Bullying.
I'm 22 years old and I'm being bullied.
A girl I went to school with goes to the same Uni as I do. She hated me back in school, and I can't honestly say I know why. We had seen each other around campus before, and in one occasion she was looking my way with such intensity that I decided to wave at her. Other than that there was no interaction whatsoever: we haven't taken any classes together, we don't have any friends in common, nothing.
But things started to happen when I decided to join the taekwondo team last year. Said girl is in the Uni's soccer team, and my practice coincides with hers. I didn't make anything of it until one day I heard her call me something behind my back. Something along the lines of "ugh, I hate this stupid bitch". She never did stand out for being the most intelligent or well-mannered person back when we were in school, so I dismissed it. But then it started to get more invasive -she started herding her teammates and have them yell things at me whenever I cross the soccer field to get to my practice or whenever I crossed their path. It was annoying but, again, I didn't make anything of it because I figured that if she and her friends want to act like retards that's them, not me...
I caught one of them wandering around my locker. When I went to get my things, I heard her say "shit", and walk out of the room. In another occasion, one of her friends actually tried to STEAL the key under my very nose and then pretended it had been an accident. After that, more yelling -so much more, in fact, that people started to ask me about it. Two days ago, her teammates came to the taekwondo practice and started aiming kicks at the punching bag and playing with other implements. One of my classmates warned them about the misuse of the implements, and I couldn't resist to pipe in saying "be careful with the mirrors, girls, if you break them we're the ones who would have to pay for them". The girl who had tried to steal my locker key lashed back at me and the other girls cheered. I went to shower without confronting her, though it was an excellent opportunity to tell them off, and then I heard them in the showers, talking in detail about how they had beaten up a girl last weekend and about how "some bitches out there are asking for it".
I've told my friends about this situation and half of them all agree that I should walk up to the girl who is causing all this and smash her head against a wall and "see if the rest of those skanks don't flee". The other half suggest that I keep pretending I'm not listening to them, but even though I could go on like that until they got tired, it could also be only a matter of time until they tried something less tolerable. I don't think that physical violence would solve anything either -and that would be stooping VERY low.
I asked a friend of mine, who is a law student, if I could do anything to make it stop and he suggested a simple legal procedure that works a little like a restraining order. I wanted to wait until next semester (which begins in august) to do it, to have her start her semester knowing that she'll be hearing from the police if her or any of her friends try anything ever again, but now I guess I'm going to have to do it right away.
My question is: in addition to talking to the police, what CAN I do? I hadn't experienced anything like this and I find it incredibly humilliating. I'm about to graduate from the uni and this is not acceptable behavior anywhere outside the girls' bathroom in middle school.
I apologize if I sound like a complete tool for not knowing what to do in this situation.
Crossposted to just_ask and girladvice
A girl I went to school with goes to the same Uni as I do. She hated me back in school, and I can't honestly say I know why. We had seen each other around campus before, and in one occasion she was looking my way with such intensity that I decided to wave at her. Other than that there was no interaction whatsoever: we haven't taken any classes together, we don't have any friends in common, nothing.
But things started to happen when I decided to join the taekwondo team last year. Said girl is in the Uni's soccer team, and my practice coincides with hers. I didn't make anything of it until one day I heard her call me something behind my back. Something along the lines of "ugh, I hate this stupid bitch". She never did stand out for being the most intelligent or well-mannered person back when we were in school, so I dismissed it. But then it started to get more invasive -she started herding her teammates and have them yell things at me whenever I cross the soccer field to get to my practice or whenever I crossed their path. It was annoying but, again, I didn't make anything of it because I figured that if she and her friends want to act like retards that's them, not me...
I caught one of them wandering around my locker. When I went to get my things, I heard her say "shit", and walk out of the room. In another occasion, one of her friends actually tried to STEAL the key under my very nose and then pretended it had been an accident. After that, more yelling -so much more, in fact, that people started to ask me about it. Two days ago, her teammates came to the taekwondo practice and started aiming kicks at the punching bag and playing with other implements. One of my classmates warned them about the misuse of the implements, and I couldn't resist to pipe in saying "be careful with the mirrors, girls, if you break them we're the ones who would have to pay for them". The girl who had tried to steal my locker key lashed back at me and the other girls cheered. I went to shower without confronting her, though it was an excellent opportunity to tell them off, and then I heard them in the showers, talking in detail about how they had beaten up a girl last weekend and about how "some bitches out there are asking for it".
I've told my friends about this situation and half of them all agree that I should walk up to the girl who is causing all this and smash her head against a wall and "see if the rest of those skanks don't flee". The other half suggest that I keep pretending I'm not listening to them, but even though I could go on like that until they got tired, it could also be only a matter of time until they tried something less tolerable. I don't think that physical violence would solve anything either -and that would be stooping VERY low.
I asked a friend of mine, who is a law student, if I could do anything to make it stop and he suggested a simple legal procedure that works a little like a restraining order. I wanted to wait until next semester (which begins in august) to do it, to have her start her semester knowing that she'll be hearing from the police if her or any of her friends try anything ever again, but now I guess I'm going to have to do it right away.
My question is: in addition to talking to the police, what CAN I do? I hadn't experienced anything like this and I find it incredibly humilliating. I'm about to graduate from the uni and this is not acceptable behavior anywhere outside the girls' bathroom in middle school.
I apologize if I sound like a complete tool for not knowing what to do in this situation.
Crossposted to just_ask and girladvice