Because our social sensitivity has degraded to the point where it's not allowed to ask a question if one of the answers can suggest victim-blaming or another type of "verbal violence". It's terrible, I know.

Couldn't have put it better myself.

I misspoke. I meant to convey that the people I know haven't even been asked out, nicely, more than once a week, which is a function of my having never lived in a "big city." I've gotten about a hundred responses to my first post, many of them with stories of men being incredible lechers and perverts, and I'm spending…

I opened that book. And promptly closed it.

On a "rude" scale of 1 to 100, I guess that would rate about a 2 or 3. I can't remember if I said my name first before asking hers, anyway.

Really? I thought Haunted was awful, and definitely the weakest Palahnuik I've read. Way I heard it was he wanted to just release it as a collection of short stories but built the frame novel around them after his publisher refused to print a collection because they thought it wouldn't sell. The result is a clunky…

I didn't say it was not a problem, I said it SEEMED like a non-existent problem. My opinion doesn't really matter. I wrote that to invite some stories about harrassment in order to possibly change my mind if I found that I didn't understand the scope of the situation. As it turns out, I didn't understand the scope of…

I misspoke. I meant to convey that the people I know haven't even been asked out, nicely, more than once a week, which is a function of my having never lived in a "big city." I've gotten about a hundred responses to my first post, many of them with stories of men being incredible lechers and perverts, and I'm spending…

I'm not sure which question you're referring to, but I was. I responded two different times to "aileywriter" and my first response contended much more directly with her words.

I misspoke. I meant to convey that the people I know haven't even been asked out, nicely, more than once a week, which is a function of my having never lived in a "big city." I've gotten about a hundred responses to my first post, many of them with stories of men being incredible lechers and perverts, and I'm spending…

It does make sense, and I agree. There are additional details I could share that I think would make you say, "Okay, given that, it's less likely that she thinks you're in it just to get laid," but I don't really want to spill any more of my guts than I already have. I'm really new at asking out women out of nowhere,…

I misspoke. I meant to convey that the people I know haven't even been asked out, nicely, more than once a week, which is a function of my having never lived in a "big city." I've gotten about a hundred responses to my first post, many of them with stories of men being incredible lechers and perverts, and I'm spending…

I don't understand why people think I can't or haven't done both.

I misspoke. I meant to convey that the people I know haven't even been asked out, nicely, more than once a week, which is a function of my having never lived in a "big city." I've gotten about a hundred responses to my first post, many of them with stories of men being incredible lechers and perverts, and I'm spending…

I misspoke. I meant to convey that the people I know haven't even been asked out, nicely, more than once a week, which is a function of my having never lived in a "big city." I've gotten about a hundred responses to my first post, many of them with stories of men being incredible lechers and perverts, and I'm spending…

I misspoke. I meant to convey that the people I know haven't even been asked out, nicely, more than once a week, which is a function of my having never lived in a "big city." I've gotten about a hundred responses to my first post, many of them with stories of men being incredible lechers and perverts, and I'm spending…

I really appreciate your measured response and the advice. Your idea sounds more like the one I hope to use, I just need to develop the confidence to do it instead of the tactic that gets me out quickly if there's no interest. I, too, prefer meeting women through friends or shared activities, but that's not been an…

Thank you. I really appreciate your support. I did think about chatting with her for a bit, but I thought that would be bona fide rude if her answer was going to be no; I was pulling her away from work, after all.

Won't do it. Can't do it. Can't capitulate. I can't just decide that people shouldn't talk to each other on the street because there are headphones. I can't say that people deserve to shut the world out that easily, especially since those Google glasses are coming and it's only going to get worse. Your comment makes…

I'm hearing a lof of the, "Men keep telling me to smile" stuff and yeah, that is weird. Sorry you endure that.