Another day, another jerk

I'm really, really curious to know what the thought process behind asking a woman for her phone number more than once is. As you can see from last night's post, I encountered this problem on the subway yesterday while I was trying to finish my reading for class AND listening music. Today, I had a similar experience when I ran to the corner store to buy some milk. Not only did some random man, who is at least 30 years older than me, start talking to me but he also followed me into the store and continued to harass me until a kindly, elderly woman told him to leave me alone.

Look, I won't lie, I'm highly stressed and very, very tired. The last few weeks have made me increasingly agitated and I have a very short fuse. But I really think there is something wrong with a society where men feel they can just talk to any woman they please even after she tells them she doesn't want to be spoken to. I am not saying all men do this, but there are some that do and correct me if I'm wrong, but this is not something commonly practiced by women.

In my life, I have never treated another person with so little respect. I don't have an issue with making small talk in the supermarket or saying hello to neighbors but I think following someone or continuing to bother them when they have already politely said no to your advances is clearly a form of sexual harassment. There's something about this behavior that implies, "no matter what you say I'm still going to try to get what I want." It is exceedingly frustrating.

I know a lot of women who intentionally try to avoid eye contact or simply ignore people who talk to them. While, I don't judge this behavior it is against my personal beliefs. If someone says hello, I say hello back. Simple as that. But it shouldn't be permission to follow me or talk to me like I'm an object rather than a person.