Open Letter
May. 31st, 2007 08:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
emmelinemay<Rant>
Dear To Men,
I know this is a subject which has been brought to your attention numerous times, by women you know, strangers in the street, documentaries, newspapers and various other forms. But you are clearly not getting it.
Women, believe it or not, do not necessarily want your attention.
I know this may come as a shock to you. It certainly seemed to come as a shock to the four men who - separately - approached me last night, after half 10pm, while I was unlocking my bike outside Sainsbury's. They all seemed very surprised indeed that a young, lone, small blonde woman would be undesirous of the attentions of a lone man at night. One was so surprised, in fact, that I rebuffed his attentions, that he seemed to arrive at the conclusion that I was a 'fucking slut'. I am rather bemused at this deduction, as I would have thought that that type of woman would, in fact, have welcomed such advances.
Women also do not like being yelled at from men in cars, vans, lorries and building sites. I know this may come as a terrible shock, as I am sure from the frequency with which it occurs, men must find this a particularly successful way of getting a date. I should note that yelling at a woman who is turning right at a busy road, merely to tell her that you can see her bum, and that you approve, is not a good way to ingratiate yourself with said girl. You are far more likely to find that when you a stopped at the next junction, your tail light will be kicked in. Or it would have been, had I caught up with you.
I am aware that in the animal world, male birds strut and whistle particular tunes to attract a mate. I am sorry to inform you that this method does not work for humans. In fact, the next man that tries to attract me by adopting a pigeon chested stature, whistling at me, and calling out the mating chant of the Greater Spotted Twat, "alrite darlin" will find that his reproductive equipment experience rearranging when they meet my shoe, at speed.
If you see a woman you find attractive on the street, or in public, here is a handy guide to prevent you being murdered by a woman who is finally at the end of her temper with idiots who fail to recognise that women are people, and not things to be pulled, raped, mugged, or just shouted at in a moment of boredom.
• Don't be an unmitigating bastard. If you are one of these, then stick to pulling desperate drunk women in bars.
• Make sure you are good looking, or at least dressed well, clean, and that you smell ok. If you are unwashed, unsanitary, sweaty, or have a third ear in the middle of your forehead, may I recommend a bath, deodorant and possibly even surgery. If you have any female friends, ask them for their advice on your appearance. Do not get cross if you do not agree with their recommendations. The best way to attract a woman, is to listen to what women think of you. If you think you know better, then you have an answer, right there, as to why you are still alone.
• Do not approach any lone women you do not already know late at night. Some men do not seem to realise, but women have an inbuilt fear of men at night, which prompts us to automatically reject a suitor who approaches in this way. WE WILL ASSUME YOU WANT TO RAPE US. Even if this is not your intention, let me assure you, WE WILL ASSUME YOU WANT TO RAPE US. Whether this is experience, genetic hard-wiring, social conditioning, or something else, I do not know - although I personally beleive it's part of that entirely necessary fight or flight instinct. Part of our brain says DANGER. RUN/FIGHT NOW. Let me assure you, that in 99% of circumstances, lone women at night who are approached by men WILL ASSUME YOU WANT TO RAPE THEM. That other 1% may assume the same thing, but they usually get payment in advance.
• If you do make the error of approaching a lone woman late at night, and you receive an angry, fearful or violent response from the woman, and you are unsure why, please refer to the point above. Women, when they are scared, often respond with anger, and thus may shout at you. If this does occur, the best course of action is to back away, apologise, and leave her alone. If you follow her, or try to continue the conversation, SHE WILL ASSUME YOU WANT TO RAPE HER. If she does get angry and shout at you, I would suggest that, owing to the point above, that this is a PERFECTLY VALID AND SANE RESPONSE.
• Many men seem to be surprised by the reaction of women such as I have described above. I have witnessed men being upset and hurt, even shocked by having their advances rebuffed. As men really do not seem to understand why a woman might reject their advances, I shall try to explain it very, very slowly.
WE. ASSUME. YOU. WANT. TO. RAPE. US.
• Just in case you are still confused, I shall clarify further.
WE DO NOT WANT TO HAVE SEX WITH YOU. IF YOU TRY TO HAVE SEX WITH US WHEN WE DO NOT WANT YOU TO THIS IS RAPE. WHEN YOU APPROACH US LATE AT NIGHT WE ASSUME YOU WANT TO HAVE SEX WITH US. THEREFORE: WHEN YOU APPROACH US LATE AT NIGHT, WE ASSUME YOU WANT TO RAPE US.
• IF you do see a woman in public you think is beautiful, and you would like to take her for a drink (and not just have sex with her) then she may actually quite like it if you ask her. However, this is dependant on your surroundings.
Appropriate places:
Anywhere with lots of people, e.g. the underground, supermarkets, libraries, coffee shops.
Places where people go to socialise, e.g. pubs, clubs
Inappropriate places:
Dark alleyways
Deserted streets
Public toilets
Night buses
Anywhere she is on her own and no one else is around
When she is unlocking her bike from an area notorious for bike theft, theft and violent crime when everything around you is closed
Good ways to start the conversation:
'I'm sorry, I hope you don't think this is weird, well, i mean it is, but you're really pretty, I don't suppose you'd let me buy you a coffee?'
'I know this is a bit weird, and I'm a total stranger, and please tell me to fuck off if you want to, but you just looked too beautiful to let you walk past me and out of my life without me stopping to ask you your name'
Something like that. ALWAYS acknowledge your actions in approaching a stranger are weird. ALWAYS give her the option of backing off.
Bad ways to start the conversation:
'Alrit darlin'
'great tits luv'
'fancy one do ya?'
'OI OI!!!! OI!!! OI YOU!!!!'
NEVER EVER EVER get pissed off if she says 'no'.
• Sometimes, there are some very obvious signs a woman is busy, and attempting conversation may be an error. For example:
- She is reading a book
- She is listening to music
- She is on the phone
Women often do these things because they enjoy them. Some men seem to believe that women only do these things to fill up the time in between when men are talking to them. This is an erroneous assumption ,and foolish in the extreme.
If a woman is reading, and you talk to her, and she continues to hold the book/magazine/newspaper in the same position and continues to read, then she is NOT INTERESTED IN TALKING TO YOU.
• I am repeating this because it is probably the most important piece of information you will ever know about women. You must always bear this in mind when approaching any woman. We live in fear of being raped. We just do. We may not think about it all the time, but it's there, at the back of our mind when we walk home. When we walk to the bus stop at night. When we wait to meet someone. When we're surrounded by men we don't know. When we are walking on unfamiliar streets. When a man we don't know approaches us. When we feel lonely, vulnerable, far from home. This is why we do not like it when men yell at us. When they whistle. When they jeer and hoot and shout lewd things from cars. When a man on the street asks us for a cigarette. It is a constant, and occasionally all consuming fear that we will always have. And it is why we reject advances with such volume and stress. Because we are AFRAID because you are BIGGER than us, and STRONGER than us and WE DO NOT WANT TO HAVE SEX WITH YOU.
• If you do not understand any of the above, there is no hope for you.
Yours sincerely,
Me.
P.s. the next man that approaches me late at night while I'm on my own is going to find out exactly what it feels like to have an Abus maximum security D-lock repeatedly slammed into their head. Purely in the name of science, of course.
</Rant>
EDIT: I'm adding this in, to the guys reading this who are saying 'hey, we're not all like this...'
Men don't get it, because they're either too nice to understand why other men would behave like that, or they're the fucktards doing it in the first place.
EDIT: A small number of women have said they don't fear rape per se, more attack. I'm not going to change it, because I think it's the fundamental difference between women and men walking home at night - men might fear attack/theft/mugging, but there's something much more basic, more primal, more personal about the fear of rape than the fear of attack. And these men that say 'allo darling' - well - these are SEXUAL ADVANCES. And we don't respond badly to them because we think these men are going to take our phone or our wallet. I'm not telling you 'YOU FEAR RAPE'. I'm explaining WHY women react badly in those situations. I would go as far to say that some of you have misunderstood my point, zoned in on one part, thought 'she says i fear rape! no i don't!!' and not taken into account the *context*.
If you do still take issue with the use of the word 'rape' - please feel free to re-read substituting the word 'rape' for 'hurt'.
EDIT: 'To Men' - it will stand. I know there are exemptions, but it's making people read it, and if it wasn't controversial, who'd bother? ;) I do accept some of you have valid reasons for taking issue with 'To Men', and I agree with those points, but again, it will stand, mainly because I think it's funnier. I will also direct you to this excellent comment which is written better than i managed.
I know this is a subject which has been brought to your attention numerous times, by women you know, strangers in the street, documentaries, newspapers and various other forms. But you are clearly not getting it.
Women, believe it or not, do not necessarily want your attention.
I know this may come as a shock to you. It certainly seemed to come as a shock to the four men who - separately - approached me last night, after half 10pm, while I was unlocking my bike outside Sainsbury's. They all seemed very surprised indeed that a young, lone, small blonde woman would be undesirous of the attentions of a lone man at night. One was so surprised, in fact, that I rebuffed his attentions, that he seemed to arrive at the conclusion that I was a 'fucking slut'. I am rather bemused at this deduction, as I would have thought that that type of woman would, in fact, have welcomed such advances.
Women also do not like being yelled at from men in cars, vans, lorries and building sites. I know this may come as a terrible shock, as I am sure from the frequency with which it occurs, men must find this a particularly successful way of getting a date. I should note that yelling at a woman who is turning right at a busy road, merely to tell her that you can see her bum, and that you approve, is not a good way to ingratiate yourself with said girl. You are far more likely to find that when you a stopped at the next junction, your tail light will be kicked in. Or it would have been, had I caught up with you.
I am aware that in the animal world, male birds strut and whistle particular tunes to attract a mate. I am sorry to inform you that this method does not work for humans. In fact, the next man that tries to attract me by adopting a pigeon chested stature, whistling at me, and calling out the mating chant of the Greater Spotted Twat, "alrite darlin" will find that his reproductive equipment experience rearranging when they meet my shoe, at speed.
If you see a woman you find attractive on the street, or in public, here is a handy guide to prevent you being murdered by a woman who is finally at the end of her temper with idiots who fail to recognise that women are people, and not things to be pulled, raped, mugged, or just shouted at in a moment of boredom.
• Don't be an unmitigating bastard. If you are one of these, then stick to pulling desperate drunk women in bars.
• Make sure you are good looking, or at least dressed well, clean, and that you smell ok. If you are unwashed, unsanitary, sweaty, or have a third ear in the middle of your forehead, may I recommend a bath, deodorant and possibly even surgery. If you have any female friends, ask them for their advice on your appearance. Do not get cross if you do not agree with their recommendations. The best way to attract a woman, is to listen to what women think of you. If you think you know better, then you have an answer, right there, as to why you are still alone.
• Do not approach any lone women you do not already know late at night. Some men do not seem to realise, but women have an inbuilt fear of men at night, which prompts us to automatically reject a suitor who approaches in this way. WE WILL ASSUME YOU WANT TO RAPE US. Even if this is not your intention, let me assure you, WE WILL ASSUME YOU WANT TO RAPE US. Whether this is experience, genetic hard-wiring, social conditioning, or something else, I do not know - although I personally beleive it's part of that entirely necessary fight or flight instinct. Part of our brain says DANGER. RUN/FIGHT NOW. Let me assure you, that in 99% of circumstances, lone women at night who are approached by men WILL ASSUME YOU WANT TO RAPE THEM. That other 1% may assume the same thing, but they usually get payment in advance.
• If you do make the error of approaching a lone woman late at night, and you receive an angry, fearful or violent response from the woman, and you are unsure why, please refer to the point above. Women, when they are scared, often respond with anger, and thus may shout at you. If this does occur, the best course of action is to back away, apologise, and leave her alone. If you follow her, or try to continue the conversation, SHE WILL ASSUME YOU WANT TO RAPE HER. If she does get angry and shout at you, I would suggest that, owing to the point above, that this is a PERFECTLY VALID AND SANE RESPONSE.
• Many men seem to be surprised by the reaction of women such as I have described above. I have witnessed men being upset and hurt, even shocked by having their advances rebuffed. As men really do not seem to understand why a woman might reject their advances, I shall try to explain it very, very slowly.
WE. ASSUME. YOU. WANT. TO. RAPE. US.
• Just in case you are still confused, I shall clarify further.
WE DO NOT WANT TO HAVE SEX WITH YOU. IF YOU TRY TO HAVE SEX WITH US WHEN WE DO NOT WANT YOU TO THIS IS RAPE. WHEN YOU APPROACH US LATE AT NIGHT WE ASSUME YOU WANT TO HAVE SEX WITH US. THEREFORE: WHEN YOU APPROACH US LATE AT NIGHT, WE ASSUME YOU WANT TO RAPE US.
• IF you do see a woman in public you think is beautiful, and you would like to take her for a drink (and not just have sex with her) then she may actually quite like it if you ask her. However, this is dependant on your surroundings.
Appropriate places:
Anywhere with lots of people, e.g. the underground, supermarkets, libraries, coffee shops.
Places where people go to socialise, e.g. pubs, clubs
Inappropriate places:
Dark alleyways
Deserted streets
Public toilets
Night buses
Anywhere she is on her own and no one else is around
When she is unlocking her bike from an area notorious for bike theft, theft and violent crime when everything around you is closed
Good ways to start the conversation:
'I'm sorry, I hope you don't think this is weird, well, i mean it is, but you're really pretty, I don't suppose you'd let me buy you a coffee?'
'I know this is a bit weird, and I'm a total stranger, and please tell me to fuck off if you want to, but you just looked too beautiful to let you walk past me and out of my life without me stopping to ask you your name'
Something like that. ALWAYS acknowledge your actions in approaching a stranger are weird. ALWAYS give her the option of backing off.
Bad ways to start the conversation:
'Alrit darlin'
'great tits luv'
'fancy one do ya?'
'OI OI!!!! OI!!! OI YOU!!!!'
NEVER EVER EVER get pissed off if she says 'no'.
• Sometimes, there are some very obvious signs a woman is busy, and attempting conversation may be an error. For example:
- She is reading a book
- She is listening to music
- She is on the phone
Women often do these things because they enjoy them. Some men seem to believe that women only do these things to fill up the time in between when men are talking to them. This is an erroneous assumption ,and foolish in the extreme.
If a woman is reading, and you talk to her, and she continues to hold the book/magazine/newspaper in the same position and continues to read, then she is NOT INTERESTED IN TALKING TO YOU.
• I am repeating this because it is probably the most important piece of information you will ever know about women. You must always bear this in mind when approaching any woman. We live in fear of being raped. We just do. We may not think about it all the time, but it's there, at the back of our mind when we walk home. When we walk to the bus stop at night. When we wait to meet someone. When we're surrounded by men we don't know. When we are walking on unfamiliar streets. When a man we don't know approaches us. When we feel lonely, vulnerable, far from home. This is why we do not like it when men yell at us. When they whistle. When they jeer and hoot and shout lewd things from cars. When a man on the street asks us for a cigarette. It is a constant, and occasionally all consuming fear that we will always have. And it is why we reject advances with such volume and stress. Because we are AFRAID because you are BIGGER than us, and STRONGER than us and WE DO NOT WANT TO HAVE SEX WITH YOU.
• If you do not understand any of the above, there is no hope for you.
Yours sincerely,
Me.
P.s. the next man that approaches me late at night while I'm on my own is going to find out exactly what it feels like to have an Abus maximum security D-lock repeatedly slammed into their head. Purely in the name of science, of course.
</Rant>
EDIT: I'm adding this in, to the guys reading this who are saying 'hey, we're not all like this...'
Men don't get it, because they're either too nice to understand why other men would behave like that, or they're the fucktards doing it in the first place.
EDIT: A small number of women have said they don't fear rape per se, more attack. I'm not going to change it, because I think it's the fundamental difference between women and men walking home at night - men might fear attack/theft/mugging, but there's something much more basic, more primal, more personal about the fear of rape than the fear of attack. And these men that say 'allo darling' - well - these are SEXUAL ADVANCES. And we don't respond badly to them because we think these men are going to take our phone or our wallet. I'm not telling you 'YOU FEAR RAPE'. I'm explaining WHY women react badly in those situations. I would go as far to say that some of you have misunderstood my point, zoned in on one part, thought 'she says i fear rape! no i don't!!' and not taken into account the *context*.
If you do still take issue with the use of the word 'rape' - please feel free to re-read substituting the word 'rape' for 'hurt'.
EDIT: 'To Men' - it will stand. I know there are exemptions, but it's making people read it, and if it wasn't controversial, who'd bother? ;) I do accept some of you have valid reasons for taking issue with 'To Men', and I agree with those points, but again, it will stand, mainly because I think it's funnier. I will also direct you to this excellent comment which is written better than i managed.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-05-31 08:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-31 08:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-31 08:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-31 08:40 am (UTC)I was just thinking about this last night, when some bloke tried very hard to get my attention as I walked home, alone, in Stratford, at gone 11pm. He seemed really surprised and offended when I ignored him and just walked a little faster.
If I hadn't been scared of the consequences I would have gone over to him and explained very clearly that there if you want to get to know a woman better, you approach her in daylight, with other people around, by introducing yourself (what is it with that? Why do so many men seem to think it's acceptable to demand to know your name, without thinking of offering their own?); you don't shout "Hello darling! Oy! Darling! Hello!" at her when she's on her own and feeling vulnerable, late at night in a less than entirely salubrious area. It really does boggle me that people think this is acceptable behaviour.
I have _once_ been chatted up on the street in an aceeptable way; it was daylight, I was coming home from the supermarket, and a bloke said "Hello" and asked if it was OK for him to walk with me a little way., and then introduced himself. Nice bloke, we had a good chat, and I didn't feel vulnerable. In fact, we bumped into each other again a while later, and chatted again, and if I saw him around now, I'd probably be quite willing to go for a coffee with him.
But the guys who shout from cars, or try to talk to me when it's late and dark and I'm on my own? Do they _honestly_ think that I'm stupid enough to want anything to do with them?
no subject
Date: 2007-05-31 08:41 am (UTC)i hate the fact that this is true :(
no subject
Date: 2007-05-31 08:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-31 08:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-31 08:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-31 08:53 am (UTC)But thing is, women know that every word i've written is true.
And men really don't get it.
We really, truly, honestly do almost constantly fear rape. There are two sorts of men - the sort that understand wht i've written, and realise is isn't directed at them, and those that can't understand why every word is true. Those are the men this is directed at.
no subject
Date: 2007-05-31 08:54 am (UTC)"Oi darlin'! Oi darlin'! I'm a wanker, ha ha ha. I'm a wanker!"
no subject
Date: 2007-05-31 08:55 am (UTC)But that said, it would probably have the complete opposite effect on their perception of their safety to offer such. >_< goddamnit.
This is why girls should be issued weaponry. Equalisation is the solution.
no subject
Date: 2007-05-31 08:56 am (UTC)This is not an isolated incident. 4 men last night, and the van man was today, and the 'allo dalring' bloke round the corner from work.
Our friends can't be there all the time, and women have this happpen to them on a daily basis. We shouldn't need to have to make sure a male friend can accompany us every where.
It makes me really sad that 50%(ish) of the population have to be constantly wary of the other 50%(ish) because some of that latter 50%(ish) are fucking morons.
no subject
Date: 2007-05-31 08:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-31 09:01 am (UTC)I don't think a lot of guys realise HOW often it happens to women. The few occasions i've been with a male friend or boyfriend and have been groped/approached etc they've gone MENTAL and it's so hard to explain 'look, it happens all the time...'
and WHEEEEEE i got an *applause* from
no subject
Date: 2007-05-31 09:04 am (UTC)I do not think every guy is going to rape me, otherwise i'd never leave the house or talk to anyone, but this is mainly because i'm 5' 8" and x stone... but i still get all these comments from men and its still intimidating, condescending and misogynistic. When has any man ever pulled this way, or think that women like it, or get some kick out of it????
I've always said there is quite simply - if you like a girl, go up, introduce yourself - possible buy her a drink - ask her about herself - !!!!!
no subject
Date: 2007-05-31 09:10 am (UTC)Why am i arguing? I agree with you: men bad.
x
no subject
Date: 2007-05-31 09:11 am (UTC)I do want to say, however, that:
'I know this is a bit weird, and I'm a total stranger, and please tell me to fuck off if you want to, but you just looked too beautiful to let you walk past me and out of my life without me stopping to ask you your name' did make me smile. I have to admit that the one question I've wanted to ask lots of people I see rather than their name as above is "what makes your life interesting?". I dunno, possibly I'm just a bit weird, but I suspect you knew that already. :-)
no subject
Date: 2007-05-31 09:13 am (UTC)And the worst thing is that sometimes, even the ones you know to be nice guys turn out to be a threat too; woman are, after all, far more likely to be raped by someone they know, maybe even the guy who offered to walk them home safely, than by a stranger, and while of course that doesn't mean that every man who offers to walk us home is a rapist, it does mean that we can't win; if we walk home alone, we're at risk (and if anything happens, we'll be blamed for putting ourselves at risk) and if we get someone to walk us home were at risk (and if anything ahppens, we'll be blamed for putting ourselves at risk).
no subject
Date: 2007-05-31 09:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-31 09:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-31 09:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-31 09:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-31 09:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-31 09:31 am (UTC)I think the thing that i've since been able to clarify is there are the men that don't understand because they are nice and would never do such a a thing, and the men that don't understand because they DO do these things.
So in a way, even the nice guys don't get it. Does that make sense?
no subject
Date: 2007-05-31 09:36 am (UTC)