News

Is It Threatening For Men To Approach You In A Parking Lot? Viral TikTok Claims Women Should Always Be Skeptical

A viral TikTok has made many women wonder: should you allow any man to approach you in a parking lot when you're alone?

By Gina Florio3 min read
tiktok parking garage
TikTok/@living.transparently

There are a few safety recommendations that all women are taught from a young age. Never get in the car with a strange man you don't know, no matter how nice he is, and always be aware of your surroundings if you're out in public along, especially at night. But a viral TikTok has opened up the conversation about how dangerous parking lots can be for women when they're unaccompanied. She claims she was approached by a man in a parking lot that was virtually empty and she refused to allow him to get close to her. Her video has gone viral on TikTok and Twitter, and the responses have been mixed. Some completely understand how her reaction, while others think she was being unnecessarily cautious.

Viral TikTok Suggests Women Should Always Be Skeptical of Men Approaching Them in a Parking Lot

On Tuesday, TikToker Danielle Mitchell shared a 90-second video about an experience she had just had in the parking lot. She sat in the driver's seat of her car and explained what happened, opening with "I'm literally shaking right now." The video has 2 million views already. Danielle said she read in a book how to respond to a man who comes up to you in a parking lot, and she acted out on that advice.

"A man approached me in the parking lot and it went fine and I'm going to tell you why," she said. "I'm alone with my son by myself, a woman. And a male approached me in the parking lot."

He said to her, "Excuse me, miss." But she had no idea why he wanted her attention. He was about thirty feet away from her when he tried to get her attention.

"I turned around to him and I literally yelled at him and I said, 'Do not approach me!'" she recalled. The guy immediately started walking away, but she kept shouting the same thing at him, "Do not approach me!" He seemed surprised and backed away from her, but he began to curse at her and asked what her problem was.

"No male should ever approach a woman in a parking lot. Ever," Danielle concluded. "And if a male does approach you, you need to turn around and use the strongest voice that you can possibly use with him. Don't be polite. They can literally screw off. Nobody should be approaching you in the parking lot."

The comments mostly expressed confusion and even mockery of Danielle. "You have absolutely lost the plot," someone said. "I genuinely started smiling towards the end waiting for the punch line. This can't be real," another person commented.

"nice knowing we're rapidly approaching a world where M/F anti-sociality is normalized through outward hostility and any normal interaction (M approaching F) is 'discomforting' and 'harassment' and women should *only be spoken to* through 'approved channels' (dating apps) lol," someone commented on Twitter.

However, other people were more understanding of her reaction, noting that the parking lot is one of the most common places where women are assaulted or inappropriately approached. Lawyer and filmmaker Mike Cernovich shared the video and gave his take.

"Better to 'overreact' and live than he 'polite' and end up dead. Predators rely on people being 'nice. no man has business going up to a woman in a parking lot. If she dropped something, he can yell to her GO TO LOST AND FOUND. Read The Gift of Fear," he tweeted.

In response to many of the comments that called her hysterical or ridiculous, a Twitter user said, "Lot of us putting our 'I hate women' hats on for this one but this is literally exactly how I’d want my wife to handle some randoid hitting her up in a parking lot lol. The only guys I’ve ever seen approach ppl in parking lots are bantoids and panhandlers [sic]."

In another TikTok, Danielle shared some context to what happened. She said they were in a mall parking lot "that was completely dead." The man apparently looked like he was going to ask for money and he seemed suspicious. She said it looked like he was searching for other people in the parking lot to ask for money from, and she had a sense that he was not somebody who wanted to assist her in any way.

"The guy wasn't trying to help me," she said. "I did what I needed to do to protect myself and my son. And if that was an overreaction, then so be it."

She hoped that nothing like this will ever happen again because she likes being friendly and meeting other people in public. But the comments were still in disbelief that she would even act this way. "What if bro was just lost," someone commented. "Is this account satire," another user said. "What if he had a genuine question," someone asked.

Regardless of what that man really wanted with Danielle, it's always a good idea to have situational awareness and be cautious with any strange man who approaches you in a parking lot when you're either alone or with your young child. Your intuition goes a long way, and Danielle may have sensed a real danger that day, even if she couldn't fully articulate it on social media (and even if she was a little eager to share the whole experience TikTok).