A local male influencer recently spoke up on his experiences of being touched inappropriately and alleged sexual harassment.
Taking to his Instagram, @noic.nico alleged that a woman sexually harassed him during an interview with her in a higher learning institution while being accompanied by a videographer.
He explained that he roasts (pokes fun or teases) his subjects as part of the interviews he conducts.
“Halfway through the interview, I roasted her. Without warning, (she) pinched my nipple. I had to pretend and fake my reaction.
“I was focused on filming for my job and I did not react as I should have (reacted). After the shoot, I turned to my videographer and told him my true feelings towards the situation,” he said.
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Not only that, he added other times his boundaries were violated by individuals who are “fans” of his work on various social media platforms.
During an anime convention held in Serdang, Nico claimed that a man randomly “wrapped his arms” around him while he was filming a video.
The man said he knew Nico from the video platform TikTok and how much he loved his content, making the influencer quite “uncomfortable”.
“His face was really close to mine where I could feel his (breath),” Nico added.
Meanwhile, he brought up another encounter where another “fan” approached him and “rubbed” his belly area but he brushed it off at first.
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However, much to his chagrin, he encountered the same man who tried to rub his belly once more but Nico managed to slap his hand away, asserting his boundaries, but he said the “fan” did not seem to “get the memo” and assumed they were in a “friendly argument”.
Unfortunately, Nico encountered the individual who rubbed his belly again at a campus event who this time around, vanished, after petting that area, catching him off guard.
Nico reached his breaking point and decided to post a video he recorded prior to the incident but to make matters worse, the video detailing only received a “minimal response”, making him feel isolated and “unheard”.
He then took the video down after a day, but later on posted an Instagram story to vent his frustrations over the whole ordeal and received much more support and comfort from his fans and friends.
Nico also brought up how others have spoken to him about their experiences especially pertaining to male victims of sexual harassment not being taken seriously in contrast to female victims of sexual harassment.
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“Many men do not share their experiences due to fear of being called weak or not masculine.
“If our reaction towards women who got (sexually harassed) is shock, we should have the same reaction when it happens to a man. No one deserves to be unheard,” he said.
