witnessed a fascinating interaction this morning that really highlights everything wrong with how vague radfem nonsense has infiltrated upper middle class consciousness.
so I'm in a sporting goods store that sells hunting rifles. a tourist (50ish-year-old white woman) starts taking photos of the weapons on display, and a local man stops her and says "excuse me, it's not allowed to take photos of the guns."
tourist woman: "do you work here?"
local man: "no, I'm just–"
tourist woman: "well then it's not your responsibility to tell people what they can do, is it?"
local man: "it's everyone's responsibility, these rules are for the safety of our community."
tourist woman: "no, it's not. I don't have to listen to you. only the shop staff can tell me what I can't do."
at this point the man shakes his head, says "idiot" under his breath, and walks away.
and the woman calls after him three separate times, at increasing volume as he exits the shop: "excuse me? what did you say? what was it you said to me?"
then she turns to me and the cashier and says "strange man. scary guy. talking about guns and telling women what to do. I'm afraid to leave the shop now. I think he's going to shoot me. he seems like someone who kills women. scary guy."
and I'm thinking, yeah, you were so scared of the guy walking away from you that you kept trying to drag him back in and escalate the confrontation.
or could it be, perhaps, that what you really wanted was another chance to win the argument in front of witnesses, and when you didn't get that, you decided to pivot to being a poor helpless little misogyny victim about it. perhaps throwing your weight around as a rich tourist didn't work so you thought you'd save face with onlookers by rolling out the Men Are Always Threats To Women trope.
too bad your audience was one guy who knows the smell of that bullshit a mile off and one cashier who has dealt with enough horrid tourists she'll have forgotten the entire interaction by her next coffee break.