This is mostly just to get something off my chest. I've been going out in public on a pretty frequent basis for more than 40 years. You'd thing nothing would bother me anymore, and it usually doesn't. Yesterday something really got to me. Something that on another day I probably wouldn't have given a second thought.
I went to Goodwill to make a donation and while I was there I went in to shop. What I was wearing was all male, except for my shoes. Long 1/4 zip top, somewhat tight to the ankle exercise-type pants, and a pair of Anne Klein slides with no heel. Identifiable as women's? Yeah, probably, but not exactly screaming it, either. I had even left my purse in the car and carried my wallet and phone in my hand. This was not 50:50 mode. More like 98:2.
I was browsing the shoe racks and I see this big muscled guy and a girl coming to the shoes. He makes himself obvious by staring at my shoes as he's coming toward me and continues to look after he's passed. They get on the other side of the rack and he starts commenting on my shoes and over all what I was wearing. Making fun of me. I go to another part of the store. Every time I end up on the same aisle as them, he's looking and commenting to his girlfriend with a smirk on his face. She doesn't appear to be reacting.
This is so typical. He tries to make himself a bigger man to his girlfriend by exposing me to his girlfriend, then continuing to pile on. I'm sure that everyone who reads this has had similar experiences. It doesn't happen every time, but it happens often enough that it shouldn't phase me. Yesterday it phased me alright. Made me wonder why in the hell I continue to subject myself to this kind of thing. Still can't answer that question. I'm sure I'll do it a million more times in my life. These guys just make my skin crawl!!
My opinion... These guys get a little "urge" when they see somebody like me, and they compensate by turning on their "big man" persona.