Microagression or over reaction

[Trainbother]

Walking to the station early this morning, a man whispered "I love you" as he walked past me.

Maybe he thought he was being lovely, maybe he has MH issues, maybe he was deliberately making me uncomfortable. I don't know, but it was oddly disturbing.

I was thinking about how I'd explain this situation to any man, even the good ones, without it seeming like an over reaction that they can't understand. Or maybe it is an over reaction?

So what if men think it’s an overreaction, though? You feel how you feel. All your reactions don’t need to be couched in terms ‘men’ can understand.

I was just thinking in terms of explaining how these things make women feel I.e. educating the ones who might help if they understood.

Could be Tourette syndrome? I mutter weird stuff to myself all the time and I think I might have it.

It's neither really. Not as what I understand them to be anyway. It's unsettling, it's weird, it puts your guard up, it gets into your head.

If you ask how they would feel if a woman said it to them they would think they were gorgeous, and boost them up. If a man said it to them they would think nutter and dismiss it from their minds immediately. I don't think they can comprehend how those simple words can seem menacing to a woman imho.

You can’t, really, because it’s not a potential threat if a woman whispers ‘I love you’ while passing them on the street. Like a friend of mine, who, while entirely well-meaning, couldn’t really understand anti-Irish microaggressions in England, until she moved countries and began to get anti-English ones periodically.