July 22, 2004
They sell that shit at Hooters not here
This is my third attempt at posting this because my puter is being stinky by locking up and seems to want a reformat - or just dislikes the word 'tits' - which is likely too.
We don't live in a big city where walking down the street being harassed by construction workers wearing 'No Fat Chicks' shirts is a common occurrence. This is not by accident. I'm not sure what the standard protocol is when dealing with that stuff and I'll be the first to admit that my social skills vary wildly. My proper southern upbringing keeps my manners in check most of the time but sometimes there's this thing in my brain that takes over and I can't stop myself from calling 'foul' when I see one happening. This is definitely a trait I inherited from my mother and I'm simultaneously proud of and horrified by it.
Jocelyn and I went to the gym a few days ago. This isn't uncommon we've been going pretty much every other day this summer. The gym closes early on the weekends (to avoid drunken weightlifter brawls?) so we only had time to swim. It's generally a good mix of people there: tiny tarts in color-coordinated outfits with matching ribbons in their hair, gangboys with shaved heads and homemade tattoos, skinny young teenage boys with long hair and oversized clothes lifting far too much weight, chubby middle-aged women with huge hair and long nails, old men with baggy shorts and baggier man boobs.
It's not a bad crowd really but the room with the pool takes some getting used to because the whirlpool and doors to the sauna and steam room are all in the same room so there are always people sitting around on benches cooling off with nothing better than to sit there watching you getting in and out of the pool.
Anyway on Saturday I went to the pool area first. I noticed there was a guy in his mid-fifties doing half-assed swimming while he was mostly just checking out girls' butts. I'm pretty immune to this stuff ? I don't fit the 'getting stared at' category and haven't in a while. Admittedly that's not an accident either. I'd watched this sleaze check out several butts and once he even tried talking to a confused woman on her way out the door. I'm happily doing breast stroke laps. Jocelyn comes in and starts doing laps too. In the meantime Spawn of Creepy Man gets into the pool too and they're just in the pool leaning on the wall talking about whatever idiots like this talk about.
Jocelyn starts to do backstrokes because she has a thing about her head being under water. Her boobs are sticking out of the water and ya know, sure, they look nice. I'm swimming a slow breast stroke towards the Creepy Man and Junior's end of the pool. Spawn of Creepy Man nudges his dad and says ?Check out those tits?. They do then Creepy Dad looks at me ? right in the eye. And I just can't stop myself: "Are you ogling my friend's tits??" Jocelyn didn't hear what they said and just assumes I'm being an embarrassing freak again, yells my name and splashes me. While Spawn of Creepy Man just keeps asking what 'ogling' means. I dunno I just turn around and start heading for the other end of the pool but I'm fairly sure Spawn of Creepy Man is making all kinds of excuses while making disparaging remarks about me (fat and dyke being choice phrases) making his dad laugh.
I think he was mostly just pissed that he a.) was called on his shit and b.) doesn't know basic vocabulary. Apparently Creepy Dad later said something to Jocelyn like "I was just admiring them". And at one point I passed him and said "It was just a straightforward question dude." During one lap he winked at me. eeeooow.
So was it wrong of me to say something? To me, especially when one of those fuckers was looking me right in the eye, not saying something was tantamount to giving them permission. But it did call more attention to the whole issue than just not saying anything would've done. I mean looking is one thing but nudging a buddy and saying 'dude check out those tits' right where we could hear them is something else. We don't go to the gym to show off our bodies goddammit we're there to exercise and feel better. If we wanted to be in a fucking skin parade we'd be at "The Beach" or something. You want to look at tits there's no shortage of "Hooters" and tittie bars in Albuquerque.
Bleh.
Comments
*Hug*
I'm sorry I assumed you did that out of nowhere, babe. I should have known better.
Posted by: Jocelyn at July 22, 2004 03:24 AMDamn right you were by saying something. I can't understand why guys like that aren't just thrown out of the pool, but it's probably because all the women they stare at think they better not say anything. Keeping quiet hasn't helped with anything in history so far I believe. Omg we should get a world wide organization of women spending half their time staring at guy's pants and making smart comments about it. Or would they feel good about that too? Aaaah! Pigs!
Posted by: Juus at July 22, 2004 03:45 AMIf your a man or a woman it's hard not to look at a attractive person. But it's unacceptable to 'ogle' or stare or not give someone basic respect. It's even worse when they do it and they are with their significant other. Unfortunately it seems to be my fellow "man" that is most often associated with this behavior.
Posted by: Greg Smith at July 22, 2004 08:11 AMI am listening to Poe right now, Another World. So I have something amusing to say. Gay men do that to other men whether they are straight or not. Now I know that the pool is definitely not the place to do that. Especially with the thing that cool to cold water does to... well I won't go there. Well that and the utter decimation of safety. It sucks that men like that are allowed to go out of their caves in public. There really are a few proper places to do that but the pool is not the strip joint. Grrrrr.... dumbasses
Posted by: Justin at July 22, 2004 11:10 AMPost a comment
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