the only valid answer is to call the authorities.
The most upvoted and accepted answer indeed states 'involve authorities'.
BUT, this is also in that answer:
Don't worry about involving the life guard, or even bystanders. As staff he will know who to call in that situation. Immediately, and loudly state:
I've told you I'm not interested, please step away, and don't touch me.
Make it public, and make it loud.
This creep may very well get kicked out, or even banned from the place, and that will be his lesson - hopefully he's a quick study.
So even though, yes, the best case might be to call the authorities, here is given some advice on how to do so. And that advice is, IMO, indeed an interpersonal skill.
Take a look at this quick google definition of 'what are interpersonal skills':
the ability to communicate or interact well with other people.
Saying things out loud (shouting/screaming if necessary) is a form of communication. It's also a great way (as far as I've experienced/learned) to draw attention from bystanders, be that the lifeguard (an authority) or other swimmers (that can protect you until you reach the lifeguard).
I think the confusion here is caused by a number of things.
The original revision of the question was different from what it is now on 2 major points:
- It contains the word 'graped'. This can be interpreted 2 ways: She was grabbed, by a shoulder/arm. If I allow even more liberal interpretation, it could even mean she was pulled into the water by this guy. The other way this could be interpreted is that it was meant to read 'groped'. Groping is much more sexually loaded terminology than grabbing.
- When originally posted, the sexual assault tag wasn't added. This was added in revision nr. 4, the same revision that revised 'graped' to 'groped'. You've rightly pointed this out in the comments underneath the question since.
The most upvoted answer I quoted earlier was written when the question was still stating 'graped' and wasn't tagged as sexual assault. The fact that it's accepted by the OP suggests that this was indeed the IPS solution she was looking for (something to say out loud when having to deal with this again).
It is however, very sad that the OP of that question never took the time to answer the comment asking 'do you mean groped or grabbed'. It could have cleared up a lot of confusion, and made it a whole lot easier to draw the line you're suggesting.
The thing here is, just as with questions about marijuana use (I think we currently have several referencing person using marijuana), we can't prove the activity was illegal
We weren't there, and although this sounds very serious, it's only (as always) one side of the story.
If you see questions around this side that you think are so serious that they need professional help/authorities to be called in, and there is absolutely no IPS solution available, feel free to cast a close-vote as off-topic, with a custom reason explaining why you feel that this won't benefit from any IPS solution.
See the comments under this question for example.
For now, I think this question is on the borderline. I'm leaning towards leaving this open, because it gives the OP excellent advice on how to react to such interactions in the future (and also other users that may stumble across this question in HNQ).
The accepted answer shows there is an Interpersonal solution to this. Other answers, although every single one of them is mentioning 'involve authorities' give the OP some nice handlers on how to do so when there isn't a phone or cop nearby.
the only valid answer is to call the authorities. There are no interpersonal skills involved in that.
Returning back to this: I think the 'valid' answer is that indeed, there need to be authorities involved (not necessarily called, assuming you mean 'phone them' here). But how to interact/get these people involved when you are in a swimming pool, meters away from your phone? That's definitely an Interpersonal Skill in my opinion.
