I do not appreciate the fact that, as I get older (and presumably look less like 'jail-bait') old men are starting to think it's okay to tell me how attractive they find me. And I mean old men. Like 60's and 70's. Like how is that appropriate? Just because you are an old dude, it doesn't mean you can look me in the eye and say "You're gonna go places, looking like that". Like this is one of the central problems of living in Marin, everyone is old, and every man seems to have this sense that "yeah, it's totally okay to tell a 25 year old she is cute, in a not so classy way." I don't want to hear that from you. I don't want to hear that from you. I know how I look, I don't need some guy twice my age affirming that for me. If you were 25 no one except some heinously drunk chick in a bar with low self-esteem would let a stranger say to her "You're a beautiful young lady." I mean, I dunno if you think it's supposed to be flattering but it makes me feel icky. Just straight up icky.
Maybe it's a generational thing. Maybe back in the 40's and 50's guys didn't bother with subtlety. Maybe they just looked women straight in the eye and said "Keep wearing your contacts, your glasses worked for the character, but with contacts you look really good." (gestures up and down at my body). Uhh... was that a compliment? Because I feel horribly insulted and creeped on.
More than once I've had this one guy in his mid-50's approach me at Starbucks on my break and try to engage me in conversation. Most recently he looked at the book I was reading (Percy Jackson) and asked if I was a student, skipping class, to catch up on reading. Let me make this clear: Percy Jackson is a series written for 13 year old boys. It has a giant pegasus on the cover, and titles like "The Sea of Monsters" or "The Titan's Curse". These are clearly not intellectual reads worth skipping class over. My skin crawled and I answered with a curt "No," before returning to my book.
When I went to the gym I used have dudes eyeing me or trying to "give me advice" on lifting or to "help out". When I was 19 people wouldn't fucking dare try to talk to me. I don't know if I looked angrier and less agreeable or if I just looked more like a 16 year old, or if I was just never in a place with so many creepy old men, but I miss it.
People think Marin is this wonderful small-town pocket of money and privilege free of 'undesirables', but it's not it's full of creeps.
I think it's Marin. I don't have guys creeping on me like this in Seattle, knock on wood. And, uhm, ew. Old men need to back off.
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