[url=http://q13fox.com/2014/10/28/this-woman-walked-around-new-york-city-for-10-hours-what-her-hidden-camera-captured-will-shock-and-disgust-you/comment-page-2/#comments]Page not found | Q13 FOX News[/url]
This video shows a young woman walking the streets of NYC with a secret camera in her bag, and documents all the instances of male harassment she endured. As a young male I have to say it opened my eyes quite a bit to the harassment and generally unsafe environment women experience living in a city. If you look through the comments you'll notice there's an incredible amount of discrepancy between men and women on what is or is not "appropriate" for a man to say to a woman in public. I find myself wondering - is there any appropriate way to approach a woman in public? I am literally asking the female community to help educate me on this issue. I'm sure it can get complicated and personal, and I hope not to offend anyone by posing some questions:
-Should a man wait to be approached by a woman?
-If a man is sexually attracted to a woman at first glance, should he always restrain from conversation?
-Is there a difference between "cat-calling" and "complimenting" in a public setting?
-How should a man feel when approached by a female, in a reverse scenario?
-Are all women considering the possibility of assault or serious danger when engaged by a man in public?
Personally I don't think I've ever yelled at a woman or given a woman any creepy remarks on the street, but I have sporadically engaged in conversation with women in public numerous times, and it's always seemed perfectly normal and appropriate. I think it's very tragic that women should feel unsafe because of the behavior of certain men. But what can civil men do help the cause? Never speak to a female passerby? Maybe I'm just ignorant, so feel free to correct me if I am, but total estrangement between males and females in public seems kind of tragic too. Ideally there would be no rapists, creeps or dangerous men out there in the world and people could exchange conversation, flirt, and acknowledge each other without any threat involved, but that just doesn't seem realistic.
I'm not about to uphold the opinion that this issue is exactly the same if you reverse the sexes. It's not. Men are physically and statistically more capable and likely to harm women. Should this unfortunate fact of life alienate the sexes in a public setting?
In the video comments there is hardly any agreement on the solution to the issue, and the questions of ethics and courtesy are all over the place. People are arguing over what is right and wrong, and I want to know if there is a definitive answer.