By compassion, I was referring specifically to the emailing that can hardly be seen as harassing unless the text is particularly so; and more to a feeling than any demonstration thereof.
As to my reaction or lack of it to staring and such, I am no traffic light. I am a grown woman too and one who does not believe that any and all attention from men is inherently suspicious, dangerous by definition and leading to sorry consequences.
I am not 'misleading' anyone, or going around flirting with random guys. Of course there are boundaries. But I am slightly concerned that for some people, the definition of harassment is awfully strict and the range of acceptable behaviour is awfully narrow.
To me, this kind of 'over-criminalizing' of human behaviour confers a victim mentality.
I still believe that attitudes count and that direct and respectful behaviour _usually_ begets a similar response.
Remember, I am not referring to anything comparable to assault, rape, and other heinous crimes that do occur. These crimes unfortunately exist in all societies, but the disturbed people who commit them are a small minority and the guys giving a glance in your direction at the mall would most likely find them just as appalling as you do.
Oryx and Serendipity,
By compassion, I was referring specifically to the emailing that can hardly be seen as harassing unless the text is particularly so; and more to a feeling than any demonstration thereof.
As to my reaction or lack of it to staring and such, I am no traffic light. I am a grown woman too and one who does not believe that any and all attention from men is inherently suspicious, dangerous by definition and leading to sorry consequences.
I am not 'misleading' anyone, or going around flirting with random guys. Of course there are boundaries. But I am slightly concerned that for some people, the definition of harassment is awfully strict and the range of acceptable behaviour is awfully narrow.
To me, this kind of 'over-criminalizing' of human behaviour confers a victim mentality.
I still believe that attitudes count and that direct and respectful behaviour _usually_ begets a similar response.
Remember, I am not referring to anything comparable to assault, rape, and other heinous crimes that do occur. These crimes unfortunately exist in all societies, but the disturbed people who commit them are a small minority and the guys giving a glance in your direction at the mall would most likely find them just as appalling as you do.