Yet another little thing that confirms my suspicion that the effect of radical feminism is to knock down everything that is distinctly feminine as well as what's distinctly masculine. According to Ananova's odd news dept., British men are "too PC" to give compliments to women because they're afraid they might offend them. And at least according to the survey the article cites, their fears are justified, because a supermajority of women will feel uncomfortable and about the same amount will suspect ulterior motives. A relationship expert points out how unhealthy this is.
Now if the compliment is some overtly sexual come-on like "Hey baby, are those space pants you're wearing? etc." I totally understand why women would feel this way. But if it's something innocent like how pretty she looks, or about her hair or eyes or smile or outfit or something, stop being offended at being treated like a woman. That's what I'm talking about, how feminism strangles the courtesy of men. Then all you're left with is the jerks and the silent ones, because (paradoxically) the latter are the ones who out of courtesy will defer to a lady's wishes.
By the same token, men, if the only or chief word in your repertoire with which to compliment a young lady is "hot," maybe you need to expand your vocabulary a little. I know that's the word commonly used in our society to express a positive opinion of a girl's looks, but if that's all girls ever hear you ever say, think about how it might make them wonder if you only ever think about a young lady in terms of her sex potential. Could you say that she's very pretty, or beautiful (if she is), or cute, or some other positive description?
I'm not indicting everyone here, or everyone I know, but maybe if you took umbrage at that, maybe you are one of them. Ok, (mild) rant over. (P.S. The link is fixed. And no, most of the girls I know aren't like that. But it's in the culture enough that it's worth mentioning.)

I love getting compliments, even from guys in whom I have no interest and I know have none in me. Is our world really that broken?
P.S. That link is actually broken; it just goes to a login screen.
Posted by: Lindsay | May 24, 2007 at 12:37 PM