 Originally Posted by FryingMan
Well, if we're talking about how things sound, that sounds entirely loony. You were on a *date* for heaven's sake, and we're talking about *holding hands*, and you jump all the way to "sexism" and "rape!" If you were in a situation with absolutely no cause for any expectation of even the tiniest amount of intimacy, like, say, *anything but a date* (work, school, the bus stop, any *non date* thing), then yes touches meant to foster small intimacy would be creepy and inappropriate. Note, however, that there are cultures where little nudges and touches are considered part of normal discourse (even [or especially!] between men). Notions of "personal space" vary greatly between people and cultures.
And it's not like he was mashing your chest or groin or anything. He was trying to get close to you in a very slow, delicate way, trying to judge your interest, and he got his answer big time.
Note the critical subtle importance here: it is not that he has the "right" to touch you and get all over you aggressively, but that on a date, yes, there is an implicit approval for tentative, more or less "friendly" initiation of contact, with the expectation that your date partner will not go crazy about it.
In other words, what you seemed to miss, was that he *was* asking, just not with words.
Mainly I had a problem with the fact that you seemed to come across as saying that women are yappy and men are touchy (gotta love those simplistic black and white gender roles), essentially saying "Shut your yappy trap, woman, and let me touch you when you don't want to be touched".
I just had a problem with the way he tried to be so secretive and sneaky about it. It wasn't as much about the touching, per se, as how he tried to go about it. Being sneaky about it is incredibly disrespectful to me (like trying to pull one over on me, instead of being honest). Granted, I do have a problem with people touching me in general. Regardless of gender, it's creepy no matter who does it. ALL strangers and public acquaintances are creepy to me when they touch me at all. My body is not yours to touch. Sometimes I feel like yelling out like Kuzco, "NO TOUCHY!!! NO TOUCHY!!!"
I honestly have no understanding of why people feel the need to touch complete strangers. I guess that's extroverts for you. Quite clearly, I am an introvert through and through. I would like to point out, also, that there are some cultures where touching like that is taboo, and people generally keep their hands off respectfully, as it is deemed and invasion of personal privacy to do otherwise.
I understand that dating is a different situation, especially when you expect to fool around soon, but I wish men would learn that it's not unreasonable to only touch when there has been explicit verbal permission to do so, especially when just getting to know each other. It's just plain common sense. Ask before handling somebody's possessions or property. With permission and respect of boundaries, it's fun, not creepy. Besides, given the potentially unsafe position women are always in whenever they date a man, it's understandable to be a bit gun shy. https://youtu.be/UTULoJlD_V4
I think my creep and terror senses coming from the puppets in that puppet room is what really set me off anyway. Before that I was happily holding hands with him down the sidewalk, starting to get used to being touched. Sadly, now whenever I'll think of him, I'll only be able to think of the damn puppets.
I was terrified of puppets ever since I saw those creepy Jim Henson production previews before muppet movies in the 90s. They were so weird and scared me so much, they practically traumatized me. Puppets are like my creepy clowns, or marionettes. Sesame Street and Lamb Chops are okay, and fun to watch, but some muppets stuff, Timmy The Tooth, Big Bear (whatever that was), The Wiggles, ALL traumatizingly scary. I watched a lot of creepy puppet stuff like Timmy The Tooth as a kid.
If anything though, it's slowly acclimating me to the experience of being touched by someone. I would just FAR rather be the one in control.
Rave: I bought a peach tree today, just after work. That's the best perk about working at a nursery; you get a discount on anything you want to grow or use in your garden... and I want to grow a BIG garden. I want to supply as much of my food needs as possible, since I have a fairly big backyard to try it in. Everybody's useless lawns could be used for crops to feed so many people...
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