Jackson Woman Shares Violating Experience at Jackson County Fair Concert
It was supposed to be just another fun country concert at the Jackson County Fair for Kelsey Hitt, and it was, until she was approached by another concert-goer with some news (and photographic proof) no woman would want.
Here's What Happened
On Sunday, August 07th, Toby Keith took the stage at the Jackson County Fair for a much-anticipated show that drew a crowd that had been waiting over a year for it all to finally happen.
Kelsey was there in that crowd, minding her own business and enjoying the show. Then, in a Facebook post that currently has over 140 shares, she detailed how after the show, another woman approached her with photos of how a guy behind Kelsey was taking videos of her rear end.
As the post garnered lots of attention around the community, we reached out to Kelsey to get more on the story.
"I was caught off guard by her telling me briefly what had happened," Kelsey said. "Within a few minutes she sent me several photos and videos via text of him video taping me while sitting next to his wife."
In her post, Kelsey said she is "mortified" and feels "extremely violated" by the incident but is sharing her experience to not only show people what happened, to bring awareness to this sort of thing happening and to spread another message...and also to expose the creep who did this.
Now, the only reason we feature these photos is to show that not only was there the visual evidence of this guy doing this but actual, photographic proof, that Kelsey said was obtained while the guy was standing next to his wife, no less.
We do have her permission to share the following images:
As he was taking these videos, the person who witnessed it also told Kelsey he was consistently flipping back and forth between his recording and his email...another terrifying thought.
How it Feels When This Happens to You
This is, of course, a fear many women have. When they are dressed in something they feel confident in and they are just going out to have a good time...why do we always have to worry what some disgusting person is going to do that is so violating yet so out of our control?
In the moment she found out about the situation, Kelsey said she was disgusted and frustrated however, she says "It wasn’t until I woke up the next morning that it really disturbed me at the fact he was video taping me almost the entire show."
What does not help is not only does Kelsey have no idea what was done with the videos, considering his email was involved, but also the fact that nobody stepped in to stop it or call him out in the moment.
An Important Lesson We All Can Learn From This
Of course, kudos to the other woman who was able to get proof of the incident taking place, otherwise Kelsey may have never known about it.
"I do not want to chastise this girl for waiting to tell me because I am extremely grateful for the girl for informing me of what had happened," Kelsey said, though she did say this speaks to the larger point of "if you see something, say something."
It is a message anyone can stand to follow, but as women, we have to be out to protect each other. Think of every creepy encounter, every time you were in a situation that made your skin crawl, every time you thought "something's not right here" and now multiply that by every woman everywhere.
Of course, that is easier said than done, especially as confrontation is not always the safest option...especially for women. That's why Kelsey suggested going to get help.
In public places or situations like this, Kelsey makes a valid point.
"The concert was full of workers and police officers keeping people safe and it would have taken all of a few minutes to bring that knowledge to one of them," she said.
At the End of the Day, Be Like Kelsey
Kelsey has every right to be angry about a lot of things in this situation and I, for one, would not blame her one bit.
In our interaction, though, I could tell she was able to take a step back and look at it from a bigger perspective. Now she is using her voice and her story to help others.
"I wish we could have stopped him not for only my sake but for others that he may continue to do this to," she said. "I do know the man's name now after further investigating the videos that were sent to me and I feel he needs to be reprimanded for what he has done to me or any other women/child."
Kelsey said multiple times, we cannot change the past and what happened, but the main point is there are things we can do to make sure this kind of thing does not continue in the future.
You can find the original post making the rounds on Facebook and it's a good thing this story is getting so much traction. Jackson is not the biggest town and we are sure this man is getting the kind of attention he deserves and never does this again.
All in all, ladies, we are the only ones who truly understand what each other goes through, how we would feel in situations like this. There is always SOMETHING we can do when it comes to protecting each other and making sure we can all safely enjoy the things we love...GIRL CODE.
Thank you Kelsey for being brave enough to share your experience, for using your voice to show people this kind of thing is absolutely not okay, and for reminding all of us if you see something like it, SPEAK UP.
County Fairs Within 2 Hours of Lansing, MI