Over the weekend I had occasion to meet two women doctors. One was a local GP checking out a pulled muscle in my shoulder, the other was a private doctor conducting a medical examination in a drop-in surgery in East London.
They couldn't have been physically more different. One was slightly gaunt, tanned, and Scandinavian looking. the other was a hijab wearing, Somali/French lady from Lyon. Both were witty, clever, and great fun to chat with. Both left me feeling more alive and good about myself than when I arrived.
Both exchanges were mildly flirtatious responses to a spark, a sense of attractive life energy. Neither was disrespectful nor manipulative on either side.
It would be a shame if, in our current important efforts to treat women with greater respect and to redress gender imbalances, we lost the life enhancing pleasures of mutually enjoyable flirtatious encounters.
The Obvious? 