Sushi? No.

Complete disclosure: what follows is a rant.

Every time it happens, it takes me by surprise. Sometimes it's completely repelling and I feel physically dirty after. A particular occasion that I can think of, I honestly felt violated, assaulted. The words rang in my ears as I continued to walk down the street shell-shocked at the intrusion into my space and my happy, cheery day. I remember the words so clearly that I tried to write a poem about it once. But it made me cringe just to write them down, much less to read them out loud.

What I'm talking about are the under-the-breath, sometimes muttered, sometimes yelled from a passing car or truck comments by men. The ones from the trucks and cars I actually don't mind too much. They're in their space, I'm in mine, and soon the light will change and they're on their way. The ones I find really distasteful are the ones that lean in towards you unexpectedly as you're crossing the street. No. My space.

What's puzzling to me is what the intention is. To intimidate me? To be friendly? To engage me in conversation? To impress me with your ignorant attempt to talk to me in what you presume to be 'my' language? I know this is a common complaint -- of people greeting all Asians with "Konnichiwa" or "Ni hao" -- but at least those are greetings.

Why bother to yell or lean in and say the single word, "Chinese" or even "Chinese girl"? Or the latest and I think most bizarre one, "suuushi"? And, anything about race or ethnicity aside, do you really think that muttering something about pussy makes me want to stop and talk to you? No!! And yes, I find it offensive. If my primary concern were not to get immediately away from you, my preferred action would probably be to smack you. And even for the mildly less offensive "Asian girl" oriented comments, I'd watch out. I might decide to lecture you and I promise, it won't be pretty.