Maybe I should stop walking places idk.

[Sahaqiel 1232]

So I lack a bike, because I have gotten two of them stolen from folks with bolt cutters. So I walk places. I'm alright with this. I walk all up in the middle of the night with only a vague feeling of being on edge. Mostly it's peaceful and whatever. I never run into anyone who's too rowdy.

Now secondly, I think many of you know by now I'm at least a little androgynous. My mode of dress is ambiguous, I shave my legs, my hair is long, etc. I like my little niche of gender neutrality. Though most of the time, the give-away is adam's apple (it is quite protrusive) and shoulders (which go unnoticed sometimes), and since I conceal my face, they don't quite immediately see my relatively "masculine" facial features. From behind, especially when I have a bag concealing my hips or something, even I am like "wow I can see where they mix this up". So that's all fine and dandy with me. Don't really care. I get mistaken for a girl a lot, or people have to ask, which is fine. I get a lol or two out of it.

But recently, folks have been just all up on me. Not physically, it's just. I've been offered rides by two different groups in cars, who thought they were going to pick up a girl off the road. I'm pretty recognizable and well known to those who had high school with me, so I am used to just walking along and being offered rides by people I know, so I didn't find it odd when some people honked at me and pulled over. I just started to wonder who they were and where I knew them from. Then it's just some random dudes.

But lol even that I'm not too drastically worried about. I stay a safe distance away from the car, let them realize their mistake, and they drive off. The first two occurrences, plus a run in with a really suspicious guy who was following me multiple blocks with about two blocks of space in between us, were at night. So I understand where that might be dangerous.

But today, I was walking home from classes in broad daylight at 10 or 11 in the morning, and this person in an expensive looking sports car honks at me, and I'm like ???. Not wanting to break my pace or stop blasting dem bangin' tunes, after he parked, I just gestured that I didn't want a ride or whatever, hoping he'd catch what I was trying to say. But he honked again and pulled up to the exit of the parking lot. (This was a highly populated main street type place, so I wasn't too worried. I do gauge the situation lol)

So I'm like ugh fine and I walk over to see what he wants. So he's on his phone or whatever and he gets off. And he's like, "Hey baby, just seeing how you're doin'. Maybe wanna' suck some dick or something."

Like, he pulled out a hundred dollar bill and asked for prostitution services from me.

And this wasn't at night or anything hrrrnnng. It wasn't even the afternoon. I haven't even gotten rid of my facial hair properly today. and you can see it. I honestly don't know if he realized I'm a guy or not. Normally that's enough to make them go away, but the guy was like, "You sure?" I politely declined and walked off, putting my headphones back on, after he was like well ok. He really wanted some fellatio.

is this what happens to actual women when they walk places

I didn't think that was a real thing.

[2356 23]

That's... That's kind of horrifying, yeah. I think this is the part where you carry around pepper spray now too.

[Compulsia 2]

Thats really creepy :/

I've never had something to that extent happen to me but I've had to deal with some creeps, they suck.

Yay pepper spray tho :3

[2356 23]

I have been hit on by some 40-somewhat year old men :/

Calmly told one I was 16 at the time and he was like "why you're just a baby! Sorry about that"

Me: np np. (UUuuuugh D: Go away far away)

[T1g 1503]

yeah i am pretty sure this doesn't happen to normal women. especially in our area.

get a puppying vespa already

[Compulsia 2]

Ew creepy old men are the worst D:

[Cirt 612]

Where I live, I could see that happening, but you chances of actually getting raped rather than honked at are higher. No lie.

I always carry pepper spray in my purse. It's annoying because you're either on campus with the students of the university, or you're in the Projects.

and ya I've been hit on by creepy older guys before but nothing like that. That's scary, Saha, even if you are a guy.

[Chase 390]

See, this is what I like about having broad shoulders and an obviously masculine face/hairstyle. I don't get any of this. Everyone I pass on the street either gives me a smile and a nod, just a nod, or doesn't acknowledge me. I've only ever gotten one advance from a man before, and he was gay.

Now, women kind of do this, but in a less creepy way. They'll giggle and laugh with their friends, then the girl that likes me (or her friend) will come up and try to make small talk or will just hand me her number. And that's okay, I guess. I'm not really afraid of being raped by women. I would just consider that "sex" lol.

I don't know what it's like to fear being raped at night. I've literally walked in the worst part of town at night just because I could. I honestly don't believe anyone would mess with me, and if they did, I would put up a good fight.

My friend Emily called me one night around 3 A.M. and woke me up. She was outside of our dorm room sitting in her car, and she said she was scared of these guys hanging around and asked me to walk her to her room. I was tired as hell and kind of groggy so I said "surrre, okay" and came outside. I didn't think the guys looked all that menacing, but I guess it's all about perspective. If I was an attractive teenage girl, then I might gauge the situation differently. Regardless, I came out to meet her and we reached her room without incident.

You could definitely start an interesting social experiment, Saha. You should do something like one month looking as feminine as possible without actually looking "girly" and then the next month cut your hair, stop shaving your face and legs, and try to look as masculine as possible. I'd love to hear how people's reactions to seeing you would change.

I don't really know why, but I think people just respect men more. Maybe it's a subconscious thing, or maybe it's because most of the people that do this kind of stuff are men, but men just tend to get more respect...unless they are small and/or look like a woman.

[なべ 184]

Just quit being so darn sexy.

[Cascade 741]

YYYYYYYeah I'm just going to keep my mouth shut and not argue with that. (oh god this looks wrong now lolll, you know what I'm talking about)

Saha, this sometimes happens to me when I'm out lol. These group of guys biked by me once and like, shouted "hey sexy lady!" at me, rang their bells and whistled at me. Somehow it was kinda flattering (lol who knows why) but it also like... wtf I didn't even dress girly lol. It makes me feel good that I can pass as a lady though.

Old creepers are the worst though yeah. Especially when they reek of booze and demand cigs and try and grab you and ughghghgh. This is why I don't like going near the bus station in Stirling lol. It's like a puppying army of them. Maybe I should buy pepper spray too... it'd help with the stupid neds too. :x

I think it's pretty sickening that some have to carry the fear of being raped whilst walking home, like, our society kinda sucks on a lot of shit like this lol. Hence why I'm a sociology student. And I'm resisting the temptation to start rambling about statistics on this so like, lol. when do my actual classes on this start. I need to ramble somewhere.

Guns are not the answer lol.

[Grandmaster Phoenix 26]

You need to carry an actual handgun. An open carry pistol, even CO2 will make people not bother you so much.

In Illinois, you are allowed to OC a handgun at age 18. You are NOT allowed to have this gun in a vehicle, in a resturnat that serves alchohol, in an airport, or in the city of Chicago (Without registration). No college campuses either.

[Aethix 129]

I don't know what's wrong with some people. I mean, I could never imagine myself soliciting sex from strangers. It's just too disgusting to even consider.

I know Florida's legislature briefly considered passing a law to allow guns on college campuses, but it never went anywhere. I don't think I'll ever carry a concealed gun though, just because guns and Asperger's don't mix. At all.

[Chimetals 344]

Saha, this sometimes happens to me when I'm out lol. These group of guys biked by me once and like, shouted "hey sexy lady!" at me, rang their bells and whistled at me. Somehow it was kinda flattering (lol who knows why) but it also like... wtf I didn't even dress girly lol. It makes me feel good that I can pass as a lady though.

i really want /recent/ pictures of you /right now/

and ive had things hollered at me, its flattering, i guess, but also sends of red flags of "crazy person aaaa"

i have these heavy cosplay rings i wear sometimes, since i dont have pepper spray or anything....even though im out of shape, im a blackbelt in tae kwon do so im fairly confident in my ability to defend myself.... but if i ever hit someone, my report to the cops would be "yeah, see this ring? youre looking for a dude with this thing imprinted in his face." at least, that would be my goal :>

and my college campus has crime alerts all the time, always in like the same region of campus its like a dangerr zone there after dark...

i prefer those kinds of "hey theyre hot" comment when im in cosplay though, idk why....i just....it makes me happier, somehow, when people think im that particular sex, and ok-looking.

[Sahaqiel 1232]

I'm not really afraid of being raped by women. I would just consider that "sex" lol.

I don't know what it's like to fear being raped at night. I've literally walked in the worst part of town at night just because I could. I honestly don't believe anyone would mess with me, and if they did, I would put up a good fight.

You could definitely start an interesting social experiment, Saha.

I don't really know why, but I think people just respect men more.

1) lol this sounds kind of typical. No offense, I just think that yeah, there is a double standard for this.

2) I've walked through legitimate ghettos in east St. Louis (one of the top three most dangerous cities in America) without really feeling all that threatened. I was the only non black person there, though, so I got a lot of looks. The local people and law enforcement kept telling me I shouldn't be there. I got a creep or two though. Also, I am fairly sure I could put up more than a fight than most people. My confidence does come from somewhere.

3) I coouuuld, but I already know what would happen. (Plus hrng stopping the shaving would be uncomfortable and I don't like the look at all) The first time I simply put my hair up in marching band, people who had not seen my face didn't recognize me at all. It's not 100% that I look like a girl, it's also that no one hardly knows what I look like.

4) This is sort of contradictory. If men are more respectable, why are they the only ones people fear are rapists? Society's view of men vs. women in terms of strength is biased towards men, (much of the time, the fact that the bias even exists is enough for women to say "I don't need to be physically strong, or trained in combat. I'm a woman", which is BS and stupid) Society is quite self destructive in this regard.

(oh god this looks wrong now lolll, you know what I'm talking about)

Saha, this sometimes happens to me when I'm out lol.

Old creepers are the worst though yeah.

I think it's pretty sickening that some have to carry the fear of being raped whilst walking home,

Guns are not the answer lol.

1) ooohhh bby

2) Yes, this happens to me a lot, too.

3) The guys that try to pick me up are all young people. Haven't encountered an old dude trying to get any yet. Oh, and this one homeless guy was hardcore trying to get romantic with me. "Oh, I just had to check. (in regards to gender; recognizes that I am male) You still look good, though." Like he called me up and tried to get me to take him to dinner hrng. I'm p. sure he was just doing whatever he could to get a meal, but dude was so blatant. I'm relatively friendly with the homeless, but they mostly don't try to pick me up.

4) ya. I think I'll start carrying my steel tip umbrella, since I'm pretty proficient at umbrella related deterrence.

5) Yeah, don't think I would get a gun. Unless it's a Five-seveN just because I learned about it while making my P90 and I think FN Herstal is a really cool weapons manufacturer. (I kind of look up to them in terms of the ability to engineer things)

GMP, I don't think I would like to carry a firearm lol. A lot of social deterrence in general, rather than just the kind I need. Pepper spray is meant for this kind of thing. And my phone.

lol nabe

Also yeah, Chimetals, it is gratifying to hear compliments every once in awhile, even from creepy people. Since I don't really care if someone refers to me as a girl or guy as long as they're not being a dick about it, sometimes it's just a random compliment that I have to take.

Oh, in addition to all that, I recently got mistaken by two different people who did not realize I was a guy, even after I first spoke to them. I am aware my voice can be androgynous too. I liked the first person, so I talked as little as possible, hid my adam's apple, and spoke as femininely as I could when speaking, so they wouldn't feel silly. It worked, to my surprise.

Sahaqiel

[T1g 1503]

saha

you have a master sword for a reason