Slight Envy

I live in a pretty safe neighborhood, so I’ve walked home by myself, late at night, quite a few times.

I’ve noticed a few things.

Men usually have their headphones on, and are walking at a pretty slow pace. They’re so calm that it might as well be one in the afternoon. The women on the other hand, have no electronics out, have a tight grip on their purses, and are more like slowly jogging than walking. Most tend to look back every few steps too.

Last night at around 130AM I was walking home and there was no one in sight. The thought of slowing down didn’t even occur to me, I just kept speed walking. When I turned the corner into a more residential area I noticed 3 guys across the street on the corner chatting it up. I stuck on my side of the street and walked even faster hoping the darkness would conceal me….wrong. They minute they realized it was a girl passing by I heard:

“psst!”

“hey ma!”

“Yo speedy Gonzales”

And then some air kisses.

And then some murmurs…

I was definitely creeped out. I don’t know if you’re just an average guy bored on a Friday night, or some psycho that is capable of following me and causing some trouble.

I hate how even in my low key neighborhood women can’t walk around without the thought of being bothered/attacked in the back of their heads, while men can walk at all hours of the night without a care in the world.

Now I probably shouldn’t be walking around that late on my own anyways but that’s not my point. It’s the principle of things, my gender shouldn’t determine whether or not I feel safe at night. Even if it was 7pm I’d still be walking just as fast and concerned about being harassed.

The day before that I was waiting for my friend outside a train station that happened to be right next to a basketball court. A lot of people were watching the game and I figured I’d watch too and kill some time before my friend got there. The remarks made me so uncomfortable that I opted to stand by the kids playground instead. How is it possible that I can’t watch a simple basketball game at 3 in the afternoon without being bothered???

I know it’s the type of thing that can’t be changed without changing the mentally of every guy that finds that cute or cool, but it’s just irritating.

I’d just like to think that if you dress decently and carry yourself a certain way the universe should keep all creeps who think it’s cute to say “yo ma what’s your name?” out of your way.

That is all.