Friday's creepy pool guy
I didn't realize how much it was bothering me until today. On Friday I went to my physio swim class and there was a random older guy in the pool who started chatting me up. I noticed pretty quickly he was more interested in staring at my body than he was my eyes, and it erked me. My physio friends helped to guard me from him, Dan in particular, acted as a body blocker for me. He literally swam along side me to ensure this random guy's view of me would be disrupted. I talked to Harley about it afterwards, he felt bad that he was at the opposite end of the pool, and is adamant that won't happen again. I feel genuinely violated by how this man looked at me. One of the guys stated he gave them a "Pickton vibe" which scares me, because I have the same vibe. Apparently this guy is extremely intoxicated when he's at the pool, and rumor has it he's not permitted in the pool in the evenings as he makes too many people uncomfortable... lovely. I think I'm more mad at myself for not calling him out on it, telling him where he could find my eyes, something... Why do I freeze when being violated? That's what's bothering me the most. I always freeze.
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I think it's a normal reaction to freeze when in a state of fear. Is there a different time you could go to the pool to avoid seeing him? Can you report him or have someone in authority speak to him? It sounds like the man has a mental health problem.
I have seen people, both women and men stare at me at a pool, not a physio pool and it bothered me so I always tried to go at times when there would be nobody there or as few people as possible,.
It was at a public pool, but during my physio class. I saw he was there again, further away, and since I had talked to my gym friends about it I felt more secure. Turns out one of them spoke to him on my behalf (as they used to be neighbors) ... Not so friendly words, but at least I didn't have to feel violated again.