Many women, unfortunately, have dealt with creepy men at one point or another in their lives. Often, we interact with them on a regular basis, without wanting to, of course. Sure, we bet a lot of men have to deal with strange, creepy women sometimes. But when a woman meets up with a guy on a date, she literally always has to have her ‘creeper’ antenna up. Women also have to deal with male strangers who find it completely acceptable to act in inappropriate ways towards them in public. Just taking public transportation is a minefield of possible unwanted encounters including men who sit way too close and try to read over you shoulders. We’ve thought long and hard about it and come up with some of the weirdest things that men do to creep women the eff out.

15. Showering Woman You Just Met With Compliments

Giving someone a compliment is a nice thing to do even if it’s someone you don’t know that well. Complimenting a woman you don’t know that well isn’t necessarily creepy. But when you don’t stop showering her with compliments, that’s just going to make her uncomfortable. When it’s a single observation about how nice her shoes are or how you noticed she has great taste in books, that’s acceptable. It doesn’t feel weird. But if you keep handing out niceties over and over again, it’s going to feel a bit creepy. Saying nice things isn’t a guarantee that you’ll get a date so stop trying to force things.

14. Showing Up At A Woman’s Workplace And You’re Not Her BF

Don’t do this. Don’t just show up at a woman’s workplace without first checking with her. Unless, you’re her sibling or BFF who’s visiting from out of town and you want to surprise her. Or maybe you’re her boyfriend or husband and you want to bring her lunch. That’s cute. It’s not cute when it’s some guy you went on a date with one time. That’s borderline creepy. It’s also rude. You don’t know what important meetings are scheduled and how the day is structured for her. How did he even find the address to the office? Time to call security.

13. LIKE LIKE LIKE LIKE LIKE

Listen, we all do it. Facebook stalking, Instagram stalking, they’re a regular part of life. We snoop through people’s profiles to find out more about them or find out if our frenemies from high school are doing better or worse than we are. But when a guy decides to go through your Facebook and ‘like’ everything you post, that’s definitely creepy. If you get notifications that someone you don’t know very well is liking your posts from 5 years ago you know that they’re digging deep into your profile. It might be time to unfriend them or re-calibrate your privacy settings.

12. Assuming It’s Okay To Just Touch A Woman

Women don’t want to be touched randomly. It’s not sexy and we’re never ‘asking for it’. We don’t enjoy having our asses grabbed or slapped. That’s just sexual harassment. At work, it’s not okay to just dole out hugs and expect an enthusiastic reaction. Touchy feely guys are creepy AF. Again, unless we’re dating you, it’s not okay to just touch our bodies. Give us a bit of personal space, please. The same goes for men on public transit. If we’re on a bus that has a bunch of empty seats and you choose to sit next to us, you’d better make sure to stay in your lane. Not interested.

11. Asking For Help With Moving Something

You might be thinking that women who find this creepy are just awful and rude. A woman who doesn’t want to help a man who’s having trouble lifting something heavy? How impolite! Except, no. Men are perfectly capable of moving heavy objects themselves. If not, they can ask a friend, or another man. Remember, Ted Bundy used this ruse to get women to follow him to his vehicle. He would feign and injury and request help from women who felt bad about refusing. Well, we’re giving you permission ladies. Say no, and don’t be shy about it. He can carry his own shit.

10. Hitting On Way Younger Women

Well, this is just an obvious one. Men who hit on way younger women are definitely creepy. We’re not talking about elderly men hitting on thirty year olds, although, that’s pretty gross too. We’re talking about middle aged men hitting on sixteen year olds. That’s just skeevy. Sixteen year olds aren’t adults and they definitely aren’t women. Guys who think it’s fine to chat up young girls of this age are super gross. If a guy finds high school girls attractive, that’s a red flag. But we don’t think we needed to tell you that. You already knew. Steer clear.

9. Making Jokes About Date Rape

HAHAHAHA. A joke about date rape? Did you just joke about sticking a roofie in our drink? Hey, guess what? We’re not impressed. Jokes about date rape or rape in general are zero percent funny. If you’re the kind of guy that makes these jokes and thinks they’re harmless, think again. You can easily change this, though. It doesn’t have to be a defining trait of yours. Just stop making these horrible jokes. They’re not funny, they make us uncomfortable, and they’re not getting you a second date. You like to be the funny guy? No problem! A quick Google search should get you some new joke material in no time.

8. Staring At Us All the Time

Staring at women is just not okay. It doesn’t matter where you are, it makes us extremely uncomfortable and there’s no reason for it. You think a woman is attractive? Great. Quickly look and promptly stop staring. Women have to walk around all the time worrying about how men are going to choose to interact with them. Sometimes we have to deal with men who prefer to act aggressively and feel like our outfit choices are totally geared towards them. If we look nice, we must want some attention. When we find ourselves getting stared at, it can make us feel like prey being stalked by a predatory animal.

7. Angry Texting

This is a classic occurrence in this day and age. Women who are looking to date, have to deal with aggressive texters on the regular. Men who, as soon as they get rejected, immediately flood a woman with text messages that get increasingly vile and accusatory. It’s really simple, though. If a woman decides she didn’t ask for a dick pic, she’s allowed to decline your invitation for a date. If a woman changes her mind about dinner on Friday, it’s not okay for you to call her an ‘ugly whore’. Aggressive texts will get you nowhere and you bet they’ll be screenshot and shown online for the world to see your true colors.

6. Catcalling Is Never Okay

No woman thinks this is nice. Women don’t like to be yelled at, generally. Screaming compliments actually makes them non-compliments. Shouting that a woman is sexy is aggressive and makes women feel very uncomfortable. Attempting to aggressively convince a woman to smile is not something we enjoy. We do not have to smile at you. We’re not here for your enjoyment. You know what men should do instead since many of them seemingly have this compulsion to shout at a lady passersby? They should shout benign positive things like ‘have a great day!’ Or ‘isn’t this a beautiful day?’ Try it next time you feel inclined to yell something at a female pedestrian.

5. Relentlessly Pursuing A Woman

In the movies, when a man doesn’t give up it’s supposed to seem romantic. When a woman turns a guy down, it seems almost heroic when the male character doesn’t stop pursuing the woman of his dreams. In real life, it’s none of those things. When a woman declines an offer for a date, or rejects you in any other way, it’s not an invitation to stalk her until she’s worn down. That’s not the way to a woman’s heart. Most women don’t want to be relentlessly pursued. If we say no, that’s the end of it. Move on, dude.

4. Honking At Female Runners

This is similar to catcalling except it includes a vehicle and loud honking. Men who think loudly beeping at a woman, whether she’s running or walking, is charming must be out of their damn minds. Put yourself in a woman’s shoes for once in your life. She’s walking her dog or enjoying a nice afternoon run and you decide to honk loudly at her as you pass by in your car. Even if you’re saying something really nice like ‘great job!’ we’d rather you didn’t. First off, she can’t hear a thing you said, idiot. Second, you are doubly threatening because you’re in a moving vehicle.

3. Flirting With A Cashier Thinking She’s Flirting Back

Any woman who has worked in retail has encountered a man who doesn’t understand what customer service is. Customer service means treating a client with respect and providing great service to that person. It means being friendly. Friendly does not equal flirty. Unfortunately, many men assume that the woman behind the cash is flirting with them. Except, she’s really just doing her job. Flirting with a cashier who is clearly not interested is very creepy. She’s not exactly able to just leave or call you out. She’s at work. So do everyone a favour and let her do her job.

2. Following Women

If you offer to walk a woman home or to her car and she politely declines, that’s not an invitation for you to continue to follow her. If a women rejects your advances at a bar or party, it’s not an invitation for you to continue following her around. That’s extremely creepy. And it’s a huge red flag for women. It makes it clear that you’re unable to accept ‘no’ as an answer. It means that despite hearing the word ‘no’, you continue to choose to do whatever you want. Guys like this are to be avoided at all costs. Stay far away.

1. Expecting Something In Return For Your ‘Kindness’

And the number one creepy thing on this list? Men who give compliments or act kind and expect something in return. Men who refer to themselves as ‘nice guys’ and expect the universe to shower them with women in return are not really nice. Men who offer up compliments and become aggressive when women reject them are not actually being kind. Expecting something in return for being a gentleman doesn’t actually make you a gentleman, FYI. It makes you a huge creep. If you tell a female co-worker that she did a great job on that report, she’s not just magically going to have sex with you and you shouldn’t expect that either. Maybe, just maybe, try to be genuinely nice. It’s worth a try.