In recent times, the problem of men sexually harassing women on the streets has become a prominent issue in society, making men less trustworthy in the eyes of women.

The true problem is that due to the increase over the years of harassment such as catcalling and degrading things said to women, anytime a man tries to strike up a conversation with a woman on the street, he is immediately seen as a creep or a pervert.

Granted, some men might initiate a conversation politely and then devolve into saying insulting things, but this is a rare occurrence. A lot of men nowadays are unable to have good intentions without an immediate assumption of bad intentions.

As men, it keeps getting harder and harder to approach and initiate conversations with a woman, especially on the street, without being questioned themselves. If you say hello, you are either ignored or given a dirty look. If you simply say the woman looks nice, or pretty, or beautiful, it is assumed you only want one thing from them.

However, just because women tend to jump to the conclusion that men’s thoughts are impure, it does not mean that men are not completely in the wrong.

Men, a lot of the time, don’t know what to say, or how to say something without being insulting. Additionally, men also have a problem initiating conversations in a polite manner. We just say the first things in our heads, and that’s a problem of ours.

We’ve all heard the stories of men calling women horrible things or trying to make a compliment in a rude way, possibly trying to be humorous, but these things can still be very hurtful to women, even if the men aren’t trying to be.

We, as men, need to work on how we approach women on the street. We need to improve our “game,” as we all like to call it, to be a little more sensitive and conscientious.

This is not saying that men are completely in the wrong, or that women are too sensitive, it is right in the middle. Women can have a tendency to be more sensitive when it comes to receiving compliments, but that’s in part due to men not thinking about what they say when approaching a woman.

Women already have their guard up when it comes to men they don’t already know, as they want to ensure they’re protecting themselves from anyone potentially harmful. Once men became insensitive and unthoughtful in how they approached women, it only helped to make women more sensitive.

On the other hand, women have become too sensitive to the point a man can’t even say hello without being rejected and labelled as an abrasive pervert. Without giving a man a chance, choosing instead to judge a book by its cover, it only furthers the difficult reality that the two sexes will always be at odds

Both sides need to do a lot to fix this. Men, we need to be a little more casual, and a lot less forward in the way we approach a woman. We don’t need to start off with a compliment, as it only throws a red flag up in the mind of women. If you do decide to start off with a compliment, be sure you’re careful with how you decide to word it, so as to not immediately scare the woman off.

Women, you can help out as well by not throwing that wall up so easily. If you were to just hear us out and see what we have to say, you may be shocked how many good guys you will find out in the world.