Manama: A young Kuwaiti woman gave a new meaning to resisting harassment when she took out a knife and stabbed her harasser three times.
The young woman was driving her car in the capital Kuwait City when she discovered that she was being tailed by a car driven by a young man who signalled that he wanted to speak with her.
However, she ignored him and drove on, but he did not give up and kept following her, local daily Al Watan reported on Tuesday.
She eventually stopped and the young man, believing that she was ready to talk with him or to give him her phone number as was customary in such situations, walked up to her.
But when he reached her car door, she lowered the window and stabbed him to the abdomen, chest and shoulder, causing him to fall on the ground. She then got out of her vehicle and went to sit on her harasser’s car bonnet until the police arrived, the daily said.
The victim was transferred to Al Mubarak Hospital and the young woman taken to a police station for questioning.
Public flirting and harassment are quite common in Kuwait, but the situation usually ends with verbal arguments or complaints.
The stabbing sparked a lively debate on social networks with several people supporting the young woman for defending herself, even though they did not approve of resorting to a violent act.
“She did the right thing because if all girls and young women took action instead of just complaining, there would be no sexual harassment in the country,” Bu Fares posted in his comments.
However, bloggers drew attention to the fact that she was carrying a knife with her, raising questions about it.
“The whole situation could have been avoided if the young woman dialed the police number to report the car harassment instead of taking it to dramatic levels,” one blogger, Habhoub, said. “She could have driven straight to their house instead of parking on the side and giving the wrong message to the harasser.”
