Trigger Warning

This is a rant. Buckle up.

So yesterday I got a random follow on Instagram. There was a mutual so I figured why not play the social media game and I followed back. Last night, I got a message. “You are just such an attractive woman.”

Someone come get your brother, for he is lost.

I don’t post anything that could remotely be considered thirsty. I barely post anything with my own face attached. I’m over here promoting five self-published books and a bare modicum of self-made success. My unfollowed friend, what audacity allows you to waltz into my DMs with such confidence? Stranger-man, has this worked for you in the past? What other depressed and attention-hungry females have you sought that gives you some affirmation that this sort of behavior is alright? You could have caught me at a better time of the month, but … you didn’t. You stepped into the war zone.

Mostly, it’s sad to me that I have to point out how this sort of action is creepy, entitled, and a little too bold. It’s not flattering. And it’s certainly not the sort of decision that warrants a positive response. Am I overreacting? Maybe. Possibly because I’m already powering through an extreme amount of pain caused by my own body. Trust me, random internet guy, if you were here with me, you probably wouldn’t be saying that, because now I am also angry. I work too hard to be reduced to “such an attractive woman” by someone who has never met me, someone who is obviously playing an angle for some sort of gain.

Guys, do I really need to say this is inappropriate and gross? Really, at this point in human existence, we’re still here? A word of advice to anyone who condones preying on folks online: No.

I think that’s all for now. I’m still riled but I’ve said my piece. I’ll move on now – to the multiple stories I’m writing, to the work of someone else that I’m editing, to the business I’m a part of, and the community who loves me.