@kp23710, a TikTok content creator, posted about her experience photographing a wedding that turned sour. That is because a groomsman said something truly strange while she was working.
The Florida photographer was taking close-up photos of a bride during the wedding when she accidentally overheard the man sexually harassing her. She has since posted about the experience on TikTok and has gotten more than 7,000 views since Nov. 26.
Wedding photography: a side gig with occasional bumps in the road
@kp23710, a stay-at-home mom who occasionally does weekend wedding photography, went to a wedding a couple of weeks ago that left a bad taste in her mouth.
During the celebration, the bride asked @kp23710 to take a specific shot where she lay on the ground and the bridal party circled her. She noticed while she was lying down to take these photos that the groomsmen were laughing.
Later, at the reception, a videographer tried to slip her the details.
“I didn’t hear what it was exactly,” @kp23710 told her viewers. “So… I take the picture and then we head to the reception to eat, and I sit down… The videographer is like, ‘Girl, did you hear what he said?’”
What did the groomsman say?
One of the groomsmen in the party allegedly said, “Now whenever you girls are done, let us guys do that. But we’re gonna do something a little different.”
“You may think that it’s really easy for us to just like laugh [expletive] off like that,” @kp23710 told her audience. “Laugh sexual harassment off. You don’t know what women have f—ing been through in their past. I laughed it off, did my job, [and] finished the drive back home. [But], I’ve never felt so f—ing sick in my entire life. So just degraded and violated that like I was looked at like that.”
@kp23710 also told her viewers that she was disappointed in all of the other groomsmen. “Not one [expletive] man stood up and said, ‘Hey, like, that’s not cool.’ Like, why would you [expletive] say that? Not one man stood up for me and said something to him… they [just] laughed,” she added.
Other people @kp23710 knows asked whether she told the bride about the encounter, but the wedding photographer did not. “Everybody’s like, well, did you talk to the bride? Did you tell the bride? And like, that’s the thing, like I’m not even that type of person to like stand up for myself either,” she said. “Like I’m just the type to… take it, let it p-ss me off, forget about it, and move on…”
As a final message to the groomsmen, she said, “If you’re watching, you’re the [expletive] scum of the earth. You really are because you don’t know what I’ve been through.”
What did his comment mean?
Many commenters stated that they did not understand his comment or whether it was actually offensive.
“I don’t get their comment,” said one viewer.
Another asked, “What if he or they wasn’t meaning it perverted??”
@kp23710 did have a valid reason to feel offended by the quip. It is likely that the phrase “let us guys do that” was treating the bridal party and the photographer herself as sexual or titillating entertainment. Based on the man saying that they wanted to do something “a little different,” he may have been making a sexual innuendo about stimulating a sexual act.
If interpreted as a sexual innuendo, the comment clearly crosses professional boundaries, publicly objectifying @kp23710. At the time, she was on the ground in a clearly vulnerable position. The groomsman may have been joking about taking sexual advantage of her while she was doing her job.
@kp23710 #sexualharrasmentawarness #fypシ #girlythings #photographer #momsoftiktok ♬ original sound – KP23
Why do women have to tolerate inappropriate men?
Viewers also asked why a woman working in her field has to tolerate a misbehaving man.
“Too bad I [wasn’t] there,” said one commenter. “I probably would have punched someone. My wife was treated like this with her ex [husband], and I don’t tolerate men who act inappropriately and treat women like they did you. I am sorry for what happened to you. Not all men act like this or are in this category! I am praying for your heart.”
@kp23710 replied, “There needs to be more men out there like that. I just don’t feel safe anywhere I go at this point in my life. Too much has happened. Thank you though you are sweet.”
Others responded in a more hostile manner. One viewer posted a photo of a crying child to belittle @kp23710’s experience, while another asked, “How can i be a victim today?” in reference to her.
Despite the mixed messages, @kp23710 stood her ground. To many pessimistic onlookers, she replied, “Let’s hope you don’t have daughters…”
The Mary Sue has reached out to @kp23710 for comment.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
