So, the first guy we’re going to talk about is that creep. For this particular man, it doesn’t actually matter whether you’re in the safest place imaginable or at a dark alley at night or on the train or whether it’s pretty neutral.
Because this guy crosses actual boundaries. He’s the handsy one. He’s the sexual assaulter. He’s the groper. He harasses. He is the dirty old man who grabs women’s asses. He is a stalker.
So…should you call him a creep? Remember, he is a stalker. A boundary crosser. An assaulter and he is violating boundaries left and right. Any boundaries you can think of? This guy violates them. And these boundaries are universal boundaries so you don’t have to tell him not to – just like you don’t need to tell people not to pee on your couch/steal your nice new television set. Not that it would make any difference to the guy if you did tell him that but still, you don’t need to in the first place because universal boundaries exist.
Whatever universal boundary you can name, this guy violates them.
So when it is safe to label him accurately, should you call him a creep?
No.
This isn’t about being nice to him though … or well, I suppose it actually is but not in that way. It’s because people use creep for ‘weird vibes’ and this behaviour and some other behaviour that we’ll address later.
But the reality is that this guy? You’re letting him off far too lightly when you call him a ‘creep’ – because he is far worse than that. If you’re talking about him on the interwebz and it’s consistent with physical safety (and it’s the webz so for most people, it will be), I expect him to be described as what he actually did.
Because he is not just a creep – he is someone who has definitively violated boundaries.







