"If a man is cruel to you, does that mean he likes you?"

Hi everyone. I just saw the movie "He's Just Not That Into You". The movie inspired my thoughts for today's blog.

In the beginning of the movie, a character says "you know why that boy picked on you? It's because he likes you". The narrator states "this is where all women got messed up. We got this notion etched in our minds that when men treat us bad, they must like us".

After the movie, I thought back to my days as a child. I remembered something that happened when I was in 8th grade.

I had a crush on a boy named Nick and he used to tease me constantly, day in and day out. He teased me about everything. I remember one day running home from school and crying to my mom about it. She told me: "he likes you".
So the next day I was really nice to him; I even smiled at him. You know what happened? The same thing; he teased me. The next day I had the guts to talk to him. He worked on the school newspaper and I walked up to him. I gave him a big smile and asked him a question about the paper.
I still remember everything that happened next, many years later... I thought his eyes were going to pop out of his eye socket! His eyes opened wide and he laughed. All he did was laugh. It seemed like he laughed for hours.
I was so hurt after that! I no longer had a crush on Nick.

That one little incident made me realize, on my own, that when men are mean to you they are not interested.

That begs the question, why do mothers tell that lie to their children?? I understand that mothers want to comfort their child, but why lie to them? I'm willing to bet some women think this myth is true. Look at our society: some women are still married to men who beat them or their children.

What do YOU think?