How To Shout Down A Perv: Tips And Tricks From The Subway Badass

When she eviscerated her subway attacker, Nicola Briggs wasn’t planning on becoming an international heroine — she didn’t even know she was being filmed. But she was, and she did, and I’m happy to personally confirm she’s really that awesome.

That Labor Day weekend, headed to dinner with a friend, the five-foot-tall Briggs realized the man sidling up to her was way too close — and had pulled out his condom-encased penis.

Briggs began shouting, and she didn’t stop. Her righteous confrontation, which ended up going viral, would inspire hundreds of thousands, many of whom were women who wished they’d said what she said.

Her attacker was a pro: He had special zipperless pants that allowed him to shimmy his member back into hiding (maybe he’d been reading Dickflash after all), and it turned out he was a repeat offender. He is now serving his four-month sentence before being deported to Mexico.

Briggs, a full-time Tai Chi teacher and consultant, didn’t see herself on video until it ended up on the local news, and even then it took a few days for her to bring herself to relive it. (She disliked the local news blurring her face, because she doesn’t see herself as a victim.) But now, she told us, she’s more than happy to spread the message that you shouldn’t stand for these violations, and while everyone has to make the safest choice for themselves, she encourages women to speak up and to go to law enforcement.

Here she is offering some more lessons, with an assist from Jalopnik editor and volunteer sexual predator Ray Wert.

Camera work and co-editing by Matt Toder. Special thanks to Ray Wert, who is not actually a sexual predator. Bonus: Outtakes here.