Ever So Cooly
A while ago I was walking down a busy street, wearing a red workout jacket, minding my own business. It was windy that afternoon. The hood covering my head for warmth.
Picture me, walking down the sidewalk of a busy street, in one of the safest cities of the US of A. Wearing red on the upper half, black on the bottom half.
Suddenly a car zoomed by me going faster than the speed limit. A male voice yelled out the passenger window, followed by a long honk.
I jumped in place. Startled. It'd been years since something like this happened to me.
As the red sedan raced in front of me, I saw it was full of millennials, presumably all male. All white males. At least the driver and front passengers were.
The young man who yelled at me out his window appeared quite pleased with himself. He was all smiles, squirming in his seat, invisible high 5s within the car to his mates.
My first thought was, Did I invite his asshole gesture because I'm Chinese? No, because he couldn't have known I was Chinese coming from behind. My second thought was, Did this happen to me because I'm a woman? (Women, especially short women (my bias) seem to be easy targets.) Did this happen because I was wearing red?
Two seconds later I concluded that the young man picked me as his target because he felt like it. That was the only sure thing. There was no point in conjecturing further.
By now the red sedan was 50 yards in front of me. He had already looked back at me twice. An abundance of teeth displayed in his self-satisfied mouth.
I held up my right hand, gave him the bird, and looked into his eyes. Ever so cooly.
In that instant I had the upper hand. I didn't allow this stranger's idea of fun to consume me, belittle me, then define me.
I continued to walk on. A big smile resting on my face for the remainder of my stroll home.
Picture me, walking down the sidewalk of a busy street, in one of the safest cities of the US of A. Wearing red on the upper half, black on the bottom half.
Suddenly a car zoomed by me going faster than the speed limit. A male voice yelled out the passenger window, followed by a long honk.
I jumped in place. Startled. It'd been years since something like this happened to me.
As the red sedan raced in front of me, I saw it was full of millennials, presumably all male. All white males. At least the driver and front passengers were.
The young man who yelled at me out his window appeared quite pleased with himself. He was all smiles, squirming in his seat, invisible high 5s within the car to his mates.
My first thought was, Did I invite his asshole gesture because I'm Chinese? No, because he couldn't have known I was Chinese coming from behind. My second thought was, Did this happen to me because I'm a woman? (Women, especially short women (my bias) seem to be easy targets.) Did this happen because I was wearing red?
Two seconds later I concluded that the young man picked me as his target because he felt like it. That was the only sure thing. There was no point in conjecturing further.
By now the red sedan was 50 yards in front of me. He had already looked back at me twice. An abundance of teeth displayed in his self-satisfied mouth.
I held up my right hand, gave him the bird, and looked into his eyes. Ever so cooly.
In that instant I had the upper hand. I didn't allow this stranger's idea of fun to consume me, belittle me, then define me.
I continued to walk on. A big smile resting on my face for the remainder of my stroll home.
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