Bar Intervention Stories
Interventions can look many different ways. In our Patron Experience Survey, we ask Missoula's bar-goers how they have seen folks make a move to stop harassment. Here are a handful of real life stories!
A woman walked out of the bathroom ahead of me, grumbling about a (possibly) trans woman. I wasn't prepared for it at all. She started becoming more and more offensive, complaining to the bartender, and using derogatory language. I finally snapped at her, angrily telling her that she should mind her own business. I really wish I'd had something more clever to say.
I interrupted a situation when someone was being attacked verbally for using the women's bathroom. (The attacker was threatened by this person's perceived gender expression.)
I noticed a sketchy older man with his arm around a younger woman who looked uncomfortable. I asked the older man about his Griz shirt, and the woman quietly left the dance floor.
A young woman was being hit on repeatedly. The bartender realized that the woman was very uncomfortable, stepped in, and said:
I saw a guy trying really hard with this girl, and she looked really uncomfortable. I intervened and she went along with it. We walked away to the dance floor, and she thanked me.
A woman I didn’t know seemed very uncomfortable. I came up to her and invited her to sit with me and my friends if she wanted to and pointed to where we were.
A friend and I watched a guy slip something in a drink before giving it to a girl. My friend told the bouncer who then escorted the guy out of the bar.
A man came up to a black woman I was talking to and he touched her hair. I shook my finger at him and said:
Submit Bystander Stories
Did you see someone intervene? We want to highlight the pro-active people in our community who make moves to stop sexual violence. Click here to tell us your story!