To the men who have responded; there is a huge difference between an innocent compliment and a perverted cat call, or insult, or whatever the hell else these pigs like to throw out. It’s one thing to say “You look nice” or “I like your hairdo.” Even if you don’t know someone, these are innocent compliments which anyone can give/receive. However, men feel this privilege to talk about a woman’s body like they own it, like they can do whatever they want to it, whenever they want, with whomever. It makes me so sick. And yes, men face victimization as well, but NOT THE SAME KIND. Men face victimization concerning robbery or assault. Women face victimization in different ways, which are often more subtle but have complex social phenomena behind them, like how we are taught to “just ignore this issue because it’s basically a right that males have and there’s nothing we can really do about it” and all of this other bullshit. We have to deal with this shit on a daily basis, multiple times a day. We have to ignore other women being objectified, sexualized, and victimized in many different ways all around us, becuase if we don’t (if we called men out on this bullshit) we’d be labeled as crazy or bitches or FEMINIST DYKES (all misogynists favorite word, right?)

Anyway, back to the compliment v. harassment issue; as stated above, even a compliment itself carries with it a type of entitlement. A genuine compliment from someone who knows you, who actually has some sort of basis for saying it, is great. But even an innocent compliment of “You look great” is exerting male privilege; this man doesn’t know how you normally look (unless he’s stalking you), has no basis to compare it to (unless comparing it to other women in general, which in itself is an insult to women), and men very rarely use such mild language even for an “innocent compliment”. Most of these are along hte lines of “You have a great ass” or “You look so fine” or some other bullshit, which fits the harassment category. Futhermore, I know very few honest men that would walk up to a complete stranger who is a female and give them a compliment just to be kind or make them smile. If you truly think someone is beautiful, that’s fine. Just think it. Don’t feel the need to tell a woman how “hot” she is because (1)I REALLY doubt that she gives a fuck and (2) I’m even more sure that she doesn’t want ot hear it. If a woman is what most people consider beautiful, she knows it. She receives social messages all the time reflecting her “attractiveness”. She doesn’t need you, of all people, to tell her that.

Back to the harassment issue, I’m glad this thread is here, very nice. I must say that I wish there were bigger things that could be done to call men out on their creepy, ridiculous behaviors, but this is a nice baby step towards larger social change, and a nice way to share to empower yourself and other women. Thanks for sharing.

just say no to being a Cosmic Titty!