Some women don't want you to say hello to them or talk to them.

[kjones]

21. Of course, I don't dwell on any of it. It just kinda makes people seem rude.

However, after thinking about it, it seems odd that people hung up on it consider
context important in some contexts and not others.(that sounds so odd, but I
can't think of another way to say it)

I don't really agree with the OP's way of saying "mind reading" and such.
I agree with the sentiment, but I think it's a little hyperbolic, social context
isn't the most complicated thing in the world, after all, it seems like plenty of
well adjusted men and women are able to negotiate the troubles of social context
despite the difficulties. Of course the assertion that "all men" are somehow hitting
on you, probably said with a "literally" inserted somewhere in there, is quite hyperbolic.

I would always argue that context is important, and people should know when/when not
to make a comment that could be interpreted as salacious or making innocuous comments
in an inappropriate or unfortunate way...
AND they should be able to know, and be discerning enough, not to expect that every
innocent hail and acknowledgment is harassment. It's a two way street.

It's fine to demand awareness of context. It's not fine to then precede to ignore it
yourself.

But long, long story short...life is life and mistakes and miscalculations ARE going to happen,
and then there are people who are just going to be troglodytes anyway. If it's serious, report
it, if not, walk it off. I do that every time I'm alone with a woman in an elevator and she eyes me
which a certain amount of suspicion (thankfully, the vast majority don't). I do that every time I'm
on the street and somebody (female or male) looks over their shoulder with the same look of
suspicion. I've done that every one of the hundreds (thousands?) of times in my life my greetings,
verbal or otherwise, are ignored or, yes, occasionally scoffed at.

I suppose the existence of "social nature" dictates that "unsocial nature" will also exist.
I'll focus on the social part, and I encourage others to do the same.

Edit: To clarify, when I talk about hypocritical use of context, I refer to the insistence that "the
context was harassment" (it may very well be), while rejecting that context is important to an
innocent greeting. If you are aware enough to identify guised harassment, you ought to be
savvy enough to identify genuine greetings (and on top of that, should be savvy enough NOT
to insult, belittle, or dismiss large swathes of people. In this case, genuinely friendly people, and
apparently, old people.)