<i>&quot;It&#x27;s not possible to know attention is unwanted until after it&#x27;s given.&quot;</i><p>It is totally possible to know in many different circumstances. Let&#x27;s take the_af&#x27;s example: sexual attention in the workplace.<p>IT IS NEVER APPROPRIATE TO GIVE SOMEONE SEXUAL ATTENTION IN THE WORKPLACE. So, right there we&#x27;ve got at least one way to tell when someone wants attention or not.<p>Another way to tell is if you are engaged in any kind of business transaction. Paying money at the toll booth, getting your strawberry power boost at Smoothie King, getting an adjustment in yoga class, getting help from tech support. <i>Do not hit on people during a business transaction.</i><p>Yet another big hint is any time you&#x27;re interacting with people you don&#x27;t know in a situation where they would neither expect nor look for attention. Ask yourself if they came there to get hit on - coffee shop? Nope, they came for coffee. Farmer&#x27;s market? Nope, came for vegetables. At a tech conference? They came to listen to tech talks. They did not attend so you could hit on them.<p>--<p>On a more personal note: you, sir, are basically the stereotype of a misogynist womanizer. You go to tech conferences and hit on women, and even as they complain to your face about guys who pull the same shit you do, you completely ignore the fact that they&#x27;re telling you <i>they do not want that kind of attention there.</i> The fact that you can convince them to sleep with you does not justify this behavior.<p>You say women receive more attention because of a social convention about hitting on people, completely missing the fact that <i>most women do not want to fuck everyone they meet</i>, like most men seem to. Women actually receive more attention because of a different social convention - that men believe they have the right to objectify and pursue sex from every woman they find attractive.<p>Finally, men who don&#x27;t get laid are not suffering. Except maybe by suffering under the delusion that they are owed sex.