Thank you for your service
Used to do this before I came out as trans.
I still do this, but I also used to.
same. at the time, I could never quite explain why the idea of making someone uncomfortable like this bothered me so much. it went waaaay beyond normal courtesy or empathy and was a viscerally unpleasant feeling, like my skin was wrong.
I of course now realize a lot of those feelings were intense gender dysphoria from being perceived as both a man and as a threat. I still don’t blame anyone for responding in whatever way they need to feel safe, it just sucked that my presence was stressing someone out.
Now that I’ve transitioned further, it has been relieving to see how other women don’t tense up with me nearby now. I’m also now personally aware of why we have to be vigilant about men, which is… :yea:
See, but then I worry she thinks I’m trying to creep up on her so I gotta be really loud about it and “ON YOUR LEFT!” like a psycho from like a block away. And I’m not sure that’s better.😅
Just start sprinting when you shout so there’s less time before you pass her.
“I’M CROSSING THE STREET BECAUSE YOU’RE A WOMAN. NOT BECAUSE YOU’RE BLACK OR ASIAN!”
Lmao I am so glad I’m not the only one who overthinks these harmless interactions like that. I thought it was just the autism.
Was in this position walking down a dark highway to the bus stop at like 10pm. I’m a big guy so usually if I’m worried about seeming like I’m creeping up on a woman when I’m trying to pass her I’ll cross the road or something, but I couldn’t really dash over the highway. We were also both walking to the last bus and I didn’t wanna do the 8ish mile walk home in the middle of the night so I couldn’t hang too far back. Every time I tried to speed up a little bit to pass her she kept moving faster and I wish I could have just said “I’m sorry, I’m not chasing you, I’m just trying to pass you to be polite” without sounding like a psycho.
I was stoned and walking a few meters behind a woman who I’d thought saw me when we both turned onto the block, and she turned around and let out a solid yelp with panic in her eyes at my oblivious ass. I usually try and be conscious of such situations, but since it was in broad daylight near a busy street and all I didn’t think we’d have an issue idk. Mildly humorous, but I do feel bad, and I can only imagine that she has had some sort of previous experience that put her on edge (at the same time, I really hope it’s not due to true-crime/“everything is a sex trafficking scheme” brainworms, but I would doubt it)
“everything is a sex trafficking scheme” brainworms
about that….
:epstein:
Yeah I wonder if women would have a reason to disproportionately take up a hobby interest in studying violent crime 🧐
Wanted to avoid both being close behind someone, but also aggressively overtaking her a couple of days ago. I ended up just crossing the street.
Correct move and generally the right one if you can safely do so. Needs to be crossing + walking past us though. I’ve had creeps pace me from the other side of a street before :sadness-abysmal:
Yeah someone tailing you from across the street is rough. It’s usually a false alarm and they’re looking down at their phone and you can stop without them stopping. But I had a guy stare me down at night two days in a week. Like see me from across the road and start walking the same direction as me while staring at me. Fuck all of that
