Woman's video of being harassed by stranger in Cardiff street goes viral on TikTok

Video from Emma Grayson / Ark Media

A woman has filmed herself being harassed by a stranger as she walked down a Cardiff road.

Emma Grayson, 22, said she was frightened when a stranger got off his bike and started following her at around 9pm on Sunday, July 17.

She was then followed for ten minutes along Newport Road while being subject to "inappropriate comments".

Emma uploaded the minute-long video to TikTok where it has been been watched 2.3 million times.

'No means NO'

In the video, captioned 'No means NO’, a man can be heard persistently asking Emma out despite her telling him she isn't interested.

"I want to be with you," he can be heard saying at the start of the clip. When she says he doesn't know her, he can be heard saying: "But I saw you for the first time and I liked you."

The man is then heard saying: "You don't like me? Can I leave you? Listen, I have a lot of money. A lot of money."

When she insists for the second time she isn't interested and has a boyfriend, he can be heard responding: "But you're so beautiful. I want to be with you. How much [money] do you want?"

The Cardiff Metropolitan University fashion marketing student said she was walking alone into town to meet her friend when the incident happened.

"He was asking where I was going, what I was doing, who I was meeting - loads of personal questions. He wouldn't leave me alone. He wouldn't take no for an answer," she said.

She started recording a couple of minutes into the ordeal, when she said the man started getting so close to her that their shoulders touched, just in case he tried to do anything worse. When she decided to upload the footage afterwards to TikTok, she didn't expect such a huge response.

'I tried to defend myself in a different way'

While she has welcomed the publicity being good for discussion around the issue of harassment of women, Emma said she has received a lot of backlash and blame on the platform for the way she handled the situation.

People have questioned what she was wearing, how she responded and even accused her of "playing with her hair" and "flirting" with the man.

Emma said: "I tried to defend myself in a different way. I don't think there's any right way to defend yourself."

Emma, who is originally from Worcester, said unwanted and inappropriate comments are something she has had to live with for most of her life.

"Even since I was little, I can remember walking through town and I was in school uniform, I was in my blazer with a tie and all, and men would say stuff like, 'Oh, you're so beautiful' and all this very inappropriate stuff, especially when you're little. It scared me then and it scares me now.

"Most of the time, I just tend to cross the road if I see a group of men. Even now - I've always been like that - just to prevent them from saying anything.

"Me being a woman I want to share my experience and hopefully continue the conversation. There's so much stuff about it online and you don't think it would happen to you.

"It's definitely something that needs to be talked about more and have more exposure brought to it from a younger age. I've not just had experiences with old people like him. People have said stuff to me who are my age and younger than me."

Harassment is a criminal offence in England and Wales, and it can take multiple different forms, including comments or a threat of violence.