What if "the kiss" was less sinister and more of a tragic miscommunication? [View all]

[ecstatic]

Update: Abort post! Didn't know he was married at the time. Nevermind!

One thing I learned long ago is that most men tend to have huge egos and a lot of them will mistakenly think that you're into them if you're nice or even cordial towards them. And I'm not saying that to be disparaging, it's obviously a crucial evolutionary survival trait.

In this case, I think (based on experiences I've had) that Tweeden was on a COMPLETELY different page from Franken, so much so that she didn't have a guard up and didn't even realize that she needed to give him cues to back off. In those cases, you're going to feel all the emotions that she says she felt because it's so unexpected and so shocking.

In other words, both of these statements could be true:

1) Tweeden's emotional reaction to the incident are completely valid from her perspective, but

2) Franken wasn't being a Trump-style creep who just kisses and gropes random women because "he can."
Perhaps Franken was guilty of thinking he had a chance with a woman who he had regular interaction with? A woman who he mistakenly assumed he was forming a personal connection with?

If someone believes that his or her relationship with someone is moving to the next level, is it OK to go in for a kiss? That's something that we as a society would need to clear up right now, in light of the current Predator Purge. New rules for how to go in for a kiss with someone you're already well acquainted with would change the dating game, for sure. Sometimes taking the initiative to have a first kiss is the only way out of the friend zone, if that makes sense.