It can be easy to fall into the trap of forgetting that the other half of the population lives a very different kind of life. The things that you might do without a second thought can, at times, be completely out of the ordinary for someone else.
So one curious internet user asked, “What is normal to men but weird to women?” and netizens shared their best examples. From prison-cell-like living spaces to simply never asking questions, get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorites, and be sure to add your own thoughts and examples in the comments section below.
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Not getting details. Case in point: One of my best friends wife had a baby. I swung by the hospital on my lunch break, congratulated him, and left.
That night, I told my wife they had the baby. It was a boy, and the name. She started asking all this other stuff, length, weight, time, etc, and I had no idea. Didn't bother to ask. Baby was good, Mom and Dad were good. I thought I had covered the bases.
I wouldn't think to ask about any of that either. It's not my baby🤷🏽♀️ but congrats!!
Accidentally walking behind a woman at night and quickly going to the other side of the road or slowing down to create distance so you don't seem like a creep.
Did this last night, crossing throu a big apartment complex, there are routes to cross it in less time, she was about 15ft in front of me. After taking the same path for 5 minutes y redirected and took a longer route cause I was feeling creepy.
Several years back, my wife and I moved abroad. Our first Christmas back in the US we had separate guys/ladies nights to catch up with our old friends. When we got back that night she was able to give me an update on everyone because for the past few hours they just sat in a circle and took turns talking about their lives. When she asked me about the guys, I responded "I dunno, we just ordered pizza and played video games".
Me and the bros have been friends for like 15 years... I think we have a total of 3 pictures together haha
Not having any real friends to support them through tough times.
This is particularly true of boomers - I hope it won't be the same for my generation. As I watch my parents and their friends get old, sick, and die, I see that none of the men visit each other in hospital or even know why their "friends" are sick. My mom and her female friends spend their days checking in on and taking care of each other. But when a husband gets sick, there is no one except their wife to take care of them.
The only exception in my parents' friend-group was the gay male couple. They had a community of gay men supporting them.
Being scared of randomly being accused of being a creep in public, possibly even reported, even though you're just minding your own business.
No, I'm not staring at you, I'm thinking about a certainly relevant scenario about how I would fight off a random armed bank robber right now and my state of mind is "Where am I going again? Oh, look, a bunch of ants. Nice."
My dad used to drive to a park on his lunch break, eat his lunch then lay his seat back and take a short nap. He was reported to the police because they thought he was "watching the kids". He wasn't even facing the playground. If I (female) did the same thing I doubt anyone would've thought anything of it.
And you would be correct, noone would have been as concerned over a woman at a park. This is one of the main reasons you hear about men alone in their rooms, since it is the only place they don't feel like they are threatening to others. It turns out being lonely is not the worst possible condition, if you're a guy.
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Men should be angry at the men who assault, grape, and unalive women and children
What on Earth would give you the impression they aren't. People who commit these crimes even have to be isolated from other criminals in prison
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It's a shame women must be wary of all men. If in the past only our male-dominated society had done more to police men's bad behavior we wouldn’t be in this situation. Perhaps in the future law enforcement will believe crime victims and begin enforcing the law. With criminals behind bars, everyone will be safer and good men won’t have reason to feel bad.
I understand where OP is coming from, 100%. Being scared of being accused is both a real and valid fear. BUT, think of how terrifying it is to be afraid you are being watched/stalked by a creep. I am an AFAB who dresses very feminine, I've had cars pull up to ask me where I lived, and how pretty I was. (I was twelve.) So from now on, every slow car next to me is a reason to be afraid. My mother went for a walk to take the dog at night and came back saying that some random guy really freaked her out, but my dad has never had that problem. While OP's struggles make sense and are important, there is also a reason that women or AFABS assume the worst. Plus, most who assume things like that, have had experiences that led them to have that fear.
This is me with people thinking I'm staring at them, but I have ADHD so sometimes I'm in La La Land and my own head bouncing around with a thousand random thoughts and something like a movement or a flashlight behind them has caught my attention and then I just don't release my attention. I have seriously had people get very offended and be like why are you staring at me and I just look at them in a complete daze and video like huh
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Yeah... one accusation can ruin your life. I refused to ever be alone with female employees after one accused me of trying something when she drunkenly hit on me and I said I wasn't interested. 1) I was/am in a longterm, committed relationship; 2) if I wasn't, I still wouldn't be interested in someone so sloppily drunk - I like drinking, but not to the point of losing control and definitely not when I had to drive people later; and 3) watching as she spent most of the evening with her tongue down our married kitchen manager's throat... do I really need to say more. It took a long time for her to finally admit I never even showed interest in her, let alone touched her, but the harm was never fully undone.
It must suck to have people think you are creepy. It sucks more to have random men think they can touch you or follow you until you find a cop.
Yeah it absolutely does but you know what It doesn't change the fact that the other person has something creepy going on or something annoying or sucky. and the more that other men call out the bad men or even just the men who think it's funny to say s****y things the better it will be. fully dismissing another person's experience as invalid just makes it really easy for them to do that to you or other people.
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I was sitting in the library reading (I'm here right now!) and I was in the habit of taking photos of passages and posting them on Facebook before I quit that dumpster fire in 2017. There was a lady crouched down looking at books and when my phone made the sound she pulled the back of her shirt down and stood up and said something I didn't quite understand then hurried off. I tried to tell her what the deal was but she was gone. So I went and told a librarian about it. Still bothers me to this day.
You can thank evil men for that. I feel bad for both of you.
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The thing is, you might know you're not a creep, but how are WE supposed to know? ETA: being accused of being a creep is far better than the fear we have which is being attacked, raped or murdered.
How do you figure that's better? If you accuse someone of being a creep when they're not being a creep, that makes you a jerk. Baseless, unwarranted accusations can ruin a person's life.
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About 16 years ago I was at my office and spaced out. Without me noticing a girl stood in front of me. After a couple of minutes my boss called me and acused me of staring at her butt. Told her (boss) that no, just spaced out. We are no longer boss/employee but friends and still doesn't believe me.
Stopped having lunch alone in public parks. Even the ones without play equipment
This seems to be peculiarly an American thing, which I see on TV shows. What's wrong with the psyche ? No one in Oz would think about reporting anyone unless they were observed actually engaged in a criminal act. Surely the cops have better things to do than check on someone having a snooze whilst reclining in their own car.
That side step to unstick your nutsack.
Being friends with someone and knowing absolutely nothing about them
To fix this: Knowing absolutely nothing about them that someone else thinks is normal to know.
The one who gets roasted the most is probably our star of the group. We insult because we love.
This one is very true. Generally, blokes only take the pįss out of people we like.
stopping to pick up a good stick
For me, it doesn't just stop with picking up the stick. What follows is stick becomes lightsaber in my head and whoosh, whoosh, imaginary Stormtrooper falls XP
Having no decorations whatsoever.
True. I've never understood the appeal of just having stuff everywhere.
Deciding to do something and leaving the house 5 minutes later to get it done.
Using shampoo, conditioner, body wash and face wash from the same bottle
Body hair. It’s fine for men to have hairy legs, armpits, etc., but everyone loses their mind if they see a woman with body hair
Nodding to other random dudes on the street, and getting nods back in acknowledgement
Going literal years without any sort of physical contact
This shouldn't be normal. Deprivation of touch is a problem, not a normal.
Idle mode, literally not thinking of anything for a short period of time
How is that possible?! I’m a guy, and my brain whirls endlessly.
Strapping something down and saying “that’s not going anywhere”
Well, if you don't say the magic words, you're definitely going to lose it.
Not having to constantly worry about waiting on line for the bathroom/finding a bathroom
I'm trans, and not many people know that. It gives me a very unique perspective in life of having acclimatised to both men and women social norms. A major difference is that men and women gossip, - but differently. When girls gossip, it's about "who did what, when, how, and *the audacity*" and when men gossip, it's one guy saying "this guy is a s**t c**t, ay." And other guys going "yeah." If I treated either in reversal, men would be put off by it, and women would be wondering *why* I don't like them over the fact that I just *don't,* women need reason, context. Forgiveness is different too. Women are so much more understanding, but rarely forgive once a line is crossed. Men might just not like you over something petty. Buy him a beer or make his life a little easier and suddenly you're not so bad anymore. "He's still a s**t c**t, but he's not that bad" Men aren't better drivers, they're more decisive ones. Women are more cautious, which can slow reaction time when they're accessing the situation. Men leave much more to instinct. Often in each other's eyes, men are reckless, women are too slow. Neither are necessarily right or wrong. Being "gross". Men in men-only environments don't tend to think much about spitting, sticky taping wounds, adjusting their junk, farting, burping, not washing their hands as often as they probably should. There seems to be a lot more group forgiveness that "yeah I do that too, it's normal." When women are together, you still don't hear them ripping one and congratulating each other.
SPITTING ON THE SIDEWALK. WHYYYYY DO THEY DO THAT
Actually a crime in most parts of London (by-laws). And rightly so IMO.
Been working out at a local gym for half a year with 3-4 guys . Don’t know their names. Don’t plan on asking.
Sleeping on a mattress on the floor with no sheets and only one flat yellow pillow.
Maybe in my early 20s but I have so many pillows now. I love my little nest.
I have cried once in the last 15 years and it was when I watched my father die 12 years ago. I don't 'try not to cry,' I just don't cry. My wife and my 7 sisters have very clearly informed me this is, uh, not their normal.
When you walk behind a woman up the stairs you truly evaluate the architectual design and thinking that went into them by looking down
these are some beautiful m***********g stairs, man I gotta applaud whoever designed these, they're pretty nice. the steps are perfectly spaced, the color is immaculate, and oh I'm at the top now. bye stairs!
Periods of silence. Sometimes you chill with the boys and just enjoy the moment. No words, just drinking, gaming, smoking, etc in silence..
Walking alone at night to "clear the mind", as men usually say. I wish I could do that!
Walking around outside topless.
This is more a cultural thing. Go to Polynesia, a topless woman is not shocking there. Also, it's about comfort. I for one would rather wear a piece of garment that holds thight my stuff, even in a context where I can take it off.
Never venting about your day
That's just being polite. Why force other people to listen to a bunch of whining and complaining, there's no need.
Note: this post originally had 45 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
Many of these are what leads to men (like myself) saying they hadn’t seen any signs before their friends suicide. We need to talk to each other if and when we’re feeling low! Too many young men die at their own hands, and in so many cases it’s entirely avoidable.
i totally agree. there is so little support or room out there for simply talking about what they're going through, and as someone who's had a close friend almost die of suicide, that really needs to change. Simply being able to reach out to one person who you can actually talk to can save your life. Guys, please let yourself be that one person to someone you care about.
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hmm mostly sexist nonsense that applies mostly to western societies.
As a guy I can say like almost none of these r true. Like, esp the ones abt emotions a lot of those r untrue
Many of these are what leads to men (like myself) saying they hadn’t seen any signs before their friends suicide. We need to talk to each other if and when we’re feeling low! Too many young men die at their own hands, and in so many cases it’s entirely avoidable.
i totally agree. there is so little support or room out there for simply talking about what they're going through, and as someone who's had a close friend almost die of suicide, that really needs to change. Simply being able to reach out to one person who you can actually talk to can save your life. Guys, please let yourself be that one person to someone you care about.
Load More Replies... hmm mostly sexist nonsense that applies mostly to western societies.
As a guy I can say like almost none of these r true. Like, esp the ones abt emotions a lot of those r untrue
