A post shared by Kryz (@kryzzzie) on May 2, 2018 at 8:21pm PDT

MANILA – It took Kryz Uy a month before deciding to open up about being a victim of sexual harassment.

The fashion blogger and author, who got engaged to former “Pinoy Big Brother” winner Slater Young early this year, recalled her experience of being grabbed at the waist by a stranger while she was taking a video at a bar.

Her video, which was posted on YouTube last May 5, also showed footage of the man who harassed her.

“Suddenly, he walked toward me and grabbed my waist out of nowhere and said something along the lines of, ‘are you looking for me?’ I’m so happy that I was able to automatically react and say, ‘don’t touch me,’ because it’s not okay for a complete stranger to just grab my by the waist. And I felt that it was so rude and inappropriate,” Uy said.

She continued: “I’m semi-happy that I got it on camera, but my heart was beating so fast that moment that I unfortunately pressed the stop recording button. But after that, there was a little back and forth, and they even somehow taunted me and made me feel like it was my fault that they came up to me.”

Watch more in iWantv or TFC.tv

Uy went on to thank the waitresses at the bar for helping her avoid further conflict, but she admitted that she was “shaken up” and “afraid” as she left the premises.

“Some people might look at it and say, ‘oh my gosh, you’re overreacting.’ Or, ‘that was nothing, why are you making a big deal out of it?’ But I feel like it is a big deal and I’m just fortunate that it didn’t escalate,” she explained.

“Every day, people go through this and not everyone is as fortunate as me that it ends at that. Not everyone is as reactive as I am in saying, ‘don’t touch me.’ Some people are probably very strong but when they’re caught up in a situation, they can’t react. I know a lot of people, even some of my friends who have gone through this and it’s really not as easy as you think. Sexual harassment is a very serious issue and I don’t think it’s okay to just not talk about it and think it’s gonna go away, because it’s not. You should talk about it to make sure that it doesn’t happen,” she added.

• Maaari bang mabiktima ng sexual harassment ang isang lalaki?

To the people who harassed her and to others who think that harassing other people is normal, Uy said: “I urge you to stop because it is really not okay. Maybe in your head you’re thinking, ‘it’s fine, it’s a joke, I’m not exactly touching anyone, I’m not causing any harm.' But you don’t know what’s going on in the victim’s head, in the person you’re abusing. You don’t know how it’s affecting her mentally, physically, emotionally. You don’t know.”

“If there’s a possibility, even the slightest chance that you’re affecting someone in a negative way then you should stop because you have no right to do that.”