How I love being harrassed

I decided to go for a walk on my lunch break because it's a nice day and, frankly, I need some kind of exercise before I turn into a blob. I was just walking along, minding my own business when out of nowhere some teenage douchebag in a truck yelled, "Yeah, shake that ass, bitch!" How original. I debated for a moment before flipping him off (that's about all I could get away with as he sped away).

Is it best to ignore comments like that? Part of me is inclined to say yes. But it's hard for me to brush off--I feel disturbed, angry, frustrated that there's nothing I can do except gripe to my coworkers. It's not as scary as the time I was at a concert with Wes, got lost in the crowd for a minute, and some jerk grabbed me to him and wouldn't let me go. When I got over the initial shock, I shoved him away as hard as I could and caught up with Wes. I wish there was some way to make guys like that feel just as scared, threatened, disgusted, upset or even irritated--maybe then they wouldn't behave that way.

When my friend was visiting family in Iran, shopping with her mother and grandmother, a passing man full-on grabbed her crotch. She told her grandmother, who replied, "It's your fault--you walk like an American!"

Maybe I should stop walking like an American.