I tried to find where all these men appeared complaining about how they can no longer compliment random strangers. Where is this coming from? It’s a strange interpolation.
We have some of those kinds here, and you’ll keep coming across such comments in most forum threads about MeToo/workplace behaviour (e.g. Reddit’s AskMen, American Conservatives’ comments etc)
“your makeup looks great today” is probably going to be better received. There are people who will get offended over anything, but the whole “You look good with makeup” is a popular technique used by not so great men (negging) so women being bothered by it isn’t really an overreaction tbh.
We can definitely agree on that, although it seems like men and women don’t seem to agree on what catcalling actually is. The Gillette ad for example, shows a man about to follow a woman down the street and people complained that the ad is saying men can’t approach women anymore!
How does one become smooth socially?
You can’t. Some of us are just born with the knack
Only to snowflakes. If I put on makeup, it’s to look pretty. If I look pretty with makeup on I’ve accomplished what I was trying to do. I think too many women think the corollary to “you look pretty with makeup on” is “you don’t look pretty without makeup.”
I see no problem with saying that to a man.
Do you think it’s possible for you to talk about your perspective without any pride or snark?
Well, we have as a gender been bombarded with decades of advertising designed precisely to convince us that none of us in fact looks pretty without makeup, and that we need (to buy and wear) makeup in order to look pretty. Tell people something often enough, most of them take it on board, oddly enough, and sometimes interpret even possibly neutral messages in the light of what they have constantly heard in the past.Mi_Rose:
Only to snowflakes. If I put on makeup, it’s to look pretty. If I look pretty with makeup on I’ve accomplished what I was trying to do. I think too many women think the corollary to “you look pretty with makeup on” is “you don’t look pretty without makeup.”
Why are women so petty?
Also the fact that there are men who literally encourage each other to give backhanded compliments like this as a pick up technique (negging). There are definitely awkward men who phrase stuff wrongly. But if it’s from a smooth/confident guy, there’s a high chance that he’s employing this technique…and girls who pride themselves as being accepting of everything that’s said to them are the girls who would fall for it immediately, or hopefully a bit too naive for that to have any effect on her.
My husband got a very nice, very expensive pair of cowboy boots and received a lot of compliments about them. He never got complimented on his budget brand pair. He took no offense. He was always pleased and always shared it with me as a way of saying thank you. I bought them for him.