Men, this is your cease and desist notice

So, I skate. Roller skate to be exact—normally just around my block, listening to some music, vibing out.

I really like to skate because it forces me to go outside, and it keeps people from chatting with me. I also skate with pepper spray, because a small woman alone on roller skates seems like a pretty easy target.

I took a little break from skating today to sit and watch the clouds—on the front yard of my apartment building mind you. I was vibing, listening to music, smoking my vape, when a man-boy from the apartment next door approached. As I was minding my own business he offered me water, which I politely declined stating I had iced tea. He wasn’t wearing a mask, I wasn’t wearing a mask since I was outside on a driveway, and he went back to his building.

The act was thoughtful enough and he respected my decline, but then I noticed he wasn’t going inside or riding his bike—he was watching me from the front stoop. I could barely see him through the flowers and bushes, but he was there positioned my way. I definitely wasn’t the reason he had come outside, but I seemed to be the reason he wasn’t going anywhere.

I decided to wait to skate until he figured out what he was doing—five minutes passed, then ten, then 15, and I finally decided I was going to skate because I wanted to. Bike-boy watched, silently, with his bike next to him. I tried to skate away from my apartment, at the other end of the block. When I came back about 10 minutes later, he was gone.

I have a question for the men reading this—why do you watch us? Actually, I know why you watch—why don’t you care how it makes us feel? Why do some of you believe that you have a right to watch women exist? It’s as if you view us as monkeys, like the things we enjoy are actually there for your gaze.

I skate to get away from the world—it challenges my mind and body, and I can dance while doing it. I put on my music and disappear, until someone makes it so disappearing is impossible. I don’t do it for others to watch, I do it because I enjoy—and sure, some watching is okay. But lusting? Objectification because of my hobby? It makes the experience uncomfortable—as if the thing I do for fun suddenly became sexual without my consent.

Just please, stop watching us.