To cut to the chase: a really skeezy blog post from a writer on The Modern Man on “how to talk to women wearing headphones” has been making the rounds on the internet as of late, and the entire thing reads like something of a serial killer how-to handbook. The Guardian provided an excellent breakdown, complete with responses to each horridly entitled instruction.
The post even provides an example exchange, or some lines you can use to initiate conversation. The only problem is that each of the lines is so horribly based in assumptions that there’s no way in hell they’d work on an actual human being. The entitlement is absolutely dripping from each word, and it reads something like a badly-done erotic role play from way back in the day. The only thing missing from the written-out exchange is having the example girl, Jessica (gag), twirl her hair around her finger and giggle incessantly.
Women on Twitter have all shared their reactions to the blog post with counter-advice, usually amounting to something like: just don’t hecking do it.
I’m just a girl wearing headphones standing in front of a boy asking him to fucking move out of my way because I don’t want to talk to him.
— Amy Elizabeth Hill (@amyandelizabeth) August 30, 2016
“Hey, girl. Are you wearing headphones because I’m pretty sure you’d rather listen to me talk to you.” pic.twitter.com/GjjNhOiBVO
— Anne Wheaton (@AnneWheaton) August 30, 2016
How to Approach a Girl Wearing Headphones
– Don’t
– Leave her alone
– Ur not entitled to her attention no matter how attractive u find her— Iron Spike (@Iron_Spike) August 30, 2016
No man is entitled to my time, or to make me stop doing something I want to do (listen to music) to attend to his need for attention.
— Sabine (@ThatSabineGirl) August 29, 2016
Listen: The only direction anybody should be giving to someone who wants to talk to a woman wearing headphones is that they shouldn’t. Just don’t do it. We’re wearing headphones so we don’t have to deal with the constant onslaught of unsolicited opinions about our bodies or disgusting sexual requests. It doesn’t matter one bit if you think you’re “not like those other guys,” because chances are if you honestly think you’re “not like those other guys,” you actually are exactly like them. Your false kind demeanor belies the fact that you’re after something, especially when you’re working so hard to interject yourself into our daily lives.
One person on Twitter provided an actual helpful instruction, though, one that I feel like I can totally personally co-sign.
How to Approach a Girl Wearing Headphones
step 1: spend years fighting to change the culture to make interaction w/ strangers safe for women— Juliaplo (@FickleFngrnails) August 30, 2016
So what are you waiting for? Get to work.
(image via Shutterstock/Kseniia Perminova)
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