Why do men do this?

"A smile costs nothing" "Man hating thread" All this a few posts in.

Being respectful costs nothing either. Seeing women as human beings, able to walk down a street without feeling uncomfortable, your starter for ten.

I had this happen to me this morning. Big van parked half up on the pavement and 3 men up the scaffolding...all staring at me as I approached. I caught one of their eyes and he literally LEERED at me and made a "uh HUH" kind of sex noise.

Of course I was so delighted by this male attention which validates me not only as a woman but also as a fully functioning human being that I had full sex with all three of them on the spot.

Actually, I just walked on past and did a wanker sign at them in my brain and thanked God that I keep my earphones in even when I'm not listening to music just so that I can pretend it's not happening and I CAN'T HEAR YOU.

"You have the power".

What, to stare at other people and make them feel uncomfortable. Not a power I want much.

I'd like the "power" to end the presumption that women should give something to men all the time, such as space, smiles, unpaid labour and decorative visuals.

People who do should be ashamed of themselves.

Hear, hear!

You have the power, you just don't realise it.

or they just fancy their chances.

Men stare because they assume women accommodate. They don't stare at other men like that.

"Waiting for smile"
You can't see how much is wrong with that?

Haha coffeeisnectar
Seriously. The day a man actually smiles at me before he commands "cheer up darling" I might smile back!

Men don't smile. Why should women?.

PlaysWell
"If a woman says she felt threatened by something, then I for one, will believe her."
I totally agree with you. It's completely offensive to call it "bollocks" or accuse her of being a "man hater". People who do should be ashamed of themselves.

Plays, that is exactly it, instincts should be listened to.

"A smile costs nothing."

Seriously?

A smile costs nothing.

Bollocks.

Exactly Green.

Humans are really good at being able to judge threats, or at least to err on the side of caution. Nothing man hating about that, is there?

Cracking a smile when your spidey senses are tingling makes the smile look false and forced, making your fear really obvious. Better to get your head down and keep walking on those cases.

Conflating understanding the difference between stances used by certain types of men in order to intimidate woman and someone who will wish you a cheery good morning with hating men is a pretty lazy way to discuss this. If a woman says she felt threatened by something, then I for one, will believe her.

I seem to be in the minority here, so I'll just leave you to crack on with your mass generalisations of the male population.

A smile costs nothing.

I don't smile at women in the street either if it helps. Babies and cats though, another story.

Are you and some women so anti men that you won't even crack a friendly smile?

Coffee I'm not anti men but I reserve the right to not be expected to smile at them in the street. If I walk past somebody, male or female, and we happen to make eye contact, then I generally will smile. If someone orders me to "cheer up love" or starts staring at me from a mile off in expectation of a smile then they can fuck off. I don't stare at men as they go about their business with the expectation that they should be smiling at me.

Surely it depends on how they're staring?

Gazing into the distance, or chomping on a sausage roll just generally looking around - fine

Stopping their conversation to stare at you, keeping looking as you go by - certainly creepy, possibly intimidating (could be mitigated maybe if they said something pleasant like 'Good Morning' - in a friendly, non-creepy way) - not fine.

Someone being creepy can wait as long as they like for a smile, I'm under no obligation to give one. Someone just being a normal human being, then I probably will smile and say good morning - or they might already have done so themselves.

SoWhite I will join you with a eurgh. Waiting for a smile? What? I exist to smile at people and be friendly and decorative, do I? Creepy fuckers.

I can't even be bothered to reply, so I'll just leave this here in case you'd like to do some learning.

www.google.co.uk/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&es_th=1&ie=UTF-8#q=why%20asking%20someone%20to%20smile&es_th=1

Women who treat all men as if they are rapists, weirdos or power crazy control freaks I agree, not always of course. There's a lot of paranoia about.

^ why the eurgh?

Are you and some women so anti men that you won't even crack a friendly smile?

Perhaps this is why feminism gets such a bad name. Women who treat all men as if they are rapists, weirdos or power crazy control freaks.

And I've been raped. And I was the victim of dv. But even I can see that a man staring or gazing off into space is not something to get my knickers in a twist about.

But seemingly there are posters who can make an entire building site down tools and stop work just by walking past as they are so stunning and they are offended by this, so maybe wear a balaclava to stop the unwanted looks or petition parliament to have blinkers fitted to all men.

Maybe he was waiting for a smile?

Eurgh

It reminds me of something someone told me, it may be an urban myth.

Couple in bed wake up to their pet snake staring at them. The snakes head is by their head, it's tail by their feet. They take the snake to the vet, concerned about the behaviour and the snake not eating. Snake was sizing them up to eat, it was starving it's self first.