Car just drove by and one of the guys in it made the 🐈👅 gesture out the window at me.
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@spiegelmama @Aprazeth yeah, I appreciate it. I can fight my own battles, and it usually takes a lot to rile me, but sometimes I just don't have the spoons to deal with Yet Another Wanker
¹, so I welcome the help.¹ if you're not "Yet Another Wanker
" then this isn't about you.@alice @spiegelmama
I try to not interfere most of the times unless it starts going the wrong direction. Even if to say "I got your back"I do believe in giving people a fair chance. Especially if maybe language or cultural barriers could cause a misunderstanding.
Then again, I will admit I can get on my little soapbox and post a bit of a long thread.
Either way, it felt like the right thing to do.
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@blainsmith @Colman @rbphotographic @alice I get hot easily but I can’t wear clothing that is too “skimpy” and of course there’s the classic being sent home from school because your tank top is “distracting” the boys. Note that our school didn’t have AC ..
@blainsmith @Colman @rbphotographic @alice also note that I’m going to be 40 this week so that is 25 years of dealing with this.
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@rbphotographic @alice Same for my wife and I. There are certain gas stations she avoids because of where they are and the type of men who frequent them. We also always go food shopping together or I go by myself because she ALWAYS has something happen.
@blainsmith @rbphotographic @alice I paid a 20c/gallon "won't get harassed at the other gas station" tax this week, so real.
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@alice Ah sorry, didn't really understand the symbols and missed the "gesture" part. Yes, that is hard to see. The area I'm in is no cars allowed and humans far appart. I guess people also feel less anonymous so being more careful with what they do in public.
When I was younger I had long hair. There was a guy driving past that from behind took me for a woman. He was was almost falling out of his car when I turned grinning at him with a 3-4 cm beard. Found the gas-pedal fast though
@alice And I'm sorry, it's just so very very, *very* hard to understand why people would do such a thing at all. When I was younger I honestly believed the american movies on TV was just fantasy and I still have a hard time understanding that they are some sort of mirror of reality...
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@blainsmith @Colman @rbphotographic @alice also note that I’m going to be 40 this week so that is 25 years of dealing with this.
@irene @Colman @rbphotographic @alice I hate this for all of you and it terrifies me for the sake of my 11 y/o daughter no matter how strong mentally and physically she is. Nothing justifies this kind of behavior.
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@blainsmith @Colman @rbphotographic @alice when I was pretty young (15 or 16), my mom would send me to the store. Once a man blocked me between his car and mine and tried to get me to go home and have sex with him for money in the grocery store parking lot. Catcalls were common when I was younger and lived in the Midwest or Boston. In Seattle, I had someone ask me out in the pasta aisle. If it’s hot and I wear a dress people will make creepy (but probably what they think are complimentary) comments. My 60-ish year old neighbor made a point of interrupting me and commenting when I was washing my car on my driveway in a tennis dress.
@irene @blainsmith @rbphotographic @alice Jesus. I’m too busy trying to find the butter. (Not US based: seems to me — and my wife — that the problem is worse there.)
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@rbphotographic
It's real, friend. If I go for a run, I either do it at the gym (although theres no guarantee I wont be harassed there either) or I carefully plan a route and time where I know the risks are minimised/CCTV/other people around. Even then, a high percentage of the time you're getting some dickhead calling out or gesticulating.
Yet when you talk about 'male privilege' some still deny it exists.
@alice@Jaimieserotica
I often catch myself wondering "why would people do their run/jog on the pavement of the South Circular (one of the rather polluted ring road not far from where I live in London) and then I remember it's all a matter of feelings safer here than in a nearby park after dusk...
@rbphotographic @alice -
@screwturn I guess that’s one way to absolve yourself.
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@irene @blainsmith @rbphotographic @alice Jesus. I’m too busy trying to find the butter. (Not US based: seems to me — and my wife — that the problem is worse there.)
@Colman @irene @rbphotographic @alice It can get very ugly and disgusting. The entitlement some men have is just wild.
One time I was in a fast food place. After I put in my order a guy (in his 60s) before me was waiting and started verbally abusing the cashier (mid 20s) to the point she was in tears. All over a burger + fries. I yelled "HEY!" at him and as soon as he made eye contact with me he stood down. I said, "that's what I fuckin' though you asshole!"
I apologized to her after he left.
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@alice
I am so so sorry you had to deal with that. I am here for you if you need anything at all
To the men, **all men**, when someone you know does this: tell them very clearly that that behavior is disgusting and unacceptable.
There is no justification for that behavior, and it is nothing short of sexual harassment.
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@blainsmith @Colman @rbphotographic @alice when I was pretty young (15 or 16), my mom would send me to the store. Once a man blocked me between his car and mine and tried to get me to go home and have sex with him for money in the grocery store parking lot. Catcalls were common when I was younger and lived in the Midwest or Boston. In Seattle, I had someone ask me out in the pasta aisle. If it’s hot and I wear a dress people will make creepy (but probably what they think are complimentary) comments. My 60-ish year old neighbor made a point of interrupting me and commenting when I was washing my car on my driveway in a tennis dress.
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@sebastian@mastodon.sebfox.net @Aprazeth
You associate yourself with ‘them’ with your replies here.
The correct response is not to argue about the word ‘all.’
The correct response is to go out and educate men, call out men, do the emotional/intellectual labour that is so often dumped on others.
Your nitpicking the word ‘all’ makes you part of the problem. Do your part to fix the problem instead.
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@blainsmith @Colman @rbphotographic @alice when I was pretty young (15 or 16), my mom would send me to the store. Once a man blocked me between his car and mine and tried to get me to go home and have sex with him for money in the grocery store parking lot. Catcalls were common when I was younger and lived in the Midwest or Boston. In Seattle, I had someone ask me out in the pasta aisle. If it’s hot and I wear a dress people will make creepy (but probably what they think are complimentary) comments. My 60-ish year old neighbor made a point of interrupting me and commenting when I was washing my car on my driveway in a tennis dress.
@irene @blainsmith @rbphotographic @alice and here I am trying to figure out non-creepy ways of complimenting my younger but adult ballerina colleagues on their dancing.
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@alice a lot of replies to this make me think that hopefully I'm probably doing the right thing by acting "antisocial" around women in public. I'm gay/queer, but cis and I pass for straight, so I just assume women who don't know me will perceive me as a potential threat. It's fine, my dog and I can step off the sidewalk and give you space.
@wbud I also get plenty of guys (often with dogs) waving and saying hi when I go for walks. The difference is that the non-creepy ones wave and say hi, then continue walking. The creepy ones make different gestures.
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@blainsmith @Colman @rbphotographic @alice I get hot easily but I can’t wear clothing that is too “skimpy” and of course there’s the classic being sent home from school because your tank top is “distracting” the boys. Note that our school didn’t have AC ..
@irene perhaps we should send the boys home for being distracted instead.
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@irene perhaps we should send the boys home for being distracted instead.
@alice @irene @blainsmith @rbphotographic well *obviously*. And I know teenage boys are hopeless, but surely in a mixed school they just get used to it? (Boys only was common here when I was young so I guess if you introduced string tops we’d have been distracted for a week or two.)
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@Jaimieserotica
I often catch myself wondering "why would people do their run/jog on the pavement of the South Circular (one of the rather polluted ring road not far from where I live in London) and then I remember it's all a matter of feelings safer here than in a nearby park after dusk...
@rbphotographic @alice@jfparis @rbphotographic
Exactly that. And then you're wondering what you can wear and what you shouldn't wear. I wear sports leggings to run in because they are the most comfortable thing but, you want a dark colour so they don't draw attention and a tee-shirt which isn't too fitted. I always wear either a beanie or a baseball cap to cover my hair and would never run outside in shorts, unless I'm with other people.
It's actually fucking exhausting to have to think like this... -
@irene @Colman @rbphotographic @alice I hate this for all of you and it terrifies me for the sake of my 11 y/o daughter no matter how strong mentally and physically she is. Nothing justifies this kind of behavior.
@blainsmith @Colman @rbphotographic I was in 8th grade, when the same thing from a driving car happend. Also, same year a guy in a very shady trench coat totally flashed three of my friends and me.
I think, I lost count of times something happend.
And yes to the description somewhere down here: men wonder where the butter is. I wonder if I get home safe.
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@wbud I also get plenty of guys (often with dogs) waving and saying hi when I go for walks. The difference is that the non-creepy ones wave and say hi, then continue walking. The creepy ones make different gestures.
@alice need a gesture that is similar to "I like your shoelaces"
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@sebastian Your concern for Alice’s wording instead of the messaging says a lot about your priorities and it’s definitely not about Alice’s safety nor anyone else’s who shares this kind of experience about men.
@stephaniepixie
Downloading this image and keeping it for other appropriate occasions. Thank-you.
