Has 'me too' made flirting obsolete?

[Maskedsingeroctopus]

Does anyone else think this is a shame? Flirting was nice, for all genders, but seems to be banned and not allowed anymore.
Replaced by the delight that is online dating!

Yanbu: It's a shame. I miss a world without flirting where people have to meet by machine (and there is no light harmless joyous flirting, without intent too)
Yabu: I prefer it this way.

OMG flirting is not the same as chasing a woman round your hotel room wearing nothing but a dressing gown!
People still flirt all the time. Me too is not why no one is flirting with you.

Flirting isn’t obsolete because normal adult people can interact with another adult without making them feeing uncomfortable. A normal decent person can pick up on social cues and is aware of when another adult is reciprocal to having a chat, to being complimented etc.

It’s not rocket science is it?

Flirting's fine. Sexual harassment and/or assault is not.

Easy peasy.

If you flirt by sexually harassing people then you’re doing it wrong.

This.

#MeToo was about behaviour that girls considered creepy when I was young in the 70s and which (going by written accounts) girls considered creepy in the Edwardian age, behaviour which girls have always warned each other against and considered creepy, but have not dared to protest openly against before now. We didn't put up with it because we enjoyed it, you know. And we didn't flirt with creeps, we just tried to avoid scenes because we had been brought up that way and because we were scared.

Flirting - fine.
Sexual assault - not fine.

Hope that helps clear it up, unless you're deliberately being obtuse, in which case you're disgusting.

If the Me Too movement has changed the way someone treats women then:

a) they presumably had cause to think that the way they were treating women in the first place was borderline creepy

b) they knew it was actually sexual harassment and are now scared of getting called out

or

c) they were under-educated about boundaries and consent, and have found themselves enlightened because of the movement, which is a good thing.

We need a third option

YABU

YANBU

YA Talking Shite

There’s a difference between flirting and sexually harassing someone. If people can’t figure that out then yes it’s probably a good thing they are hesitant about doing it.

Do you flirt by putting your hands down someone's pants, OP?

Men haven't even taken the me too movement on board enough to stop raping. Let alone stop flirting.

@1300cakes exactly!

What a disgusting OP.

honeyloops sums it up.

Nobody is stopping flirting. People can be as coy or explicit as they want in their flirting between two consenting adults.

The issue was that so much sexual harassment was dressed up as flirting. It was "just" a friendly slap on the bum, cat calling was just a compliment and women should smile more etc. If a man didn't take no for an answer and kept making advances then that was a positive sign that he was into you, rather than a man who thought he could wear a woman down and grind her into saying yes to what he wanted because she should be glad he made the effort.
Quite rightly that sort of behaviour is being called out and women are kicking back at the ludicrous idea that a man ignoring consent and boundaries was ever a sign that he was loving and caring.

How ridiculous

Flirting still goes on always has and always will it’s how we interact some people flirt more than others

What hopefully MeToo has done is make men think before they pass what was once considered reasonable comments those that think they have the right to harass, sexually abuse or rape women I doubt have any second thoughts apart from thinking the world is unfair against men

I think the thing is that men aren’t sure where the line is
Poor men

If a man can't determine whether his advances are flirting or sexual harassment then I'm quite happy for him to just give up entirely cos likelihood is that he was not flirting.

You sound like one of those MRA types, dam those women for making the poor men scared to even look at anyone for fear of being accused of anything.

If you were flirting by groping people you don’t know how to flirt. HTH.

not voting as your entire premise is flawed and ridiculous.

the only kind of people who think the #MeToo phenomenon calling out constant misogyny and sexual abuse is tantamount to stopping people from flirting are sexists and misogynists.

flirting can and does absolutely happen and will continue to do so.

you may be thinking of those actions as performed by a male who believes women exist for his pleasure and are lucky to have his attention, and who defines a sexual assault as "just a bit of harmless flirting". hopefully those will go, and that is great, but that was never actually flirting.

Wtf has Weinstein physically holding women down and sexually assaulting them got to do with flirting.

Unhinged.

The 'me too' movement began as a social media meme: "me too, I have also been raped or sexually assaulted'. It showed how widespread those experiences are. It has nothing to do with flirting. Educate yourself.

Fucking hell, OP, what kind of flirting goes on in your experience that you equate it with #MeToo?

ODFOD

Great extract from an interview here where a couple of men (BenZand and Nish Kumar) point out how embarrassingly dumb the opening post sounds:

BZ: I don’t get it when men say, ‘You can’t kiss a girl now without being accused of sexual harassment.’ If you can’t judge when you’re making people feel uncomfortable…

NK: When Henry Cavill said, ‘I’m afraid to ask a woman out now’‚ I’m like, did you think Bill Cosby asked someone out too persistently?!

Posters are right - me too was about sexual harassment not banning flirting. However, I think what OP is saying is that it is very difficult to flirt (especially in the workplace) as there is the worry you could be accused of harassment (particularly if you are male).

Cherish123 If the MeToo movement made workplaces safer places with less fear of sexual harassment, that’s ok. If it prevents certain types of men from doing x, y and z in case it’s misconstrued, that’s ok.

Men who use “me too has ruined everything” aren’t the kind of men anyone wants flirting with them because they’re the men deliberately misinterpreting the fact that so many women in workplaces have endured sexual harassment or assault, laughing it off with “banter” or “harmless flirting”. Which is vile, to be honest.

It’s not difficult to understand the difference unless you’re one of those people.

Op - don’t be stupid