I don't want to get into the specifics of my situation. I just want to know what you all think.

I very rarely get called a creep. Online interactions have resulted in the bulk of these instances, so I think that's a primary factor. Online interactions have a strong tendency to lead to misunderstanding, due to the de-personalized nature of them.

But it got me thinking, and I've been trying to figure out a good definition. It seems to be really subjective, and there seems to be a really fine line, so maybe it all just depends on the circumstance. Ostensibly, it seems like any man who conveys sexual interest to a woman who doesn't find him attractive qualifies as either creepy and/or pathetic, and it's really difficult to fit in between those 2 things. You could try to specify things like being too persistent, being socially unskilled, or being socially awkward, but I'm not sure if those things necessarily, or even usually, stop guys from getting laid, since the first 2 things often seem to help, if anything. I thought I knew what creepiness was, but now I'm kind of lost. I think there is a certain degree of validity to the "If you're unattractive, it's creepy. If you're attractive, it's not creepy." thing.

Regarding creep-shaming vs. slut-shaming, there are obvious similarities - shaming someone for having a sex drive and acting on it, for instance - but I think creep-shaming is more damaging, since it obviously results in more social ostracization, since it's socially accepted to be beyond further analysis, and since it's simply worse to be a creep than a slut or whore - sluts and whores are fun, creeps are a step below rapists. Aside from false accusations like rapist and so on, I don't know if there's any term that damages a man's self-esteem more than being called a creep. I know mine is dead right now, even though I can't figure out what I did wrong, and even though I know a lot of the bullshit involved in creep-shaming.

Anyway, this forum has been making sense of a lot of stuff for me lately and I was hoping to make sense of this too. And yes, I did a search but didn't find this specific question.

Is creep shaming sort of just a form of beta deterrence?