This is a great question, Ben. One of my links at the bottom of this essay was about a time when a woman hit on me — and I was definitely more impressed with her because she gave me space too. You can read that for more insights. That said, there aren't many things men can't do that women can, but two that come to mind are:

- approach a woman in the dark

- approach a woman when she's alone

I would probably be less scared if a woman did this. In fact, women sometimes approach each other in dark or desolate places because they feel unsafe, and they want safety in numbers. So if a woman approached me alone or in the dark, I might at first default to assuming it was about her feeling scared, not her feeling attracted.

In general, I do think women feel less threatened by each other, but, perhaps the more important aspect is that women just don't behave in creepy ways towards each other in the first place. At least in my own experience, no woman has ever hit on me in the predatory, boundary-dismissing ways that some men have:

- No woman has ever groped me without permission.

- No woman has ever continued trying to flirt when I've told her I need to leave.

- No woman has tried to convince me out of a "no."

- No woman has FOLLOWED ME DOWN THE STREET as I keep trying to walk away.

- No woman has invited herself to sit down next to me and keep trying to force a conversation.

- No woman has criticized my lack of receptivity to her advances.

Etc. Those behaviors would be creepy no matter who does them, but women don't seem to feel entitled to act that way with strangers; by contrast, many men have felt perfectly entitled to behave that way with me. :-/