"You could hit your old man with that."
I was just at junk swap. I walked up to a table displaying items of sale that had a group of men standing around it. There were about 4 older men and one man about my age just shootin' the shit. I picked up a pear of leather mittens that looked like they could be military issue. The booth owner quoted me a price. The man my age said, "Now those are thick enough, you could ball that up and hit your old man with that." He was clearly fishing for whether or not I had an "old man." I stared blankly, not sure what to do. One of the older men attempted to help him out, saying, "Now she may not have an old man, you never know." I must have made a screw face, because another of the older men piped up saying, "Yeah, and she may just haul off and hit one of you two, you never know that either." The younger guy said, "Yeah, it's all a possibility." I still wasn't sure what to do. I didn't like the attempt to uncover my relationship status or the casual reference to intimate partner violence. I just bought the mittens and left. The experience wasn't frightening, but just another annoying reminder that spaces like this are not for me.
Happened on February 19, 2017
Incident reported by target
Bystander Action? No
Harassment Types: Gender
