About that second accuser . . .

[Ms. Toad]

37. The exact same thing happened to me - not with Franken, but my reaction was the same

Standing around saying goodbye to friends. All of a sudden, the one standing next to me has his hand on my buttocks, fondling it. No photo - but othewise pretty darn similar.

WTF - now what do I do - we were in the middle of somewhere between 200 and 1000 people (cafeteria at a conference with ~1500 in attendance), largely people I consider friends.

The fondling was over before I had a chance to process what was going on - or to decide how to react to it - because it was so unexpected. Do I make as scene among mutual friends - as if this guy was a random stranger - or just stay the heck away from this guy in the future.

I'm pretty sure I'd have the same reaction had it happened to me with my senator - disbelief, and an inability to make a decision about it and, yes, sharing the incident with my spouse after the fact (she was not present).

Later, when this guy wondered why I was avoiding him, we had a long conversation about his acts. Although he remembered it, it never even occurred to him that he was doing anything inappropriate. That incident really woke him up - but it is proof that the universe in which this makes sense is this universe we live in in which far too many men think nothing of fondling women privately - or even in public.