A few days ago, I saw a post on another reddit board about a man who was teaching at a kindergarten in the United States, when the students' parents--generally mothers--began to express discomfort about his being around their children. It's a common enough problem for men, including those who do not even work with children.

I have a very memorable experience from when I was eleven years old. You see, I was outside of my grandparents' house, visiting the US, in the middle of a clean and safe suburb. I was with a friend who was about my age, and he was showing me how to do skateboard tricks.

It was summer vacation so naturally there were other kids walking, biking, roller blading, and skateboarding up and down the street occasionally. At one point two teenage girls walked up to us and struck up a conversation. It felt strange to us that they would do so, as they were both pretty and several years older than us, but they didn't seem to have any ill intentions. Eventually, they asked my friend to do a trick for him, at which point he said he'd try. With shaky legs he took off a few meters, and then landed the most beautiful kickflip of his life. The laughed and cheered, and then announced they would flash us.

They began to walk away together, and upon counting 1-2-3, turned around 180 degrees while pulling up their shirts to show us their breasts. My friend and I both laughed and whooped because it was the first pair either of us had ever seen. It was only a second of exposure, but I think both of us must have recalled it when we couldn't sleep for years to come. As they walked away we both had giant smiles on our faces, and we stared at their backsides while they left.

Suddenly, a 40-something woman driving a red convertible drove up to us, stood up from her position of the driver's seat, and shouted "STOP STARING YOU PERVERTS." We were dumbfounded and speechless. It was almost unspoken of for an adult to yell at children like that, as we were both visibly preteens. She looked at us with a feral, angry look in her eyes, and began shouting again. "THEY'RE NOT THERE TO BE STARED AT. SHOW SOME RESPECT."

Again, we couldn't respond. Finally she groaned loudly and peeled off down the street, going past the two girls who had flashed us earlier, who I imagine didn't hear the exchange as they hadn't turned around.

I think this must have been the first time I was assumed to be a sexual predator despite doing nothing wrong. It was a big turning point for me because in my home country, what adults said was taken as gospel, and what the woman said to us couldn't be wrong. It actually had an enormous effect on the next few years of my life, and only when I really grew up did I realize that she was just a shitty misandrist whose hatred of men was so extreme that it affected her behavior towards boys.

So, what were the earliest times you were attacked for being a boy, or assumed to be a predator or pervert because of your sex?