Scenario: It’s night, and a man is walking home. He sees ahead there is a woman going in the opposite direction as him. Knowing not to stop or approach her, but his presence makes her nervous. What would help further in this scenario if anything?

  • Wren@lemmy.today
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    4 days ago

    Oh my god, do men not get randomly shoved and walked into on the sidewalk?

    • DaPorkchop_ [they/she/it]@lemmy.ml
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      3 days ago

      In addition to what the other commenter said, I want to add that the inverse is also true - intentionally or not, women tend to step out of the way for men a lot more often. If you spend some time peoplewatching on a busy sidewalk, there seems to be a kind of unwritten social hierarchy of “which person needs to step out of the other person’s way”, which most of the time seems to be something along the lines of tall man > short man > short woman > tall woman. This has led me to an interesting realization - before I started transitioning I used to have a lot of encounters (often multiple times a day) where both myself and someone else step out of each other’s way and then do that funny little back-and-forth dance until we figure out who’s staying in place. The other person in these situations was almost always a woman, and this hardly happens anymore when I’m presenting fem (but still happens a lot when I’m boymoding). Apparently I’d subconsciously figured out my placement in the sidewalk etiquette hierarchy years before consciously realizing that I wasn’t a guy!

    • Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      4 days ago

      Barely a fraction as much! I would wager the amount it happens to me (rarely) has more to do with me looking like a short nerd, or it being a really crowded sidewalk or something. But the only time I experience that ‘I see you are there and I’m not getting out of the way’ walking towards you that I used to experience all the time pre-transition is when it’s someone that seems out to cause trouble or has some kind of chip on their shoulder.

      • Wren@lemmy.today
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        4 days ago

        Now I’m an even angrier feminist. I thought people were just dicks without spatial awareness. I should wear more spikes.