A 23-year-old kid at work told another one of the girls he likes to date cougars
Grammar is hard. I first read this as "... one of the girls [whom] he likes to date [goes cougaring]," and was surprised that you could use it as a verb. Then it was "one of the girls [whom] he likes[, he told her] to date cougars."
Am I the only one this shit happens to? I swear I can read!
To be fair, cons also have a lot of women who (just as in normal society) seem to be (for whatever reason) very, um, attention-invitey and even appreciative of leering, if not groping. NOT ALL. And most are fine with groping from people they know and not strangers, which is totally their right, but there are some who at least give the impression of being okay with the leery/gropy thing, and even if they're just being polite and actually really do mind it, not all of the attendees have the skills to perceive that, so they think it's fine. And that doesn't make this whole thing okay at all. I'm just saying, it ends up being somewhat reinforcing of the behavior.
That was all very presumptuous-of-motivation of me and vastly oversimplifying, but I do know women who might, in the con atmosphere and in the swing of things, find such a thing entertaining and even flattering. Which does promote the atmosphere which PM and Jilli describe, which is no good.
Whew. Basically, I'm saying that whole thing was dumb and they should have known better, and also I can see how such a thing would get started.
For what it's worth, I have very seldom been harrassed in any way at a con, but that's probably because I am often a) full of the look of doom, b) accompanied by the likes of Joe, and finally and perhaps most significantly c) small of bosom.
In Look of Doom news, I will add that the only times strangers ever approached me when I was out dancing was when they came up from behind and thus couldn't see the look on my face. I have an unwelcoming face.