When you hear the name "Harry," do you think of Harry Potter, Harry Styles, or Prince Harry? Or do you just think that maybe Britain should find some new names?
At the moment, though, we"re talking about Harry Styles. And unfortunately, we"re not talking about the international heartthrob"s music or hair. We are once again talking about sexual assault.
This time, it was Harry Styles who was groped — directly in the crotch. And the unacceptable incident was caught on video.
You would think — or hope, at least — that with all of the discussions of Harvey Weinstein"s sexual assaults and his long history of accusations of sexual harassment, it would impact people"s behavior.
We don"t just mean studio executives and actors deciding against one-on-one meetings in hotel rooms (not uncommon in the industry, even for innocuous reasons, but something that might need to change).
We mean everyday, regular folks. Those #MeToo stories weren"t all just actresses — many of them were from office workers, artists, baristas, stay-at-home moms, etc.
For whatever reason, there are people in this world who feel that they are entitled to touch someone else"s body without their consent.
Sexual harassment takes many forms, from catcalling to inappropriate workplace flirtations when there"s a wildly imbalanced power dynamic.
(Newsflash: the checkout girl does not think that dudes twice her age are hot; she smiles because being polite is literally part of her job)
But while there are a few cases where we can see a "gray area" where someone misread some cues and truly didn"t intend to harass someone, the vast majority of the time, sexual harassment is easy to recognize.
When it comes to groping, though, there are no excuses. If you don"t have someone"s consent, you do not get to touch their genitals without their consent.
That"s not complicated and we all know it. And yet … this sort of thing happens.
And it even happens to men. To famous men, like Harry Styles.
Harry Styles has enjoyed massive, global popularity on an exceptionally rare scale.
We"d say that he was the most thirsted-after member of One Direction … right up until Zayn Malik took that spotlight.
(Honestly, a big part of that was the hair — Harry looked more distinctive and interesting with his long hair, which is extra important when you"re a group of twinks but you wnat people to be able to tell you apart. It"s no coincidence that Zayn grew out his own hair)
We should disclose that Niall Horan was always more popular in Ireland and, as we understand it, remains more popular in ireland. Like, not ironically — there are Irish pubs with framed pictures of him on the wall.
Harry Styles" admirers have included big-name celebrities like Jennifer Lopez.
Obviously, Harry Styles dated Kendall Jenner … for a very short while.
More famously, Harry Styles and Taylor Swift dated and he made it into a number of her songs — most famously, into "Style." Because … obviously.
But no amount of handsomeness or thirst or whatever can justify what happened over the weekend.
Harry Styles isn"t the only man whose crotch has been grabbed.
Terry Crews was sexually assaulted by an executive, in the middle of a room with other people.
The executive walked over and grabbed his genitals through his pants, openly groping him with no apparent fear of repercussions.
It was important that Terry Crews share that story, because sometimes it takes seeing a strong man confess why he was afraid to come forward sooner for some misogynistic people to wake up to why countless women feel that same fear.
(Also, this happening to Terry Crews should be the absolute end of the disgusting "why didn"t you fight back" question that women are asked — because there are so many reasons, including fear that fighting back will lead to their deaths)
Harry Styles, in the video below, gets his crotch groped by a fan. He handles it well, but that doesn"t make it okay.
Harry Styles played the Hollywood Bowl over the weekend. This happened on Saturday night.
A number of fans are touching him, but he looks visibly upset for a brief moment as he bats away the groping hand.
He abruptly stands up and continues, but we have to wonder — has this happened to him before when he gets close to fans?
We know that concerts are very exciting, especially for young people who still have so many feelings, and all of those hormones stirring things up.
But that"s not an excuse for grabbing someone"s genitals, like in the video that you"re about to see.
We give stars a hard time for groping fans without their consent. It"s only fair that we do the same for terrible fans who take advantage of their idols.
Anyway, if you have a strong stomach, here"s the video.
Harry Styles is a real person with real feelings, folks. He deserves better.
