Feminist: Talking to a Woman With Headphones is 'Sexual Harassment'

"Encourages men to violate nonverbal body language."

9.2.2016

The feminists have added another definition of sexual harassment to their coven creed. Take note, men: talking to a woman with headphones is sexist.

Writing for the feminist magazine Bust, feminist writer Patricia Affriol employs a great deal of profanity (what feminist doesn't?) in her modestly titled piece: "Leave Me the F*ck Alone When I'm Wearing Headphones."

Charming.

The catalyst for Affriol's anger came from dating expert Dan Bacon in Modern Man who instructed single gents on how they could open up a woman wearing headphones for conversation. These allegedly sexist instructions go as follows:

Stand in front of her (with 1 to 1.5 meters between you).

Have a confident, easy-going smile and say, 'Hey, how’s it going?' to start a conversation with her.

Most women are polite and friendly and will take off their headphones to talk to you at that point, so just start talking and have a conversation with her.

However, if she hasn’t looked at you or hasn’t noticed you yet, simply get her attention with a wave of your hand.

Wave your hand in her direct line of vision so she can see it and say, 'Hey, how’s it going?' She most likely won’t hear you say those words is she’s listening to music, but it’s just a way of showing her that you’re trying to talk to her.

She will most likely take off her headphones to talk to you when you say, 'Hey, how’s it going?', but if she doesn’t, just smile, point to her headphones and confidently ask, 'Can you take off your headphones for a minute?' as you pretend to be taking headphones off your head, so she fully understands what you mean.

Then, go ahead and have a conversation with her.

How violating! To make matters worse, Bacon even advises his readers that if the "woman doesn't seem interested in talking," then they should "leave the interaction without trying to talk to her any further," because "it’s not appropriate or fair for a guy to annoy a woman who doesn’t want to talk to him at all."

This rudeness is obviously beyond the pale. Affriol vented her indignation: "Seriously, if I guy took off my headphones, I would fucking slap him," she writes, even though Bacon never advised his readers to take off a woman's headphones.

"Now we have to worry about being badgered while wearing our only saving grace," she continues. "Headphones are usually my sole protection from unwanted attention, my signal to the world that I don't want to be bothered."

Affriol goes on to describe this sexist affront as a violation of "woman's personal space" that threatens their "precious alone time."

"This type of nauseating advice encourages men to violate nonverbal body language and exercise their power to support their egos," she exclaims. "Please don't talk to women who are wearing headphones. Don't be an asshole. It's sexual harassment. You're contributing to a culture that allows and excuses harm to women's bodies in public spaces."

Wethinks the lady doth protest too much, and can't help wondering if Affriol's disproportionate outrage might be because men don't try to talk to her.