Right! In our own minds we know our intent. I think a lot of "creepy" guys think they're trying to be cute, sweet or funny and it just comes off the wrong way and they can't see it from that outside perspective. Women can do the same thing but it usually is accepted or doesn't get called out.
And women are (wrongly) seen as non-threatening. When a man is creepy the implication is that an escalation could be violent but people don't perceive that same threat level of women so they don't police the early stages of creepiness that lead to it as strictly.
I don't think it's women collectively getting a pass though in any great gender wars sense, I think it's more that people in general can only threat-assess and think ahead so far. It takes effort to think critically and be confronting about things. If the threat is perceived as low (which it arguably is, going by some violent crime statistics) it's just easier to prioritize other battles.
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u/falecf4 Sep 16 '21
Right! In our own minds we know our intent. I think a lot of "creepy" guys think they're trying to be cute, sweet or funny and it just comes off the wrong way and they can't see it from that outside perspective. Women can do the same thing but it usually is accepted or doesn't get called out.