Hi. I'm your normal college-aged kid. I have a job. I go to school. I flirt with boys. I mean, that's typical, right?

Sure, sometimes I wear clothes that some may deem too "sexy". Sometimes I even curl my hair and wear makeup. Not for attention, but merely so I can take a good selfie- or at least try.

Never in my life have I worn an outfit to please a pair of eyes. Never in my life have I curled my hair so a random dude can admire the time I took to fix it.

But one thing I know: I never dress in a way that "asks for it." I never wear clothes that scream "I want a man," whatever those "outfits" may be. If they even exist.

But still, all these thoughts run through my head when I receive a message in my DMs.

Maybe... I am asking for it.

It all starts when I receive a message from an older man. Usually he says, "Hey". If it's a good day, he'll include a winky face. Sometimes he is twenty years my senior. Sometimes he has a wife and kids. You never know.

To them, I look like a little college girl looking for a man. An easy target.

I should be lucky to have their attention. After all, he is an older man with his life together. Meanwhile, I'm a college kid with broken dreams and a skinny bank account.

No matter what these men assume, these messages make my heart sink into my stomach. It isn't a compliment. It isn't something that "makes my day".

It makes me question my worth.

It makes me question the way I present myself to the world.

Am I too friendly? Do I say the wrong things? What am I doing wrong?

If the world would see these older men hitting on me, I would surely be to blame. They would deem me as a desperate college kid trying to get attention. I know they would. I see it all the time.

But, this is something I never asked for.

I didn't dress for.

I didn't invite.

So why is it my fault? I must've made them text me. I must've given them a certain, dreamy look.

Why else would they talk to me?

I'm just your normal college kid. I have a job. I go to school. I flirt with boys, not desperate men.