"I'm worried about you. Will you be okay?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"Yes."

"Then I choose to be okay."

What is the look that I give people when I'm walking down the street, that causes not one, not two, but at least half a dozen men to stop and aggressively ask me, at a loud volume, "WHAT?"

I'd really like to know. As a thin, and not particularly strong, woman who fears for her safety when walking alone on a street, often at night, I'd really like to know. So that I can stop doing it. Because it's disconcerting. And annoying.

And sometimes downright terrifying, as in last night with the large, tall, homeless dude who stood up and approached me aggressively when I walked past him.

Is it because I look at men in the eyes? Making eye contact is considered an aggressive behaviour in many cultures, including primate culture.

Is it because when I do make eye contact, I don't immediately look away? I suspect that's an even more challenging motion.

Is it because I smile when I greet someone new? Smiling is considered a sexual invitation in some cultures. My smiling at a person I've never met before is never an invitation for sex. Never ever ever ever.

Is it because I consider the people I see on the street human? Even after they've been kicked, beaten, and shat upon by life, they're still human.

Is it because I walk with my hands loose and my weight balanced? If I can run away from a physical threat, you better believe that I'm going to run. If I can't, I'm fighting with all I have.

Is it because I stand with my shoulders back and my head up? Some societies prefer their women demur, not ready to fight, much less fight back. I would do poorly in those societies.

I really don't know what causes these men to think it's okay to yell at me when I walk down the street. I guess if I find out, I might not change my behaviour. I'd still like them to stop.

It doesn't really make the world a better place, and it kinda screws with the people who didn't manage to get in line first, but I'm intrigued at the idea nonetheless. EarlyClaim (my referral link) will try to reserve your preferred username on new sites. An upside of the service is that it will generate interested users for a new startup/site, and increase the new site's exposure.

Part of me wants to build a competing service. A larger part of me is happier working on my will-make-the-world-a-better-place project instead.

From 5 Myths About Suicide, Debunked:

That's why mental health experts advise removing opportunity and means from suicidal people — once the crisis is past, the person can be successfully treated for the underlying mental disorder. As survivor Ken Baldwin told The New Yorker magazine in 2003 of his attempt to kill himself by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge, the regret was immediate: "I instantly realized that everything in my life that I’d thought was unfixable was totally fixable — except for having just jumped."