Popular influencer Lauren Curtis took to Instagram on Wednesday in outrage to vent about two men who catcalled her outside of a WA petrol station.
Lauren is better known online as Australia’s YouTube beauty queen, who launched her channel in 2011, and quickly grew a dedicated audience of followers across all social media platforms.
The 31-year-old said she stopped into a petrol station to fill up her Mercedes and noticed there were two male tradies doing work nearby.
She recounted the all-too-familiar experience of unwanted catcalling and harassment.
‘What would you say to men in this situation?’ she asked her 1.1million followers.
‘I didn’t realise, but there must’ve been two of them,’ she said. ‘Because I would rather poke my own eyeballs out with hot skewers than look at them, because that’s exactly what they wanted.’
Australian beauty YouTuber Lauren Curtis asked her followers how they would’ve responded to the men who catcalled her outside a petrol station
When the influencer refused to pay the men any attention, they asked her if she’d bought her Mercedes with her parents money, or from Only Fans earnings
‘They were talking about me and as I walked past to get into the petrol station, I know they were trying to get my attention but I ignored them,’ she continued.
‘But I ignored them, as I always do,’ she added, indicating that as a woman in her thirties this is an unpleasant experience she’s well accustomed to.
‘I am sure that because I ignored them, as I was walking out, their attitude completely changed.’
As Lauren left the petrol station to walk back to her car, the two men started yelling out to her more aggressively and asked two incredibly disrespectful questions.
‘Because I had a Mercedes they used the classic line: Parents’ money? Parents’ money? OnlyFans?’
‘I just completely ignored them and pretended that I didn’t hear them because I don’t want give them the attention they so desperately crave,’ she said.
‘It is so easy for me to hate men,’ Lauren vented. ‘I’d report them to the petrol station but I doubt they’d do anything about it.’
Lauren, 31, lamented how she didn’t react to the ‘misogynistic’ comments in the moment but told her followers you always have to aware of your safety in confrontations with men
Here are some of the responses that Lauren Curtis’ followers suggested she could have used
‘It’s easier to ignore them in that moment,’ she continued. ‘But then I almost feel like that discredits me because I should’ve fought back.’
‘What would you have said to them in that situation?’ she asked her mostly female following.
‘I don’t want to waste my energy, but it’s also the principle of it. “How dare you feel you have the right to speak about another human being like that? You filthy little rats.”
‘I do not like confrontation with men I don’t know. You also have to be aware of your safety too.’
Thousands of Aussie women empathised with Lauren’s situation in the comments section, and said they had also been caught between wanting to confront a ‘misogynistic’ stranger and ignoring men in the interest of ‘safety’.
One follower suggested Lauren could have said: ‘I don’t have spare change, sorry!’
‘I always think about all the witty things I could’ve said afterwards but I’m way too conscious of safety,’ another woman wrote. ‘You never know what people are capable of.’
‘These days men are making it really hard for me not to be disgusted by all of them,’ added another.
‘This is why I would choose the bear,’ said another, referencing the viral Man versus Bear hypothetical that has confused and angered numerous men.
Many women participating in a new viral debate on TikTok say they would rather be alone with a bear than a man in the woods, answering a hypothetical question that is helping women open up about everyday misogyny they experience.
In one TikTok, which has been liked more than 2 million times, a user compiled some of the most gut-wrenching reasons women chose the bear—such as ‘the worst thing the bear can do is kill me,’ ‘the bear doesn’t get enjoyment out of it’ and ‘the bear sees me as a human being.’
Lauren lives with her fiancé, former footy player Recce Daniels, in the southwest of WA where they built a house in 2023.
The beauty blogger has previously been very open about their desire to not bring children into the world.
