Feminism

A Strange Man Just Tried to Kiss Me

But please carry on telling me that sexism doesn’t exist

Photo by chloe s. on Unsplash

Guys, I’m angry.

I was already having a bad day. I was supposed to travel to another city to visit a friend for the weekend, only to arrive at the train station to receive a message throwing my plans into jeopardy.

So, I was standing against a wall in the corner, looking at my phone and waiting for confirmation on what to do. That’s when a man I didn’t know approached me.

I didn’t know that I didn’t know him, at first. Two things you need to know about me are:

1. I am vain as fuck and don’t routinely wear my glasses in public.
2. I am absolutely awful at remembering faces.

So, when a man walked up to me, smiling and saying “Hi! How are you?” I automatically assumed I knew him from somewhere. The nightmare scenario would be that he was a colleague I’d never paid attention to. I work for a huge, multinational company and have a dozen Zoom calls a day, so it’s possible, trust me.

Thus, not wanting to be rude/get fired, I returned the greeting. “Hi”, I said, less enthused than him, slightly guarded until I knew who the hell he was.