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> "I've seen moms and dads on playground who are way out there in assessing what is threatening and what is not. They'd see a man walking by the playground goin
by lotharbot 11y ago
> "I've seen moms and dads on playground who are way out there in assessing what is threatening and what is not. They'd see a man walking by the playground going by their business and start calling their children closer to them acting all scared."
This happens to me all the time in the grocery store. In the past I was a teacher, and now I'm a stay-at-home dad. If I have my son with me, everyone thinks I'm awesome for being a man who takes responsibility for his kid; if he's at school and I'm at the store and happen to be within half a mile of a kid, people look at me like I'm a creeper.
- mgkimsal 11y agoHrmm... maybe you are doing something you're not aware of? I go in to grocery stores all the time by myself and never get weird looks. Really, I'm pretty sure I'd notice after 20+ years of being an adult male in grocery stores (nearly all the time by myself).
- spacehome 11y agoSomething is missing from lotharbot's story. Single men pretty regularly go grocery shopping without reproach.
- edraferi 11y agoYes, but solitary men are mistrusted around children in public Example: your at the grocery store when a young child wanders around the corner and starts pulling items off the shelf onto the floor right in front of you. A woman could stop the child, ask "where are your parents?" and carry the child to fjnd the parents. A man better back away and ignore the child lest somebody call the cops.
- lotharbot 11y agoI have a scruffy beard... ? It may also have to do with specific circumstances -- like regional culture. In Seattle, everyone was always cold regardless. In patriarchal northern Utah (in the small town where friends of mine run safe-houses for people fleeing polygamy) I got different dirty looks for being alone than for having my child (wives are supposed to be watching the kids in that culture.) In my part of Denver, being white makes me stand out. In any case, I have noticed different treatment when I'm with my son and when I'm alone.
- thebouv 11y agoStop twirling your mustache and saying "nyah, nyah" when you're by yourself in a grocery store, creeper.