My Encounter with Skewed Male Perception

So, I've actually been apart of HarlemLIVE since the 25th of February, but I've never gotten around to all the things a newbie is supposed to do within their first week until now. Even though I got thrown right into the work process of Web Design and the basics of life at HarlemLIVE (i.e. washing tons of dishes my very first night.), Gisely (did I spell that right?) says I still have to be called a newbie for at least a month. BOO!

Now, for the actual thing I wish to discuss in my first blog, well not really discuss, but post I suppose.

On the 27th of February in my Journalism class we were discussing the male perception of females, and the topic of how some males get very upset when turned down, and call girls all types of names came up. Strangely enough, on the 28th, the day after the heated yet comical discussion in class, I ran into the exact same situation we had been discussing. What's posted below is what I scrawled in the back of my notebook after the incident, and I just typed it up on the computer tonight to share. I'd say it's rated PG-13? My passion is creative writing so it's story-like rather than story-like:

~ 1:53 PM ~ Train from doctor to school ~ 2/28/08 ~

“Can I sit down next to you?”

The first response that came to mind was, “Sure you can but may you? No,” because my teachers had always drilled it into my head.

Instead I frowned and moved my bag, even while observing all the empty seats on the train. There were about ten other people in the train car, scattered in all the different seats available. At almost two in the afternoon there should have been a few more people on the train, but I figured that was because of the homeless person.

I turned back to the man, either flirting with me or picky about his seat like I was.

He smiled and I smiled back because I’m pleasant that way. When he moved to sit down, the train swaying side to side as it barrelled down the tracks, he made a caress of using my thigh to keep from falling.

“Don’t touch me like that,” I said, and he scooted over and turned as much as he was able to in his puffy winter coat.

“What?” he asked, his milky blue eyes wide and his dry lips parted.

“Don’t touch me like that,” I repeated, turning my head to look at him.

That incredulous look was still on his face and he said, almost sincerely, “I didn’t want to fall. I just touched you so I wouldn’t fall. Is it such a big deal?” I frowned and turned my head away, burying the lower half of my face behind the scarf wrapped around my neck, nodding. “It ain’t such a big deal. Is it a big deal?”

I looked at him again, took in the look on his pock-marked and clearly over thirty features and said slowly, “Yes…it is.”

He made a bigger deal of getting up than he did sitting down, knocking into me while nearly shouting, “Fuck you then, you stupid bitch.” Stumbling to the door that led to the next train car he made sure to step on my whole left foot on his way out. The train still only had 10 other people on it, and the homeless man in the corner opposite of me started coughing again.

I slouched in the two seater in my little corner of the train, turned up my music, face back to hiding beneath my scarf to hide my smile.

People amuse me.

So, what do you all think? I'm especially interested in what the males reading have to say on the topic since there aren't many in my Journalism class.

Some people say I isolated myself by sitting in the corner 'alone', but when there are only 10 people on the train and 10 different sizes of benches to sit on, who really bunches up with other people? And then others say I invited him by smiling, but I'm still learning about certain male perceptions, and how even though my smile was a 'Hail fellow well met' kind of smile others may see it as an 'OMG come do me in the corner' kind of smile.