It’s a normal survival instinct to be aware of our surroundings – so why would anyone tell women and girls they mustn’t exercise it?
What kind of creepy self-serving individual tells women and girls that being aware of our surroundings, who’s around us, and judging what might look and feel off, is “creepy”? Everything we’ve learned tells us to view the above attempted shaming of women and girls with justified deep suspicion. It’s natural for us to constantly scan our surroundings, either consciously or subconsciously, because to not do so isn’t great for our survival. To know who or what doesn’t look right in the environment we’re in, is to enhance the chance of that survival. Hence, we’re constantly using our eyes and ears, to either a greater or lesser degree, to scope out our surroundings. We don’t have those senses just for decoration. Women and girls, especially, grow up being taught how to be very aware of where we go and who’s in our periphery. Boys do, too, of course, but as boys grow into men, the need to retain that acute awareness becomes less necessary than it remains for women. We don’t want to have t