I Know Men Watch Me
I work in an elementary school and some of my students' fathers' pick them up at the end of the day. I can't help but notice how uncomfortable around me they are. In a "normal" male dominated setting -- which is pretty much anywhere -- they'd feel free to ogle me and maybe wink at their friends and make a comment or two. But in a school, they shuffle their feet, speak barely above a whisper and try to make small talk about the most random things. It's cute but really distracting when at a moment's notice I have a kid doing cartwheels in the corner. There's this one guy who is actually really attractive that I'm thinking about. I literally have to catch my breath every time he walks in but then the kids command my attention again and I snap out of it. The thing is, I know outside of school -- in the real world -- this man would have nothing to say to me. Like a lot of the men I meet, we just don't have much in common.