WOMEN WHO ARE FOLLOWED AND ANNOYED IN THE STREET
I have constantly heard women complain, in Paris, in London, and in New
York, that they can seldom go out in the street without being followed
and annoyed by men, many of whom look like gentlemen.
And they express their complaint in tones of indignation not altogether
free from a little air of self-satisfaction that seems to say: 'Of
course a pretty woman like myself is bound to be noticed and stared at
by men.'
Well, I hate to say anything unpleasant to women, but there is an
illusion in which they too often indulge, and which I should like to
dispel at once.
There are women beautiful as they can be, who can walk in every city
perfectly unmolested and in perfect comfort and security, and who would
be unable to tell you whether any man or woman had noticed them.
We men are not so bold as many women believe, nor are we so silly. We
have instinct, and we know pretty well the woman who enjoys being
noticed and looked at, and even the one who seeks that enjoyment for
purpose of self-satisfaction or vanity.
I am over fifty years old, and any girl of twenty, I guarantee, will
make me feel as timid as she likes in her presence, not by words, but
simply by her attitude of dignity and reserve.
And I believe that practically the same might be said of every man who
is not an unmitigated scoundrel or blackguard.
In a word, I should like to prove that a woman, who is too often noticed
and followed in the street, should be offended by it, and have enough
conscience of her value to mention it as little as possible; she should
also exercise more control over herself and pay great attention to the
way she dresses, looks and walks when out in the street.
For if she is constantly followed, take it for granted that there is in
her appearance something, just a little something, that gives a wrong
impression of her.
Let women have simplicity in their toilette, dignity in their manner, a
severe gracefulness in their general attitude, and I guarantee you that
no man--I mean no fairly well-bred man--will ever turn round to look at
them.
Women should not call it success. They should feel humiliated to see
that some gloriously beautiful women do not obtain it. They should take
advice and seek a remedy with the earnestness of that cashier who,
returning home, could not even take notice of his wife and children,
much less kiss them, until he had discovered the cause of an error of a
penny in his accounts amounting to several thousands of pounds.
When a woman tells me that she cannot go out without men looking and
smiling at her, I have always a mind to say to her: 'Perhaps you wink at
them.'