A worrying trend is gripping the nation - lone men making inappropriate comments to young women is now so popular it could be it's own Olympic sport.
So far this month when walking home/to work/around town on my own in broad daylight I've had the following comments hissed at me by various lone men aged over 30 with personal space issues:
'Cracking tits'
'great rack'
'nice arse'
'oh yes darling'
'I'd like some of that'
'smile for me beautiful' (to anyone who doesn't see the issue with this I would like to remind you that women in no way exist purely to look atheistically pleasing to some random BO scented creep)
And a man making a kissing noise.
I'm not a stunner, I dress modestly and my 'tits' far from being 'cracking' struggle to fit a b-cup.
Now this isn't a new thing, the leery perv is a fairly common figure in most cultures, but there are quite a few things giving cause for concern with this behaviour:
1) I look very young. I might be 22 but I have (far too regularly) been informed that I look like I'm in my mid teens. When dressed in my casual clothes these guys probably think they are making these comments to a teenager.
2) These guys are getting a private kick out of making these comments. These aren't groups of lads showing off to each other (not that that's anymore acceptable) - they are on their own - there must be some weird personal gain going on.
3) No man in his right frame of mind could seriously think that making sexualised comments to a stranger could be taken as a compliment. Especially when said stranger is almost a foot shorter than them, clearly lacking upper body strength and walking alone. It's the kind of behaviour that makes me want to employ a 7ft tall body builder to return the 'favour' and follow some lone perv up the street he lives on complementing his arse. Something tells me they wouldn't like it very much.
Whatever this sleazy repulsiveness is about, it's not about charming women. In fact the only conclusion I can come to is that it is some desperate omega male attempt at asserting dominance over women. They must like making girls afraid of being followed home and enjoy the look of mingled fear and revulsion they inspire. There may be some that genuinely are so thick they mistake utter disgust for fathomless desire but, unfortunately, I have a sneaking suspicion that really this sort of behaviour just gives them a good old shot of superiority.
In short, this sort of behaviour should be unacceptable in a country that ostensibly believes in gender equality. Women being frequnetly being treated like objects in the street by total strangers does not sound like a happy clappy equal society to me.
To put a male perspective on this, this weekend I was having one of my regular 'but objectification of and discrimination against women ARE still issues in the UK' conversations with my unconvinced boyfriend. Then, after on each successive occasion we went out TOGETHER I received comments from lads/beeps from vans, he said 'what the hell?! Do you get that a lot?' I answered 'Well I'm a young woman. So yes'. His response? 'that's horrible, I can't believe there's still that many men like that'. Unfortunately, there are a heck of a lot.
And for those who will probably say 'well the way girls dress nowadays they're basically asking for it' 1) bullshit, 2) today I was wearing a large cardigan, thick tights and glasses while carrying heavy shopping bags, how alluring.
So in summary, please dear god if you are one of, or are friends with any of, these men who behave in this way set the record straight: it is in no way shape or form ok to talk to women like this. Stop it now. Seriously.
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