Does it make women feel uncomfortable when men admire their sex appeal?

What you’re calling “admiration” is rarely that.

Here’s some of the so-called “admiration” I’ve seen in my fifty years of life.

• Boys pulling a girl into their locker room to sexually harass/assault her.
• Men loudly whistling/commenting on girls’/women’s bodies/appearance while leering at/ogling them and generally making them feel uncomfortable.
• Women routinely telling me/others about how they’re harassed/catcalled consistently throughout their lives while I, as a man, can count on one hand the number of times it’s happened to me.
• Men routinely approaching women to “admire” them when they’re alone, in a confined space, vulnerable, or incapacitated.
• Men sending women sexually explicit messages/media without caring whether or not the women in question want that information (without realizing that women can get that information themselves, if they want it, without any outside help at all).

Let’s look at the various definitions of that word.

• To regard with pleasure, wonder, and approval.

• To have a high opinion of; esteem or respect.

• To be amazed at.

• To regard with wonder and delight.

• To wonder; be affected with surprise; marvel.

• To feel or express admiration.

• To feel pleasure; be pleased.

Admiration is about how one feels about someone or something. It’s an internal process.

You never have to outwardly express an internal feeling, especially about someone else’s appearance.

If you do, you have to make sure you’re invited to do so. That means it’s an interaction with two or more like-minded, consenting individuals.

One person cannot initiate admiration about another’s appearance without the permission of that other person.

If they do, if they insist on doing so regardless of people telling them otherwise, they are not admiring anyone. What they’re really doing is harassing/pressuring/intimidating them.

Have you noticed how many women refuse to post pictures of themselves as avatars on social media?

Have you noticed how many women notify their family or friends when they’re going on a date with a man they don’t know well?

Have you noticed how many women are uncomfortable to be out alone at night, in large empty spaces, in tightly enclosed spaces, or in mostly male environments?

Have you noticed how many women are told the “appropriate” amount of clothing they should wear, especially in public? (The real answer is whatever they’re comfortable with; the most common answer is to make it seem that women invite unwanted attention simply by existing attractively in the presence of men.)

If you’re a man, have you ever noticed how little you’ve ever had to do any of these things or been told to do any of these things? Have you ever done any of these things or even felt the need to?

If you’re making a woman uncomfortable with your “admiration,” then you’re doing real admiration wrong.