If you’re a man, I’m guessing you’ve never had the totally awkward and unnecessary and sometimes infuriating experience of another man grabbing your waste, brushing your lower back, or some combination of both because “it’s crowded” and maybe noisy and they want to get past.
That said, I can promise you that every single woman in your life has.
YOU DON’T NEED TO TOUCH MY WAIST TO GET THROUGH.
YOU DON’T NEED TO TOUCH MY WAIST TO GET THROUGH.
YOU DON’T NEED TO TOUCH MY WAIST TO GET THROUGH.
YOU DON’T NEED TO TOUCH MY WAIST TO GET THROUGH.
— LAMPAREAUX 🌺 (@lampareaux) November 9, 2019
Men just feel like it’s okay to put their hands on a perfect stranger because she’s a woman, and because they have the flimsiest (and somehow socially acceptable) excuse to do it in certain situations.
Me when men walk past me and touch my waist pic.twitter.com/b1MFRenjWl
— glori (@gloriapeligrosa) April 9, 2017
General rule of thumb: if you wouldn’t do it or say it to a man you don’t know in public, then don’t do it to a woman.
Don’t catcall, don’t make some kind of borderline inappropriate joke, don’t tell her to smile, and no, don’t grab her waist to get past in a bar, at a concert, or anywhere else.
for the LAST time:
BOYS, YOU DO NOT NEED TO TOUCH MY WAIST WHEN YOU WALK PAST ME! I WILL GLADLY MOVE OUT OF YOUR UGLY ASS WAY
— Caitlyn (@idcaitt) August 23, 2019
Instead, idk, try using your brain and your words to tell her that you would like to squeeze past.
https://twitter.com/rolz_k_/status/1183755660707676162?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.buzzfeed.com%2Fshelbyheinrich%2Fmen-stop-touching-us
Or, like, take a different path that doesn’t bring you into contact with as many female patron’s waists as possible?
me and my girlfriends in the bar bathroom after every man we tried to pass touched the small of our backs
pic.twitter.com/dA5g2eUU3W— b (@doyalikebaileys) September 24, 2019
Two solid options.
Dear men at concerts: You don’t have to touch my waist to let me know you’re passing behind me — you can just…pass
— Tatiana Cirisano (@tatianacirisano) March 14, 2019
And if you think I’m just being one of those annoying, rigid feminists looking to get offended or pissed off about anything at all, well…then there are a lot of us, because I’m definitely not alone.
i still don't understand why guys touch my waist to move past me please don't touch me ever
— mcr’s #1 fan (@marblegirrl) February 9, 2017
Same same!
PSA: Do not touch my waist. Even if I'm in your way. Just tell me to move. You do not move a person by grasping one of their body parts.
— Chrysanthe Tan (@ChrysantheTan) August 7, 2015
Ladies, do you agree with me? Do you think this is no big deal?
It’s so you can’t needlessly touch the smalls of our backs when you move around us. https://t.co/m5zZZY10Ry
— lil miss caffeinated, M.S. (@lil_miss_caf) October 9, 2019
Men who do this, do you also do it to other men? If the answer is yes and you’re not bisexual, I’m tempted to give you a pass….
Maybe. I need more information, so please explain yourselves in the comments.