General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: If only a handful of feminists are responsible for all that ails DU [View all]KitSileya
(4,035 posts)Few are the women who haven't experienced that even glancing at men who stare is taken as an invitation for more, and many of us have been met with escalating aggression when that advance is rebuffed. When again and again you are called b!tch, or ugly, or a frigid ugly b!tch for refusing to smile on command, or for wanting to read your book on the subway, or spend time with your friends at a bar, instead of pandering to guys who think it is their god-given right to interpret even the smallest scrap of token politeness as a license to hit on you, you get very cynical about men looking at you. You certainly get a lot of training in determining the intent behind the glancing/staring/leering - you don't think we can't see who looks at us admiringly, and who is sizing us up for sexual fantasies or as a piece of meat. I am pretty sure you can see whether a guy who looks at you has no ulterior motives, or for example is looking for a brawl. Same difference - just a question of experience and socialization.