This has always been something that's vaguely annoyed me, but after almost being killed yesterday, I thought it was time to rant about how men walking alone are seen as a threat.

The story that inspired this happened while I was on my way to work. I was walking along on the sidewalk, running a little late so maybe walking a little quickly and there were two young kids (probably between 5 and 10) ahead of me. As I was getting closer and starting to pass them, I heard a voice yell "Hey! Back off! What do you think your doing?" It was some good Samaritan who saw a man sharing a sidewalk with children and realized it clearly meant I was trying to abduct them. She parked in the road and got out to make sure the kids were ok. She told me to wait there while she called the police. I tried to tell her I didn't have time for that, but I was afraid of how it would look. As I was waiting there, another car swerved to avoid hers and clipped me with the mirror. I few inches more and this car would have easily killed me and everyone else there. So then a crowd gathered around and this women informed them all as well as the police that I had been "inappropriately following" the two children. It was an awful feeling as no one seemed to be listening to a word I said. Not even the very accusational cop who took my statement and reluctantly let me go with a warning that he'd remember me if I tried anything again

In the end, I was over an hour late for work and now half my small town probably thinks I'm a pedophile. All because I happened to be passing 2 kids in a public space and some crazy woman felt the need to intervene. It made me look back on it and realize how normal that kind of thing really is for men. If I'm jogging in a park, smiling at a baby in the checkout line, or just walking by myself at night, people treat me like a criminal.

Just curious how other guys feel about this treatment as I don't see it brought up on this sub all too often.