What Makes A Guy Creepy? Beware Of These Sketchy Behaviors

When a guy comes across as a creep to another sex, it’s never a good thing. More often than not, women will actively avoid a guy who acts like a weirdo — but what exactly does that mean? Every woman has her own boundaries and thoughts on what constitutes alarming behavior from a guy, but most of us will be on the same page about these creepy things.

What do we mean by the word “creepy”?

Oxford Languages defines something that’s creepy as “causing an unpleasant feeling of fear or unease.” While those things are definitely true, there’s an added element to the behavior of creepy guys. They’re kinda gross and give you the ick. You might not feel unsafe around them, but you definitely feel weirded out and don’t want to be near them.

Most guys don’t intentionally try to freak women out. It might happen due to a lack of experience with women or a serious lack of self-awareness. However, others allow their egos to empower them to overstep women’s boundaries. They don’t see why they shouldn’t be able to say or do totally inappropriate things to you. That’s the essence of a creepy guy.

What makes a guy creepy?

1. He sends off alarm bells in everyone he meets. If a guy makes a woman (or many women) uncomfortable or anxious for seemingly no reason, he’s creepy. Whether he stares too long or constantly gets in your personal space, it’s sending the message that you need to be in “fight or flight” mode, and that’s terrible.
2. He ignores social cues. Most people can tell when someone is uncomfortable around them, and they’ll try to adjust their behavior to make said person feel more at ease. A creepy person won’t care, or won’t be able to pick up on the cues at all. Even when they’re told to stop their behavior, they won’t. Ugh, it’s the worst.
3. He doesn’t take care of his personal hygiene. This one also goes back to the entire concept that creepy guys don’t seem to be in touch with what society requires of them. Bad bathing habits can make behavior that would be otherwise socially acceptable into a creepy act.
4. He doesn’t take “no” for an answer. Creepy people is that they are somehow trying to dominate others through their behavior. They might be pushing boundaries or by trying to intimidate through body language. Other times, it’s just an attitude they exude. Whatever the reason, creepy guys have a tendency of wanting to control people or force them to do things they don’t want to do. As a result, “no” is not something they’ll accept.
5. He has unrealistic expectations and entitlement ideas related to women. There’s something very creepy about people who naturally expect, or even demand, to have a significant other who’s way out of their league. There’s something even creepier about adult men who will throw tantrums if they don’t get what they want from women. When a person’s totally unrealistic about how people should react to their behavior, that person’s a creep.
6. He’s constantly peppering TMI into conversations. Spilling your guts is just as pleasant as it sounds, so why do it? Sharing too much information can make people seem pretty creepy to others. After all, when you say something really messed up or gross, not many people will know how to react. As a result, a person who shares too much turns creepy pretty quickly.
7. He actively tries to freak people out.  We’ve all met someone who likes to make other people uncomfortable for his own amusement. If you don’t think you’ve met one, then it was probably one of the many creepy trolls that peruse OKCupid or Tinder to send you unwanted penis pictures. When a guy does this, he’s trying to be creepy… and likely succeeding.
8. He pushes or outright ignores your boundaries. He knows that you don’t like or outright won’t accept certain things but instead of respecting that and ensuring you’re always comfortable, he ignores your boundaries and does what he wants anyway. In fact, sometimes he purposely does this to test or upset you. Only a creepy guy would do something so awful.
9. He won’t take no for an answer. Similar to the above, a creepy guy just can’t take rejection. When you give him a no, he’ll automatically start explaining all the reasons why it should be a yes (or why he’s going to take it as a yes regardless of what you say). It’s like he can’t possibly believe that he wouldn’t get his own way all the time.
10. He doesn’t seem to have many (or any) friends. Some people are just shy, sure, but you can pretty much bet you’re dealing with a creepy guy when his social circle is pretty much nonexistent. It means that it’s not just you who thinks he’s weird — Everyone else does as well and they’re steering clear of him. Maybe you should consider doing the same.
11. He never makes eye contact when talking to you. He’s fine chatting away to you, but it’s like he’s never fully present in the conversation because he can’t meet your eye. He’s either looking at the floor or looking right past you, making you wonder if you have something in your teeth or if you’re so repulsive that he can’t bear to meet your gaze. Nope, it’s not you — he’s just a really creepy guy.
12. He freaks out when you don’t answer his texts right away. Most well-adjusted adults realize that life is hectic and as much as we’d like to be, we can’t just sit glued to our phones 24/7. Not this guy. He freaks out and loses his cool if you dare to take more than a few minutes to reply to his messages, flying off the handle and spewing accusations and plenty of anger.  Run — this guy is creepy as hell (and potentially dangerous).
13. He regularly describes himself as a “nice guy.” The thing with legitimately nice guys is that they don’t need to keep describing themselves that way to others. They’re fine letting their actions speak for themselves. A self-described “nice guy” is a creepy one and likely anything but. Beware of what he’s really up to when he’s not bragging about how wonderful he is.
14. He “jokes” about hurting you or other people. This is never funny and it’s never okay. If he’s making jokes about hitting you, assaulting you, or doing those things to anyone else, he’s not just creepy but needs to be reported to the police. You never know when a “joke” could be masking a horrible truth.

I’m a firm believer in listening to your gut. If someone’s vibe is creepy, you should avoid him. There’s a reason why he’s setting off your klaxons, and if you’re smart, you’ll stay away. Though most creepy guys are relatively harmless, you should never take any chances. It can end up very bad, very quickly with the wrong creep.