All men should be aware of this

Im trying to be objective but I’ve seen what happens when men are left unchecked with too much power over women. The more you leave the Uk and speak to women internationally, the more you realise what a privelege it is to not be fearful of every man you meet.
i don’t have a high opinion of men. I don’t agree with ‘the majority of men are lovely.’ The majority watch porn, which is full of child and traficking victims and shows unbelievable violence towards women which is being normalised. I am a proud crazy feminist. And I’m probably the person you’d want around if it happened to you because I’m one of the few who hasn’t victim blamed, has kept perspective and kindly explained the man’s perspective to a traumatised woman.
but sure, I’m the man hating unhinged one. You guys come across as women hating and unhinged to me.

You still haven't explained what you think this man feared OP would do to him. If you could maybe explain why he was scared rather than keep saying he would have been, it might be easier to empathise.

I do accept that just on basic physical strength its not an exact like for like if the sexes were reversed, but I agree that the lengths some posters will go to to defend a irrational level of anxiety around the mere existence of a man in a public, open environment is concerning. By endorsing this and saying its reasonable feeds the unhelpful narrative that women should sequester themselves to be safe or that men, no matter how harmless should somehow do all sorts of gymnastics to accommodate these feelings.

"Absolutely spot on.
This thread is unhinged."

It's completely mad. I don't know any of my female friends in real life who see any man they pass as a potential predator.

If a man was following a woman in the woods everyone would be saying how horrendous it is and up in arms. A woman followed a man and everyone is ok with it and the man should think about the women's feelings. Hello, the man was followed, he feels as fearful as a women would be. Where's the compassion for the Man OP? If you where followed you wouldn't like it, so why should this man be ok and think about you? Double standards springs to mind.

She followed him. He didn't force her to do that. He could have had a million reasons for stopping including thinking it was a better option. They were behind a school at mid afternoon not the middle of nowhere. Its not a him vs her and who is more important, its just a set of specific logistics in which NOTHING this man could have chosen would have been right according to some posters. The op suggested she would have preferred him to carry on but a) how could he know that and b) what if he did have a perfectly good and valid reason to stop? Why does her fear, unknown by him take precedence over him doing x? It was an open path, she could have stepped off and walked wide if she was really that worried.

@ainsleysanob "When you purposefully and illogically fail to do anything other than claim ‘just because’ "

Men are women's greatest predators and sometimes "just because" is enough. Women have every reason to feel uneasy about a male presence whether justified or not. Should they hang around to find out whether their instincts are right or worry about hurting his feelings?

You are slating me and op for saying what - that a man made her feel uncomfortable and she finds it frustrating that there isn’t more understanding - which you’ve clearly demonstrated here.
i think your argument is illogical - that that man was inherently more important than her and it should all be about his feelings. Why?
im not here for men. My life does not revolve around men. Im here to support a fellow woman who chose to trust her instincts and wants to vent and defend her from women like you who find something about that offensive. Why is it ridiculous and illogical and offensive that women are scared of men and would like them to be empathetic and not do things we find intimidating like forcing us to pass them at close range in remote places? Why are you spending your time hurling insults at other women when you claim to be a feminist? You can’t even argue respectfully.
internalised misogyny or what?

Ha! I see. Actually I haven't belittled the OPs concerns. That's the last thing I'd do.
If pushed though, I think be more comfortable with the man in the woods than the one in the changing room, even though the woods give greater means and opportunity for harm. Because odds are the man in the woods will just be a bloke having a walk in a place he's entitled to be. Whereas any man in a woman's changing room has already by his very presence told me that he's a wrong 'un.

I have strong feelings about lack of thought. I don’t have to agree with anyone, man or woman, when I believe what they say to be wrong.

Through the course of this thread when asked directly, you have failed to come up with any reasonable actions this man could have done to adjust his actions, because they were none he could have made. All because we’re supposed to ‘empathise’!

When you purposefully and illogically fail to do anything other than claim ‘just because’ you purposefully and illogically fail to achieve anything to educate men, the good ones, about what they can do to minimise the intimidation of women. You are achieving nothing.

I mean come on, this man did nothing to suggest that he saw the OP as an object for his attention. You’ve just made that up.

It 's not "some men", it's a lot of men.

1 in 4 women in the UK have been raped or sexually assaulted since the age of 16.

It's not just a handful of men who are doing this.

Pretending that is the case is part of the problem.

"Normal" men are doing it.
Fathers, husbands, brothers and sons.

Men are saturated with porn nowadays, often even before boys reach puberty.
Porn is violence against women.
It normalises the sexual objectification of women and it's everywhere.
According to YouGov, 76% of men watch porn.

And it’s your complete lack of empathy for viewpoints that differ to your own that I despise, and why I think you clearly hate women. How dare they ask for understanding and empathy! They’re clearly just objects for men’s attention who should never ever behave irrationally or have fears because god forbid a little man’s ego will get hurt.
get a grip. Why do you have such strong feelings about women with trauma?

I was playing devil's advocate and you've actually proved my point. I'm GC and agree with everything you say. But I get irritated by women belittling other women who feel uneasy about a "man in the woods" for example. I think women have every good reason to view men with suspicion and to be on their guard.

Perhaps his phone was ringing? I keep mine in my bag and my watch vibrates when it rings? Perhaps the man was trying his best to not look at OP because he thought that might make him look ‘leery’. Perhaps he’s just a fucking human being and is allowed to open his backpack without some woman, who followed him, getting the heebyjeebies over nothing. It’s not women I hate, I am one, it’s the ridiculousness of your illogical argument that I despise.

I'm all for making my boys aware of women's feelings. But in the Ops case she followed the man. In situations like this my boys late teens, young aduits know that in this situation their own security comes first. If they are being followed by anyone including a woman they do whatever it takes to protect themselves. The man did the right thing by slowing down and letting her pass. For all he knows she could have had a knife, her actions, suddenly changing direction and following him would put fear into anyone, gender does not matter. The OP needs to seriously consider her own actions.

Honestly I fail to see what this guy has done wrong. OP was the one who turned round and followed him back along the path. If OP was actually wary of him they should have just stopped for a couple of minutes and let him get further ahead.

Yes, it's always good to be aware of where you are and not be closed off to the world, but equally it doesn't do anyone any good to go around in such a state of paranoia.

The parallel is being in a space where a woman is off guard, vulnerable and entitled to feel safe. It really doesn't matter what the statistics are for women being murdered in changing rooms, does it? One would be too many when we're weighing up the comfort and safety of women and girls against men being allowed to do something completely unecessary for no good reason. Men have their own changing rooms. Many places have mixed sex ones. They're not short of options.
And t's not just murder. There's been plenty of instances of covert filming, sexual harassment and men masturbating in changing rooms to demonstrate its a bad idea to let them into the women's, without waiting for a femicide.

How weird; personally I have been assaulted by a lone 'man' who my gut said was dodgy, as has my sister. Both teenagers. We had a bridlepath that went past our back garden that school children used to walk to and from school on - and my mother found the local flasher in a bush behind there - God help him, and fuck the man who feels uncomfortable. Perhaps you could find it in your heart to support the women who are assaulted on a daily basis by lone men, and maybe educate yourself on how often this happens. HTH

"I can’t believe you’re telling women to ignore gut instincts to appease the feelings of random men who don’t even know what she’s thinking?"

But every man should know the "gut instinct" of every woman they come across ( even if the behave very strangely like start to follow a random man they are apparently scared of) and change their behaviour to appease the feelings of random women??

Exactly! the thing that baffles me is she turned round and followed him, and was only a few feet behind!! That is VERY close to be walking behind someone and it would make me nervous too if I was him, I'd be wondered why they turned to follow me, and I why they aren't going past me, like him, I would 100% force them into an overtake in those circumstances.

I can't understand OPs thinking? Seeing a lone male made her nervous enough to change her course, fair enough, but she turned round and followed right behind him!! Why not wait a few minutes, before going in his direction if she was so worried?

Utter bonkers behaviour.

Exactly and he did nothing to her! She was the weirdo here not him. But he’s a man so..

You were being kind of weird, op. He probably was waiting to let you go by since you were walking faster.

And OP should be aware that following somebody is intimidating, and that he stopped to safeguard himself. Why should he put up with Op following him to prevent ops hurty feelings?

I think you sound batshit tbh.
You walked past him, he continued to walk in the direction he was going which was the opposite direction to you. You got some silly arse 'bad vibes' that scared the shit out of you so much you thought 'I know what would be a good idea, turn round and walk in the same direction as that bloke that I think could be a potential rapist or murderer'
Yeah, that idea made sense... 🙄

That isnt what shes saying at all. When he looked over his shoulder and saw OP he stopped and fumbled in his rucksack while she passed him. I would have felt anxious at that point, anticipating him getting a weapon or something from his bag. It was intimidating and OP means it is this action that men should be aware of