so, alex goes... - "Relax, it’s a compliment."

"If you’re not a woman (or, in many cases, a gay man), you might not realize that we are the object of a pervasive, constant, and often stifling gaze. It is not unique to women, no, but women unequivocally, inarguably bear the brunt of it, and we see this in advertisements, on television, in movies, through dress codes, even in the way people talk to and compliment very small children. A lot of the images we find in media and pop culture cater to a powerful demographic and, thus, to the straight male gaze. The gaze is rewarded, consistently. It is used to being fed and satiated. But women aren’t here to sell men a product or a lifestyle or an image. Women do not exist to feed and satiate and appease the gaze.

"These are not compliments. These are leers that borrow the language of compliments."