The Curious Case of Creepy Men

"He did what?",

"It was confusing",

"He wrote you sexually graphic details about what went down with his exes?", "Well, we were doing creative writing..."

"Ah I see. So, you received a literary dick pic"

The sense of disgust in the room shifted to unbridled laughter.

In my teens, 13ish, I picked up on the concept of creepy men. No one sat me down and gave me a TED talk about creepy men. It was more experiential. As I grew into my body, I picked up a sense of disgust when stared at by one. There is no logic, its a feeling of utter disgust, you wanna wash off your skin.

As I evolved into my 20's, as is the rite of passage for many women, I too, learned that creepiness does not stop at a stare. It transgresses into unsolicited touching, groping in public spaces, office conference rooms and for some, in the intimacy of their bedrooms.

Come my 30's, I believe I have unlocked a new level of creepy men. Their attempts to disguise their lack of awareness for other's safety and blatant sense of entitlement, almost always results in comical attempts to convince women how non-creepy they are. I am recognizing creepy to be a breach of trust in vulnerable settings. The breach, often, feels like a violation.

It is a dick joke they sneak in to a late-night study session, the friend who takes to stalking when you do not reciprocate attraction, the way he references Bell Hooks in the hopes that feminism will get him laid on a 2nd date or in my case, being hit with a 21 page essay graphically detailing love made and lost with the women who had the misfortune of dating this man with no functioning brain cells; a poorly framed essay disguised as creative writing. My friend was correct, I was hit with an unsolicited "literary dick pic".

The comedy? I gave the essay an F for effort and blocked the author for content.

Penned by Noor Begum