Picture it: a warm, sunny afternoon in May. My boyfriend and I were sitting in the Erb Memorial Union (EMU) doing our individual assignments. We like to joke around a lot, so it is not uncommon to see us laughing at what the other person has said.

As we were laughing about another joke, an elderly man was walking down the stairs behind our table. He caught a glance of us together and leaned towards my boyfriend to deliver to him what I initially took as a compliment:

"Excuse me, that is a lovely smile that she [in reference to me] is wearing."

We exchanged a confused look before he smiled a nervous "thank you" in response. The man went about his day, but my initial feeling of tentative flattery changed once I thought it over some more.

If you were complimenting me, then why did you say it to someone else?

Now I'm sure the man meant no ill will and was just happy to see two people sharing a laugh, but he didn't even look at me as he made a comment about my appearance.

This is all part of a bigger problem in society: it is the 21st century, yet women are sometimes still seen as objects or just a lesser person in comparison to whatever man is sitting next to her.

His comment did not sit well with me because he told my boyfriend I had a nice smile when he could have just told me directly.

Gender roles are still very prominent in today's society. In this instance, they would dictate that it was the boyfriend's job to accept praises about his partner's looks while the latter would need to just sit there and look pretty.

I take an interest in how I present myself at school because it makes me happy, but what's more important is that I am here to study towards my degree.

Compliments are fun. They generally make people feel confident and there's nothing I love more than building up others. However, when you give a compliment, make sure the person you are referencing is involved in the conversation.