Food for Thought

Men, We Should Do More About The Way Creepy Guys Talk To Women

''A coworker of mine recently wrote an essay about a creepy guy at a Starbucks who harassed a barista and how the encounter represented something deeply relatable to mostly all women.

I consider myself a decent human being, so I don't understand why guys have this compulsion to catcall women. But (and I'm embarrassed to admit this), until I read her post, it hadn't dawned on me how pervasive these minor encounters are and how constant invasions of women's spaces affect how they must interact with the world.

You see, when you interrupt a woman's day to "compliment" her -- a suggestive whistle or a simple "hey baby," for example -- you're not making her day. You're harassing her. When has a woman ever said, “I knew he was my soulmate when he told me my ass was nice and that I should smile more?”

And when you insist that your unwelcome sexual advances must be received, you create an environment that makes genuinely innocent compliments, or even mild conversation starters, seem nearly as toxic. And you deter guys like me, who would like to make human connections IRL, from saying much of anything at all...''

by James Cave