Let’s not forget the converse: Fear that the other person will be creeped out. No, you’ll never see them again, but you still don’t want to make a random person’s day more creepy.
(This I have recently learned seems to be actually largely unjustified, but it was a big thing stopping me from doing this until then...)
Let’s not forget the converse: Fear that the other person will be creeped out.
I suspect that’s not a true answer. You could hypothetically feel pleased when you creep someone out. That’s a possible state for a human.
So it may not be “them feeling creeped out” that you avoid, but “you having an obligation to feel bad when you creep someone out”, and you avoid that state of feeling bad. Which is slightly different.
Let’s not forget the converse: Fear that the other person will be creeped out. No, you’ll never see them again, but you still don’t want to make a random person’s day more creepy.
(This I have recently learned seems to be actually largely unjustified, but it was a big thing stopping me from doing this until then...)
I suspect that’s not a true answer. You could hypothetically feel pleased when you creep someone out. That’s a possible state for a human.
So it may not be “them feeling creeped out” that you avoid, but “you having an obligation to feel bad when you creep someone out”, and you avoid that state of feeling bad. Which is slightly different.
Once, at the Little Gym with my then-2-year-old daughter, I unwittingly creeped out a 2-year-old girl, without interacting with her.
(I heard her mention to her mom “the creepy guy in orange”).
The self-esteem hit was decidedly nontrivial.