So now if you tell a stranger to smile you may be committing a crime, say what? sad face don’t tell me to smile or I’ll get you arrested!!! tut with rolling eyes
Hi
I am no Snowflake or a very Woke sort of person.
I compliment ladies and if no wedding ring on their finger I have been known to chat them up when single.
I open doors for ladies and smile at them from time to time.
What I object to is the very offensive behaviour of some men, particularly when where is more than one of them, who feel it is acceptable to describe a females body and what exactly they would like to do with it, in particular 3 at the same time.
This happened to a very young teenager, my daughter, when I was in earshot.
The outcome was not good for those involved.
My daughter said Dad, I get this every day, I am used to it.
I found this completely wrong.
Flirting with someone your own age is fine by me, abusing a young girl is not.
Females are not just a piece of meat,a toy to be used.
This sort of behaviour is wrong and should be a Crime.
I totally get where you are coming from here Swimmy but I’d hardly call telling someone to smile a crime, it just seems ridiculous to me. An intimidating stare for a long time fair enough, but to say smile??? But then, what do I know 
|Hi
Thanks for that LQ.
Some proposed Laws are stupid, but we do need to make sure females are not abused verbally by nasty males.
I will always open doors for ladies, smile at them, and with no ring on the finger, chat them up…
I am by the way, useless at chatting up ladies.
There should however be a law protecting females from the sort of verbal abuse that my daughter had.
It is just plain wrong.
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Oh dear, I smile at most people in the street, will they lock me up and take the key away.
Oh dear, Susie. You must be more careful. We don’t want you carted off. 
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off with Susies head then she can’t smile haha
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Why would you tell a complete stranger to smile ?
It’s blooming rude you don’t know what may have happened in their life that day .
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I agree but some people seem to have a need/habit of trying to ‘cheer’ those they detect as sad?
They are usually jerks .
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Hi
Smiling at people is nice, it is part of life and enjoying it.
I never expect a smile back., that would be weird.
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Exactly, telling girls “give us a smile, love” or “cheer up” is the classic from blokes who want to be noticed
I think it grates because it feels like they think they’re so superior to women, they’re entitled to insist on friendly smiles and a cheerful demeanour in their presence as only being what’s due to them
I don’t see how you can make laws against it, though, Most of them don’t really mean anything by it. Best to either ignore them, laugh or flip them the bird, depending on your mood
Oh and if you get lucky and one of them adds “smile love, it may never happen”, slowly look them up and down, head to toe and reply ….
“It just did, you’re here!”
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Good one Maree 
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You do know, right, that smiling at or saying good morning to us Londoners totally freaks us out? 
I’d just assume you were a psycho and reach for the pepper spray!
Do you really go round smiling at strangers? 
The scots are well known for smiling and randomly chatting to complete strangers. Not that I actually do this, but being a generally happy person, I do tend to find myself smiling a lot. Although on one occasion, I was amusing myself with thoughts and someone said "What the heck do you think you’re laughing at? 
Hi
Yep, I do.
I am always pleasant to strangers.
Life is too short to scowl at everyone.
It helps to be quite confident that you deal with the average pillock.
love it!!!
Quote from the OP article:
“Ms Ali, who was appointed by Home Secretary Priti Patel in 2020, is pushing for street harassment - such as wolf-whistling, catcalling, staring persistently or telling a stranger to smile - to be made a crime, with on-the-spot fines for offenders.”
Persistent harassment deserves to be punished but I can see why this kind of behaviour could be difficult to legislate against - some behaviours are obvious harassment but some depend so much on the context of the situation.
If someone has already been annoying or upsetting a person with unwanted attention, For example, following them and Wolf-whistling or trying to chat them up in a bus queue when they make it clear they are not interested, then when the person tries to ignore them or looks upset or offended, being told to cheer up or smile would be compounding the harassment.
Other times, an off the cuff remark to someone who looks miserable, like “Smile, love, it may never happen” could be just a crass and thoughtless remark without intending to harrass.
The last time someone said that to me, I was 18 and I was on the tube travelling home from work. I was feeling devastated because I had just discovered that my brother had been killed, blown into tiny smithereens by a bomb. I must have looked miserable or upset and a man sitting opposite me grinned and said in a booming cheerful voice
“Give us a smile, love and Cheer Up - it may never happen”
I really felt like slapping the smug and supercilious grin off his face but I didn’t.
I don’t suppose he meant to be hurtful and maybe he thought his remark may cheer me up. I could have done without his jaunty interference but I wouldn’t have wanted him to be fined for making a tactless remark.
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