Twerking turned into sexual assault.
When a woman twerks, it usually elicits an arousing response. So, how in the world does a woman get arrested for twerking?When shaking her bottom turns into sexual assault.
In 2015, Ayanna Marie Knight, 22 years old at the time of the incident, rubbed her bottom and twerked against a man standing behind her in a checkout line at a Washington DC gas station. The stranger backed up, but Knight continued to twerk on the man.
A few minutes later, her friend joined in, and she grabbed the male victim’s groin and buttocks.
He said, “I was assaulted sexually. I felt 100 percent violated. I felt really humiliated also, because when someone is just grabbing your body parts without your permission, no matter who it is, that’s just a violation completely… As they were grabbing me, it wasn’t like they were grabbing pants or anything like that,” he said.
The victim asked the gas station clerk to call the police, but the clerk simply observed as the women sexually assaulted him. The victim eventually called the cops himself and filed a report.
Authorities offered a $1,000 reward for information that led to the arrest of the Twerking Twins.
A pedestrian later spotted Knight and tipped off the police. Police arrested her and charged her with third-degree sexual abuse. She faces up to 10 years in prison — for twerking! The second assailant was never caught.
Knight pleaded guilty to third-degree sexual abuse, which is a misdemeanour. She was sentenced to 180 days suspended and six months probation.
Knight’s grandmother Jean commented that she was ashamed of her granddaughter’s actions.
Her grandmother said, “I don’t like it at all. What she did is really not her. I practically raised her. She’s a very nice lady when she wants to be… As far as twerking, [that’s] something I couldn’t get over.”
Jean says she sides with the alleged victim in the case, but hopes her granddaughter will not spend the rest of her life in jail.
Jessica Raven, the interim executive director of Collective Action for Safe Spaces at the time, said, “It’s not a joke. It shouldn’t be taken lightly… This is a prime example of the public sexual harassment and assault that people across our city experience on a near-daily basis, and it is completely unacceptable. It absolutely happens to men, too, and it is not OK.”
The lesson here? Nothing is sexier than consent.
Always wait for permission before approaching anyone with any sort of sexual act.