If you’re a woman, then you’re likely all too familiar with the unwanted and creepy attention you receive from men. Whether they’re aware that their behavior is wrong (and engage in it anyway) or are simply just unaware of how they’re coming off, it’s never a fun experience. So ladies this one is for you and men: pay attention.
1. When they say “Where’s my hug?”
This is a seemingly innocent question, right? Wrong. It’s a statement that insinuates that this guy is already entitled to your hug, which—if you’re not freely giving—he is most definitely not.
2. Sitting next to you despite there being other empty seats
This is just one of those times where you think, “Why?” It’s a weird move—who would want to sit next to someone when they could sit alone and not have to interact? You know the answer. If someone actively chooses not to give you your personal space, that’s creepy.
3. Asking if you live alone
Some men may claim that this is an innocent question—they’re just trying to get to you know. But the truth is, there are about a million other ways to get to know someone without asking about their living situation. Being a woman is scary and we have to be on guard at all times so, yeah, if someone is essentially asking if I have no one to protect me if there’s a break-in, my alarms are going to go off.
4. Starting a conversation somewhere you can’t leave
Maybe you’re in a taxi or an Uber and the driver is just trying to make polite conversation. That’s all well and good until the questions start getting personal, like whether you live alone as stated above, or if you have a partner. This person literally has your address in their phone and you’re locked in a moving vehicle! If that doesn’t set off the creep radar, I don’t know what does.
5. Touching you on your waist to move you
If someone needs to get by you, there are lots of other useful and less creepy tactics to use. For example, saying “excuse me,” or giving you a tap on the shoulder would suffice. A good rule of thumb: don’t touch women without asking—especially if it’s below the shoulders.
6. When they say “If only I were single…”
This man’s poor partner. This is a creepy move because not only does it show that they don’t respect women (most importantly their partner!) but it’s also—like many other things on this list—presumptuous. It places women as an object to be taken if the circumstances (this guy being single) allow and doesn’t take into consideration what the woman wants.
7. Commenting on your body
I’ll be straight up: there’s really no good reason for anyone you don’t know to be commenting on your body. The whole “I was just being nice!” excuse doesn’t apply here because it’s not nice (not nice at all) to make a woman feel uncomfortable in any way, shape, or form.
8. Starting a conversation with “Do you have a boyfriend?”
There are less obvious and creepy ways to find out if someone is single. It’s also extremely aggressive for that to be the first thing someone asks you. It immediately puts women on the defense and, if you do happen to be single, you now have to choose whether to lie or not so the man doesn’t give you unwanted attention.
9. Standing too close to you
There’s a reason that “personal space” is a thing. This is creepy, disrespectful, and domineering. If a woman wants to be close to you, she’ll either move close to you or let you know some other way.
10. Staring for too long
I think we can all agree that looking at someone for no apparent reason is creepy. It’s invasive and makes someone feel like they’re being watched—because they quite literally are.
11. Giving you too many compliments
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A compliment can be nice. But once you start getting compliment after compliment it can feel disingenuous and like that guy has an ulterior motive. In other words: creepy.
12. Unsolicited pics
I don’t think I need to say much about this since it’s pretty self-explanatory, but sending an unwanted suggestive photo is not the move. It crosses so many boundaries and is just straight-up disrespectful.
13. Continue to try to get your attention when you’re not interacting
It’s unfortunate, but some people just don’t get the hint. Women aren’t trying to play coy when we’re not engaging, we just, for whatever valid reason, don’t want to talk. So, if a woman doesn’t seem to be picking up what you’re putting down it’s best to leave her alone.
14. Calling you pet names
No one, other than your partner or a loved one, should be able to call you babe or sweetheart. A stranger doesn’t know you enough to call you a pet name (or anything for that, matter) so we’re going to say “it’s a no” to this creepy behavior.
15. Telling you to smile
This puts so much unnecessary pressure on women—we’ve been told forever that we need to be nice and not rude to others. But whether you smile or not is a personal choice and someone trying to control that is just creepy.
16. Insulting you if you reject them
It’s already a little scary to reject a man because you just don’t know how they’re going to react. In fact, a lot will even insult you. After you turn them down, they might say something like, “Yeah well you’re not even that hot.” It’s a coping tool that’s used to make other people feel bad so they can feel better about themselves.
17. Saying, “Wow you really grew up”
This is extremely inappropriate and creepy. Whenever age is brought into the conversation, it brings unwanted sexual undertones that make women feel uncomfortable.
18. Being sexually explicit immediately
Whether it’s over text or in person, a sexual comment usually doesn’t work in the way the speaker intends it to. If someone isn’t actively consenting (vocally and obviously!), then they should never have to hear something like this.
19. Catcalling
This is probably the oldest creepy behavior in the book. This checks off so many inappropriate boxes—lack of consent, objectification, the list goes on. It’s really dehumanizing, women are people.
20. Saying “But you don’t have a boyfriend” when you turn them down
This—again—is presumptuous! This comment assumes that just because a woman doesn’t have a boyfriend, there would be no other logical reason for her not to want to give a guy a chance. She could be not dating right now or just simply not into it, but women shouldn’t have to have an explanation for why they’re saying “no.”
21. Parking beside you in an empty parking lot
This is not only creepy but it’s terrifying. Nothing good ever happens when someone pulls up next to you in an empty lot, nothing. This creates a power dynamic where the woman doesn’t feel safe leaving her car.
22. Lingering around
Let’s say you’re out at a bar and a man comes up to you wanting to talk. You pull yourself away and head back to your group, but you notice that the same man is just standing near your group. He gets up when you get up, he sits when you sit. This is getting into stalking territory which is unacceptable.
23. Pretending like they know you well right off the bat
Maybe they think if they act like they know you, you’ll feel more comfortable with letting them in. Well, they thought wrong. It’s really weird and invasive when someone tries to be buddy-buddy, let alone someone doing it romantically.
24. Touching hair or clothing
There is pretty much no reason to touch someone without asking. Even if they have something in their hair or a crumb on their shirt. If you do not have an established and consensual relationship with this person, your hands need to be kept to yourself.
25. Coming on too strong
A lot of these are about unwanted interactions. But there are plenty of times a woman goes on a date with a man and he comes on way too strong. Maybe he tries to go up to their place prematurely or does something like love-bombing them. Bottom line: it’s erratic and creepy.
26. Monitoring you on social media
You know that man who is always the first to view your story, send you a fire emoji on your story, or message you randomly seeing “how you are”? Yeah, he’s kind of the worst. Even if you don’t react or respond, the messages keep coming and it is creepy with a capital C.
27. Inappropriate humor
This is the two C’s: cringe-y and creepy. There’s nothing more uncomfortable than a guy who starts spewing off sexist jokes, thinking you’ll think he’s funny. Find another bit.
28. Being TMI
If a guy walks up to you and starts telling you about his entire life story—his “crazy ex” or past sexual experiences—that raises a huge flag. It’s overly aggressive and uncomfortable.
29. Prying
Maybe you’re chatting about how you recently went through a breakup. The guy you’re talking to you asks you what happened and you respond that you’d rather not get into the details. But he keeps pushing and pushing to the point where it’s getting weird. This is prime creepy behavior, what an invasion of personal privacy.
30. Closing off exits
If a guy corners a woman or stands in the way of the door, that’s creepy. It’s scary and creates a really uncomfortable situation for the woman in which, even if she wanted to leave, she likely wouldn’t be able to do so without you moving.
31. Pointing out your specific body parts
I’m not going to repeat the language here, but commenting on any part of someone’s body (especially the sexual parts) is creepy as heck. It’s so aggressive and unnecessary.
32. Following you
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The sad truth is that many women have been followed. Whether it was home from the grocery store or seeing the same person many times and getting a bad vibe, this behavior is creepy and just not ok.
33. Licking their lips while they look at you
This is predatory and creepy. No one wants to be looked at like they’re a literal piece of meat. It’s a sexual innuendo that comes off as aggressive and lacking awareness.
34. Smirking at you when you’re eating something
Many women have experienced the discomfort of a man staring at their mouth while they eat. It feels extremely invasive and uncomfortable like you’re on display for him to watch.
35. Finding you on social media from the apps
It doesn’t matter whether you didn’t match on the apps, unmatched them after a few messages, or just never responded—this is not cool. If you wanted to respond you would’ve! Besides, there’s a good chance you might’ve already been creeped out (which is why you didn’t respond in the first place), and the extra investigative step he took to find you just brings the creep level way up.
36. Saying “You look like one of my old girlfriends.”
It seems like just an observation but it’s so much more than that. It’s a way to compare and objectify a woman (because we don’t get enough of that already). It feels like the guy who says this is just looping you in with another woman and not actually appreciating you for your uniqueness.
37. Helping you without asking
Help, especially when you need it, is great! But when a random stranger comes up to you and takes your bag without your request? That’s a jump scare. Next time, just ask us if we need help before assuming, please.
38. Saying “If only I were X years younger…”
This is just icky. When a man says this, there’s usually a decent age gap between him and the woman he’s talking to. It’s not only predatory, it’s presumptuous—it assumes that the woman would even be interested in the first place.
39. Saying “You’re so much prettier when you X…”
Whether that “X” is “…when you wear makeup,” “…when you wear that tight dress,” or something else, this is a big NO. If women wanted a man’s opinion about when they look their best, they’d ask. This isn’t a compliment and we don’t want unsolicited advice. Please and thank you.
40. Trying to flirt while you’re at work
Not only is this super distracting, but it’s also really disrespectful of your time. You’re at your place of work, just trying to do your job and make some money and now you have to deal with someone trying to get your number? This is quite literally not the time or place.
41. Being persistent
All women have had the experience of a man continuing to push after she says no. Asking us the same thing again and again after we’ve already politely declined is obnoxious and, frankly, annoying. There’s a reason the cliche “no means no” exists.
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