[user104658]

Originally Posted by Kizzy

So.... by that logic the only men who can pass uninvited comment to a stranger is a good looking intelligent person, whose comments should be accepted without question?

Moot point; intelligent, civilized people don't catcall at strangers at all.

Note - people, not men, again, women do it too... it may be less common but that doesn't mean it should simply be overlooked)

It's not what you say it's how you say it that's the issue here? I'm sorry but I don't feel that was the point of the exercise at all and some have totally missed the point.

Not how you say it, but rather the circumstances, surely? I personally don't think there's anything wrong with going up to someone in, say, a cafe if they're on their own / not obviously busy and introducing yourself and seeing if they're interested in talking to you. How else, beyond school / the workplace, is anyone supposed to meet new people without it being contrived? If someone interests you, you should try to talk to them. Who knows how many great opportunities are missed every day because people don't.

I don't think it's even wrong to talk to someone in the street, but the way to do it would be to catch their attention first, say excuse me, or just even give the clear opportunity for them to make small talk, and if they are interested, then they'll stop, if not, then walk on... AFTER they've shown some interest by talking would be the time to offer a compliment, surely. Not to just jump straight in with it. Once you're actually talking to someone I see nothing wrong with compliments and I don't even understand why it's any sort of problem or even has to mean anything, at all, besides being just an observation and a nice thing to say. Telling someone that they have nice eyes, for example, shouldn't have to be a "chat up line"... it's actually really sad that it would always be considered one.

A few weeks ago, a (slightly tipsy, to be fair) elderly gentleman who was at my workplace was telling me that I was a "very handsome lad" and that I "should have been a star of the silver screen!" . I was quite chuffed, really! It should be NICE for people to say nice things. People should be able to compliment - and take compliments - without it always being construed as something sexual or an indication of attraction. Wouldn't it be a better world?

By this logic a woman walking through a high class establishment such as a university campus and the harassment she received would be entirely justified.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...assment-victim

What about these good looking, young and well educated men?

This again I think is slightly irrelevant to the topic, which is modern feminism in the western world. There are obviously huge first and second wave feminist issues in many areas of the world where women genuinely have fewer legal rights and are can often be treated like cattle. Egypt is somewhat better than many, but no one's going to dispute that there are gender equality issues there. Note that well educated doesn't necessarily mean "not pig ignorant". I mean, look at David Cameron...