• Katrisia@lemm.ee
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    15 hours ago

    That’s the experience for some neurodivergent or somehow naïve women the first time. I was one of them (I thought older men were being kind with my teenage self). Then you start getting the same comment again and again: it often feels insincere. You start suspecting and learning about all the ways [mostly] men can be manipulating or even dangerous in the streets. It starts becoming bittersweet; you learn to ignore it just in case it’s the people with bad intentions. You know that, if someone really wants to tell you that you’re pretty or something, they will make an effort to make you feel safer too. And then, you are in your twenties and those men don’t talk to you nearly as often, and it’s a relief. As a heterosexual/bisexual woman, you hope that the rest of men can see you as more than a pretty body: a human with dreams, hobbies sense of humor, intelligence, whatever. Sometimes it’s scary to know that many men don’t, but many others do, so… yeah, my leftism hopes it gets better, as with many other social issues.

    That’s my experience.

  • mm_maybe@sh.itjust.works
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    13 hours ago

    I think having anyone tell you to smile more in any situation that isn’t a posed photo is creepy because it’s invalidating your emotional state, or telling you to stop feeling your feelings and replace them with how the other person wants you to feel… the most fucked-up instance of this that’s happened to me was when a female therapist suggested “smiling more” as a prescription for depression.

    All that aside, I have actually been catcalled on the street by women, and since it doesn’t happen to me all the time I just found it funny. I have also been complimented in the office on my appearance by a female supervisor and it felt creepy, but had much worse sexual harassment from a male boss who apparently wasn’t even gay, just doing it to mess with me.

  • masquenox@lemmy.world
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    19 hours ago

    A woman once told me that. Oh boy, did that stick with me for a long time.

    A girl also told me I have nice eyes during high school. That was literally one of the bitterly few highlights of high school for me.

    • redisdead@lemmy.world
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      16 hours ago

      I wore a colorful shirt at school and a random girl told me she liked it. I wore colorful shirts every day at school for 2 whole years.

  • Kusimulkku@lemm.ee
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    1 day ago

    It was pretty funny when women thought “how would you feel if” would work in this case. They clearly didn’t know how starved of positive attention men are.

    • Sauerkraut@discuss.tchncs.de
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      22 hours ago

      Yeah, no one has ever told me that I had a beautiful smile and that I should smile more… I never get compliments and very rarely get any appreciation. I helped a friend of a friend fix electrical issues saving him thousands that he didn’t have? Just a generic “thanks.” The guy offered to feed me because his wife was getting chinese but his wife didn’t get me any and they just ate their food while I worked.

    • JackbyDev@programming.dev
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      19 hours ago

      positive attention

      So starved of positive attention that you mistake creepy demands for compliments?

      • Kusimulkku@lemm.ee
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        17 hours ago

        you look cute

        Definitely a compliment

        you should smile more

        Dunno what the intention was, I read it as “you look cute when you smile” but could be “you would look (even) cuter if you smiled”. If it’s either of those, that’s going to my compliment book.

        And yes, men are famine level starved of positive attention. So this “creepy demand” (demand??) defintely would count for me.

        • Shardikprime@lemmy.world
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          15 hours ago

          Last week people in Lemmy were arguing that someone knocking on your doorstep was akin to being a hostage, so yeah, they would clearly think of that as “demand”

          • yeather@lemmy.ca
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            12 hours ago

            Lemmy is full of the lowest common denominator spurred on by trolls. Nothing the collective said should ever be taken as serious without your own further research off platform.

  • Bonje@lemmy.world
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    17 hours ago

    I still remember the compliment i got about my eyebrows back in high school. I got super flustered and ran out of the class. I have a love/cringe relationship with that moment.

  • paddirn@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    A lady told me I have nice eyes once. That was 20+ years ago and I’ve never forgotten that shit.

  • LANIK2000@lemmy.world
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    22 hours ago

    The disconnect between women and men is sad. Women say soo many things with the best of intentions, that just end up cutting way too deep and vice versa.

    • Sauerkraut@discuss.tchncs.de
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      22 hours ago

      Someone told me I had an ugly smile once and I am still insecure about my smile to this day. If people told me I had a beautiful smile and that I should smile more, I think that would be amazing. I would be surprised, but really happy.

  • lurch (he/him)@sh.itjust.works
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    20 hours ago

    women don’t do that, because they subconsciously know like 80% of men (including me) would see that as an opportunity for a pickup line, like “I would, if you went out with me” or “a hug/kiss would cheer me up” or some other borderline creepy stuff.

    • Atlas_@lemmy.world
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      19 hours ago

      It’s not exactly a pickup line but it is expressing interest. And that’s how a lot of men use the line.

      • JackbyDev@programming.dev
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        19 hours ago

        Telling someone they should “smile more” isn’t expressing interest. It’s a very weird demand. If you’d like to express interest in someone please consider a different approach.

        • chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world
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          17 hours ago

          No, it’s the “you look cute” part. As a man, I rarely ever get compliments. A “you look cute” would make my entire day. And I would smile at that!

        • Guy Dudeman@lemmy.world
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          14 hours ago

          “You should smile more” is a subtle way of saying “why are you such a stuck up bitch? Am i not good enough for you?”

    • Guy Dudeman@lemmy.world
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      14 hours ago

      Why is it creepy to be attracted to someone and tell them you’re attracted to them? Isn’t that, like, biology? What we’re programmed to do?

      Is it creepy for male birds to do mating dances to try to impress female birds?

      • ByteOnBikes@slrpnk.net
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        13 hours ago

        Read the room though.

        At a dating event? Sure.

        At the bus stop? Uuuuh make small talk before that.

        At work? Yikes.

      • lurch (he/him)@sh.itjust.works
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        13 hours ago

        It’s creepy if they are not much attracted to you or don’t know yet and it’s hard to tell at first, hence you should be unobtrusive. The reason is, some men won’t take no for an answer and many women are a bit scared by that and knowing you like them can mean they have to be more careful around you.

    • ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      23 hours ago

      Tbh she’s probably right, I have resting bitch face at best or maybe smol depression at worst lol, it would probably help me develop new interpersonal relationships now that all my friends are dead (mostly OD) or moved (because they didn’t want to OD.)

      REAL FUN being the only person you know who avoided heroin/fent!

  • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    I’ve endured the male equivalent of this my whole life.

    “What’s wrong?”

    “Nothing. Why?”

    “You look angry.”

    “This is just my face!”

    • plzExplainNdetail@slrpnk.net
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      1 day ago

      That’s not really a male thing, nor is your example an equivalent. All sexes can get the angry face comment because people misinterpret others expressions wrong all the time. Not everyone is lucky enough to have resting beauty face. Heck just yesterday I was literally told by a nationally renowned dentist that my “small polite smile” would in fact labelled a grimace… oof.

      There is usually a sexual connotation in being told to smile (to look prettier to the viewers), while being asked if something is wrong generally doesn’t have the same sexual undertones/motivations. The equivalent to the post would literally be a woman getting catcalled/told to smile and them thinking about escape routes. The difference in the gender swap is when the guy hears the smile comment they move on thinking about smiling (as shown by your comment), while the lady hears the smile comment and wonders if she’s in an unsafe situation that could possibly end their life.

      Don’t get me wrong, both situations are awkward and uncomfortable to be in/navigate. Both put the onus the person hearing it to engage their defenses as to dispell/appease the accusations. And while both deal with fear, it really is just the power dynamics and inherent sexual nature that makes for entirely different interactions/outcomes.

      (I say woman/man but the scenario still stands when women= any person smaller or weaker and man= any person with an inherent power/advantage over another. So if a big guy did the same to a weaker guy, the scene plays out the same as a powerful lady and the frail lady, or a strong lady and smaller guy.)

      • Kusimulkku@lemm.ee
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        1 day ago

        Here we go, someone mentions how an issue affects men and it’s instantly shut down with “well women have it worse”.

        • Bobmighty@lemmy.world
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          15 hours ago

          Just like men do to women online. It’s almost like we’re an absurd ape species that didn’t evolve to appropriately handle the social tech we devised for ourselves. So much of online fighting is fake as hell too. What a stupid fucking ape creature we are.

          • Kusimulkku@lemm.ee
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            15 hours ago

            I feel like with men’s issues it’s more consistent, but as a man I probably notice it a lot more so who knows.