Thursday, September 5, 2013

A Farewell To Flirting?

DISCLAIMER:
The following does NOT apply to genuine cases, ok?

I awoke this morning to the Afrikaans radio's newscast.
I know -
Not my first choice to wake up to, but what you gunna do?
It is DH's first choice and marriage involves give 'n take
Anyway.
The newsreader was going on and on about "sexuele teistering" (sexual harassment)

Like so many things that have been legislated in the interests of human rights, this has been pushed into the realms of absurdity.
It seems common practise now to follow this route:
A guy at work fancies a co-worker; he lets her know it
And it's not mutual
She just thinks he's painful -
How easy to get him off her back by playing the harassment card . .

Or the other way round, of course
Now its often the guys saying -
"Ohhh! Help me!
She's harassing me: I feel so uncomfortable"


Really?
Doesn't sound like guy-brain to me.
Guys used to love that kind of thing
It was part of a wonderful game called flirting.
A delicious way that people could let the other know they were attracted to them.
There were universally recognised signals hard wired into humanity, I think.

I remember when I was a teen, the Navy trucks often used to rumble through our town, loaded with young sailors
Everyone knew that they would whistle and call out remarks to any young girls they saw.
We loved it
We saw it as complimentary
It was fun
Exciting
Part of the age old gender game

It must be hell out there now
Who knows where the lines are?
Any advances by either party could be misread and end in a court case, or dismissal.
Or your name being dragged through the mud as some kind of sexual predator.
Shudder

And so, is it farewell (maybe forever) to the gentle and thrilling art of flirting?
Or is it somehow surviving, like a sturdy plant in a rough climate, under the radar?
Ready to spring up again when times change . . . ?


3 comments:

Lynette Jacobs said...

Gosh...and here we come to the end of another era. It is very much the same if you love children. These days you have to be careful of giving a child too much attention...you could just be classified a pedophile. It is so sad...wish we could just turn back the clock.

MrsLG said...

I agree with Lynette. It's really a pity, everything is taken to extremes.

Everyone seems suspicious of everyone.

Unknown said...

Oh ... and for me, the natural born flirt, I don't even know I'm flirting when I'm flirting - its very hard. The company I worked at previously, we used to joke that none of would survive in the USA because we were so flirty. Still, you do find there are those who overstep the boundary - but as Lynette said even as parents you've careful of showing your children too much affection in fear that it could be taken the wrong way.