This Young Woman Was Kicked Out of a Mall for Her Outfit

On Monday, Sierrah Anderson went to a mall in Winnipeg, Manitoba with a couple of friends to get her phone repaired. After waiting in line for about 20 minutes, two security guards at the mall, Kildonan Place, appeared suddenly to escort her out of the store.

“The female security guard told me that I need to leave the mall immediately or they were going to press charges for public indecency,” Anderson, 21, told VICE.

Shocked, Anderson asked the security guard what she meant. “She motioned to [my body], told me that I was indecent, and repeated that I needed to leave the premise,” Anderson said. Anderson was wearing black shorts (which she had bought at the same mall), a crop top, and a long vest at the time.

After Anderson tried to explain she’d driven a long way and just wanted to get her phone fixed, the guards still insisted that she had to leave or face charges. They said to go get her two friends, who had been looking at phones in the same store. They then escorted all of them to an exit of the building.

“I was absolutely humiliated. I’ve never felt more objectified in my life,” Anderson said. “It’s just a big problem in general for women… It’s a hot day out—I do deserve the right to be comfortable in the heat and to feel nice about myself.”

The morning following the incident, the general manager of the mall, Sandra Hagenaars, contacted Anderson to apologize.

When asked for a statement from VICE, Hagenaars said the following about the incident: “We apologized to her right away the next morning… This should never have happened, and we’re going to make sure it never happens again.”

“I’m not the only person this kind of thing affects… Nobody ever really says anything about it because people are made to feel like they can’t stand up for themselves,” Anderson said. “I don’t ever want anyone to feel the way I felt that day.”

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