It is something most women have to deal with and the better looking you are the more likely men are to hit on you and a certain percentage of these are jerks.
Times have changed so I don’t recommend slapping men because they may hit back these days, but loudly and sharply calling them out is still the best way to stop future attempts. Word gets out to the rest of the mashers that this one doesn’t take crap.
If you tolerate it because you don’t want to make a scene, well they will continue and other men may decide that you are okay with it.
It’s basic predator/prey interaction. If you are difficult prey, they move on and hunt elsewhere.
But not all women have the temperament to deal with mashers and these are the ones that get victimized over and over again. Same as with people who get bullied, this is just sexual bullying and you can’t just tell victims to stand up to the bullies because some just can’t. That is why those of us who can stand up to bullies need to step up and speak up when persons who like to bully others do it in front of us.
Silence is consent.
She responded by saying, "Okay then, I'd kick 'em in the nuts instead!"
That's my wife. She doesn't take any shit from anyone.
She's a firecracker.
It’s true some women aren’t strong enough to stand up to the bullies. It’s also true that in a lot of workplaces, especially small businesses, women are actively punished for standing up for themselves; the dudes are the ones who complain when women say, “You may not touch me,” and the owners call the women out for not being able to get along with their coworkers. Despite the laws, most women know a lawsuit is a permanent black mark on your record that can destroy your career, so in toxic companies, they have to decide whether to put up with it or leave quietly. It happened to me, and I left quietly because in that workplace my only other choice was to allow it to continue or be fired then savaged in references. I’m not sure even allowing it to continue would have let me keep that job once the bosses decided I was pathologically unable to play nice with others, even though there were no other complaints about me, and many, even from customers, about my harasser. But I was careful looking for the next job; where I am now, there’s still a lot of jocularity, but I know if someone did cross the line, I’d be expected to push back. If after that he thought of complaining, he’d be calling the boss’s wrath down on himself.
By the way, I appreciate your last paragraph. Once there are social (and economic, if it happens in the workplace) consequences for any kind of bullying, we’ll see a lot less of it.