New Comic Day! Add your own alt text for panel 4.
The original text for that last panel was: “Ugh. Society dictates that I sit here and put up with you until you get bored or interrupted, because asking politely for you not to bother me might make you aggressive. However, playing along despite having no interest in pursuing this conversation would make me a ‘tease’ and therefore worthy of insult. Even though I’ve never met you and you’ve invaded my personal space without my permission, asking for the basic right of privacy would be considered ‘causing a scene.’ I hate you for putting me in this position, and you don’t even realize it.”
It didn’t quite fit.
I have lived through Kate’s elaborated text description to this comic so. many. times. Especially in the last twelve months, my Unwanted Scary Male Attention encounters have been through the goddamn roof. It makes me fucking terrified and furious (but secretly, because I’m afraid of bringing out the offending guys’ aggression against me or ‘making a scene’ if I tell them to leave me alone)
ASDLKFJALS;DKFJLAS;DKJ SO MUCH OF DIS.
Hey guys, you may not realize it, but women expect you to be psychic when they’re rejecting you. You took the time to build up the confidence to speak to a girl AND SHE HATES YOU FOR IT, HOW DARE YOU. She shouldn’t have to explicitly tell you she’s not interested, you should be Professor Xavier and just MAGICALLY KNOW.
There’s so much more behind it than just “I don’t want to tell this person I’m not interested.” Most of us are so inherently used to receiving a disproportionately angry/pushy response if we ever dare to honestly tell a dude we’re not into it (ie. The good ol’, “Whatever. You’re ugly/bitchy/fat/a cunt/slutty anyways,” or the ever popular and persistent, “Come on, don’t be so shy/rude, baby.”) that we end up just silently resenting the situation, hoping they’ll pick up on closed body language, and go away under their own volition. There’s also that whole pesky thing where we’re socialized to constantly assess the danger of all situations because the vast majority think it’s easier to tell ladies to follow the “rules” than it is to teach everyone about enthusiastic consent, and, you know, we could also talk about boundaries and perceived entitlement. It’s not that no one should ever approach anyone else, it’s just that we should all start paying way more attention to body language. Cute person smiles at you? Super babe shoots you a wink? Stone fox keeps glancing at you? Go for it. Attractive person sitting alone, avoiding eye contact, reading a book/talking to no one? Yeah, probably not.
01.16.12 @ 20:50
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