CBS Radio held its 5th annual charity concert, “We Can Survive,” on October 21st. Each year, the event seeks to inform people about breast cancer, raise awareness for the disease, and honor Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which is the month of October.
Since the first event back in 2013, CBS Radio has gathered a different group of artists to perform at the concert. This year, people were able to enjoy the performances of artists such as Khalid, Alessia Cara, Pink, and Sam Smith.
Another one of these artists in the lineup was former One Direction member, Harry Styles.
Harry was ending the performance of his song “Kiwi,” and he very often gets excited/crazy towards the end of said song by yelling, running around, etc. etc. He definitely puts on a show for his fans. Anyways, like almost any other crazy, end-of-“Kiwi” performance, Harry went to the front of the stage and got on his knees, yelling/screaming/shaking. Fans were obviously freaking out, reaching out to the famous heartthrob. However, one person took it too far by reaching out and aggressively grabbing Harry’s crotch.
Harry then quickly stood up and moved away from those in front of the stage, but continued his performance as if nothing happened after a quick pause. After this happened, Harry’s fans quickly took to Twitter defending the artist, labeling the action as “sexual assault.” Even R&B artist Khalid, who also performed at the event, described what happened as not cool.
In my opinion, I fully support the “sexual assault” label that has been placed on the incident. I’ve seen quite a few articles debating whether or not it even was sexual assault, or if it was just a mistaken “groping incident.” Well… let’s look at the definition of sexual assault, shall we?
The United States Department of Justice defines sexual assault as, “any type of sexual contact or behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of the recipient.” Now, let’s look back at what happened.
Harry Styles was performing his song at the front of the stage, and his crotch was groped.
Is groping someone’s crotch a type of sexual contact or behavior? Yes.
Did Harry ask for or give consent to the groping of his crotch? No.
So, folks, it would appear that we DO, in fact, have a case of sexual assault.
My point is, this incident was clearly sexual assault and it should not have even been questioned as such just because Harry Styles is a man. It seems like many people believe that a man can’t be sexually assaulted, that he should consider himself lucky for “getting some action” or handle it just because he’s a man. But no matter your gender, if you didn’t ask for it, it’s assault.
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