A month ago I was at a local YMCA playing pickup pickleball and ended up partnering with a teenage girl for a few games. She's new to the game and shows extreme natural talent; she accepted some advice from me and her game improved even more.
I suggested a local instructor and a pickleball club she could join if she was serious about competing. Others pickleballers were helping and encouraging her too.
Last night I saw her again and she was with her mother; I introduced myself to the mother and told her what a talent her daughter was and that she should be competing, I gave her information about this instructor and a club close by she could join if she was serious about the game. The mother was very appreciative. We played a few games and had good time.
When the night was over I walked out with a 20-something male partner I had just played with. I'm friends with his father. I said to him that the mother was "very nice, attractive." He didn't say anything in response like 'I agree, or yeah she's nice.'
We then talked about other pickleball stuff for a while and parted good company.
Nothing about the evening seemed out of the ordinary.
So I'm driving home and that OCD SOB in my head starts to wonder if I should have mentioned that the girl's mother was attractive. I hear women all the time say "that guy's cute, or he's really nice" and I think nothing of it.
But in today's world, new mores and social media are teaching us not to mention someone's looks because it is never relevant. I see girls and women having more leeway to break this rule than boys and men. It seems all men these days are framed with the label of toxic masculinity. If something is wrong in the world just blame it on men.
SO My OCD flared up on the drive home because this young man may be dialed into this new code of social conduct. My OCD also has me wondering if I said anything wrong when speaking to the mother and daughter. My OCD subsides a little bit because everything is on video at the facility. I prefer being in public places where there's video.
The video capture would see me keeping a little bit larger social distance from these ladies than with men.
MY OCD centers around being falsely accused of something horrible and Real Event OCD where I worry if I said something wrong to offend someone or get myself in trouble.