Out of Place

“He did a double take when you took off your coat and adjusted your cardigan,” another Girl Scout leader whispered while the girls made the posters for the cookie sale.  She continued, “I was waiting for his jaw to hit the table.”  I shrugged my shoulders, “It’s not the appropriate venue for male attention, so a smile would have just encouraged him.” I didn’t even give him a dirty look—I choose to ignore the attention.

In a room full of ten and eleven year old girls, I wasn’t about to acknowledge a man appreciating my curves at a Girl Scout meeting.  What message would that send to the girls?  My attention is always focused on them while I’m there.  Always.  I listen enraptured about their upcoming school dances and to their feelings concerning new siblings.  They want so much to be accepted, to belong, and to have someone show them attention that focusing on anything other than them is disrespectful.

We encourage parents to bring new girls to meetings, but ogling is out of place.

Sure, the delicate pink sweater set looks particularly becoming, especially since my current bout of sickness has left me more pale than usual.  The smattering of translucent sequins on the camisole’s lace adds delicacy to the otherwise tailored set, but it’s a conservative twin set that doesn’t scream “Ogle me.”  Unlike most brunettes with rich, coffee colored hair, I have pale skin thanks to my combined Polish-Italian heritage, which that particular shade of washed out pink highlights in a tasteful way.

I didn’t wear the sweater set to be ogled, and it certainly wasn’t the appropriate time and place to be doing that.