Gigi Hadid Has Asked All Women To Stand Up To Street Harassment In ‘Lenny Letter’

Last week a giant human fedora rushed up behind supermodel Gigi Hadid on the street and decided it would be funny to grab her body against her will and lift her into the air. He then copped a swift elbow to the face.

If it that action seems fair and straightforward to you, congrats on not working at a tabloid news outlet! Despite the man’s repeated history with assaulting celebrities and a strange personal vendetta against Hadid, a great number of reports chose to cast him as “a handsy fan”. Gigi’s use of physical force was widely brought into question, forcing her to defend both her body and character in the same day.

Gigi Hadid Is Dealing With A Whole Lot Of Bullshit After Fighting Off An Assault On The Street

Now, Hadid has both defended her actions and made a plea to all women to follow her lead in a piece for Lenny Letter written on the same day as the attack.

“I remember taking the time, as it all felt slo-mo, to look at him, a stranger, and my first reaction was: ‘Get me out of this situation’,” she says. “Honestly, I felt I was in danger, and I had every right to react the way I did. If anything, I want girls to see the video and know that they have the right to fight back, too, if put in a similar situation.”

Though she details her thought processes in the moment, Hadid puts a great deal of the action down to muscle memory and her dedication to sports that keep her strong. She’s been boxing for two years now and, though she’s never had to use those skills on anyone in the past, she describes herself as a fighter.

“Practicing self-defence is important so that when you’re in the moment, reacting from muscle memory comes more naturally to you than freezing up. Confidence in your own ability to defend yourself comes with educating yourself about it, and is a massive advantage when in an unsafe situation.”

Echoing a tweet she posted on the day, Hadid then called out the author of the most controversial article about the incident — one which said she “aggressively lash[ed] out” and wasn’t exhibiting “model behaviour” in the headline. Though that may not have been the work of the reporter (headlines are usually written by an editor), Hadid took particular offence to the fact the writer was a woman. Aren’t women supposed to understand these struggles and band together?

Alternative headline – GOOD FOR HER: Gigi Hadid Reacts In Totally Appropriate Way When Random Man Tries To Lift Her In The Street pic.twitter.com/WTsbHcNt43

— Rachel McGrath (@RachelMcGrath) September 22, 2016

“When my mum first saw what had happened, she texted me the picture of me elbowing the guy and (among other messages of support) said, ‘Good girl’,” Hadid writes. “My mom has taught me the power of my instincts since I was a kid. She’d always be like, ‘Okay. Pay attention to the people who make you feel uncomfortable. I want you to tap into that and be aware of it’. I continue to use that intuition with the fashion industry and the people who I have to be around. It usually guides me pretty well. I think it guided me in this situation, too.

“It sounds cliché to say it, but in the moment, it wasn’t heroic to me. It was just what I had to do. It’s very touching to me that people see it that way. I know people are put in much worse situations every day and don’t have the cameras around that provoke social-media support. I just want to use what happened to me to show that it’s everyone’s right, and it can be empowering, to be able to defend yourself.”

Last year the Australia Institute undertook a study on street harassment which found 83 percent of Australian women between 18-24 had dealt with either verbal or physical harassment in the previous 12 months. 49 percent said they had been followed, 42 percent had been grabbed or groped and many others reported being flashed, kissed without consent, or threatened when rejecting a random person’s sexual advances.

93 percent of women in that same age bracket said they had changed their behaviour in that past 12 months to ensure their personal safety.

Obviously, that kind of duty shouldn’t be on them. If we’re going to have a conversation about street harassment, the onus for change should be on those doing the harassing. The decision for someone to not grab a stranger against their will is a hell of a lot more effective than a woman taking pre-emptive self-defence lessons on the off-chance that some dickhead grabs their body some day. Your personal safety should not hinge on whether you’ve enrolled in a boxing class or not.

That being said, if you’ve been thinking about taking up a sport like that anyway and it gives you both pleasure and a mad right hook, GO FOR IT.