Classic sexism tells us that men are aggressive and reserved. They can take out the trash, change a lightbulb, and fix the car, but they can’t give affection to a child because that requires more emotional capacity.

Even though this notion sounds ridiculous, it’s still widespread in our society. So when Reddit user AlNuevoMundo was spotted playing with his colleague’s 7-year-old daughter, he instantly became the office creep.

As the man tried to explain himself, he realized that he was confronting not just a suspicious workplace, but also rigid gender stereotypes.

Some people think men who are affectionate and friendly with children are dangerous because that’s not who they are

Image credits: astrakanimages (not the actual image)

So when this guy started playing with his colleague’s 7-year-old daughter, the office noticed

Image credits: davidpereiras (not the actual image)

Image credits: AlNuevoMundo

What we perceive to be creepy is very much tied with ambiguity

Interested in the issue, Frank McAndrew, Cornelia H. Dudley Professor of Psychology at Knox College, asked 1,341 people to rank how creepy 44 behaviors or traits were on a scale from one to five, where one was very unlikely and five was very likely. Additionally, McAndrew also invited the participants of his study to name occupations and hobbies that they thought were creepy, too.

Creepy traits and behaviors included:

• Standing too close to someone
• Smiling peculiarly
• Talking too much about a topic, especially sex
• Laughing at inappropriate times
• Not letting someone out of a conversation
• Displaying unwanted sexual interest
• Asking to take pictures of people
• Displaying too much or too little emotion
• Having bulging eyes
• Having long fingers
• Having pasty skin
• Having greasy hair
• Having dark eye bags
• Wearing dirty or weird clothes
• Licking lips

While the creepiest hobbies were:

• Taxidermy
• Collecting things, including dolls, insects, and — eww! — fingernails?
• Any kind of watching, such as bird watching or photography

Meanwhile, the creepiest professions were said to be:

• Clown
• Taxidermist
• Sex shop owner
• Funeral director
• Taxi driver

“Creepiness is all about not being able to figure out whether there is a threat,” McAndrew said.

Creepy people make us uncomfortable because we can’t predict how they will act or what they will say and do. So maybe if the Redditor’s colleagues had spent more time with him, they wouldn’t have thought he was that menacing?

Image credits: Antonio Sokic (not the actual image)

As his story went viral, the man joined the discussion in its comments section

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