Compliment or Derogatory Comment?

Whilst returning at twilight from my stroll to the post office I walked past some unruly gentlemen (if you can call them gentlement) at the bus stop. Was I surprised when one of them leaned forward and croaked a snide comment? No, but perhaps I should have been. In fact I continued walking as if I hadn't heard a thing.

This lead me to wonder whether today's women have become objects of only a sexual nature to be gawked at by men as they pass or have we always been seen in this way?... Something tells me the latter. Furthermore, and perhaps more interestingly, have we as women become so used to this prospect, if not accepted it, that our reactions have gone from that of shocked retorts to no reaction at all?

Can we blame the television and advertisements we see for these changes in social norms? Changes in the way men feel they can talk to women and the way women portray themselves? Perhaps. But if a woman attracting a derogatory comment from the opposite sex has become a social norm then why does it agitate me (and most others) so?

Or do I have it all wrong? Maybe being called a 'hot babe' was meant as a compliment in order to make me feel good and more confident, to confirm the way I was dressed is desired and I'm doing a great job at being attractive. Was I being too negative when I blink for a second longer whilst directing unspoken insults at the man who made me feel like a whore for wearing baggy shorts and a lose top?  Is it cynical of me to believe this comment may not have meant any of the above, but a been a facade to get some meat into bed that night?

Yet, had this person been more attractive and younger, would my feelings of disgust exist? Is that how we find our suitor/lover/soul mate? Through the same games that the dodgy men at bus stops use, just with more suitable ages, levels of attractiveness and hopefully slightly more respect as a human being rather than a 'hot piece of ass'?