Men who say sexual 'compliments' to women on the street are bullies, plain and simple. They know that the women are afraid of them, and unlikely to say anything or react in anyway except in discomfort and fear. They defend themselves by saying its a compliment, or why is she dresses that way anyway, but they know perfectly well that they are scaring that woman and it's frightening to imagine their hostile motives, or why they pervade in whole cultures. If they were men with any empathy, they could imagine how they would feel if men twice their size were 'complimenting' them as they went about their business.

People who yell racial epithets have no 'it was a compliment' defense, yet I'm sure these people are also careful to yell them when their targets are alone and vulnerable. If people are afraid (here anyway, most of the time) to bully people by yelling the n-word, its because they know damn well the trouble they could get into if they did. One day maybe those wierd anachronistic woman hating bullies of the world will realize they can get into trouble too and they'll finally shut up and let a woman walk down the street in India or Mexico or Japan (or New York?).

Wildly popular television shows dominated by female characters dispell the myth that 'older' females can't bring in an audience. The real question is why old male actors past their prime get cast as romantic roles with actresses 20 years younger? Actresses MY age (late 30's) are cast with old farts my dad's age! Robert Redford had to be over 60 playing a character in his 40's in "The Horse Whisperer". I don't need actresses my age to be paired with young bucks, but Jesus! I can't get into a romance when the female is my age and the male is my dad's. Ewwww. And what's up with men in their 50' routinely playing fathers of tots? Demi may be a little unrealistic to want the same roles as 2-25 year olds, but when will Hollywood stop indulging old men's delusions of youth?

I used to roll my eyes at nursing moms until I had a baby and I realized what a fool I was. First of all, when I had my daughter, I felt like I deserved a Nobel prize. Anyone who doesn't get it is probably suffering a little from that 'entitlement' people accuse moms of having. Mothers of young children, babies, kids, our elders, and soldiers going off to war, to name a few, deserve our kindness and respect. To say otherwise seems so meanspirited and small that it makes me cringe.

When I had my daughter, I found myself breastfeeding in public when a few weeks before I would have scoffed at women who did this. If anyone had ever dared say anything I would have told him to f-off. Because when you are the mother of a hungry baby NOTHING is more important than feeding the baby. Your heart starts pounding and you begin to sweat. You HAVE to feed the baby-NOW. And caring for a baby is so hard, so logistically challenging that you simply can't imagine it if you haven't done it yourself. Cut the moms some slack. I promise- having to witness breastfeeding is easier than being the parent of a baby.

Are some lactivists annoying? Yes. But I'd take an annoying lactivist with her heart in the right place over some adult who whines about having to share the earth with kids and parents any day.

As another poster said, ick. It's wrong on so many levels...it's TACKY.

...for hitting the nail on the head. "Aliens in America" bugged me since I heard a clip on the NPR in which hilariously backward midwesterners are rude and ignorant to the Pakistani exchange student. I guess the series creators are not aware that the densest population of middle Eastern immigrants is in the midwest, and Wisconsin and Minneasots themselves have large immmigrant populations from all over Asia.

But my sister likes the show so I gave it a try- and saw the episode where the trite, stupid mean beautiful girl becomes smarter and less objectified because the Pakistani student teaches her his wisdom about being valued for her brain and not her hotness. Because it takes a cultural ambassador from a country where honor killings are practiced to teach an American girl how to use her brain. I mean, who the hell writing this stuff? Plus, shouldn't a smart show retire that horrible, one dimensional misogynist stereotype of the powerful-yet-dimwitted sexy high school girl?

...what's unusual is that so many people now are doing it for the first time.

I haven't thought about Xuxa in years. And the first thing I thought of when I read the post was that Latin American culture is VERY into women being sexy, everywhere and at all ages.