Madison, WI: Wisconsin State Capitol Building steps
June 2024
I was on the lawn of the Wisconsin State Capitol building on a sunny summer day with my young kids. There are 4 sets of large steps that lead down the hill from the building, radiating out in the four cardinal directions. About halfway down the steps, there are some huge stone planters (each a few feet wide and probably 6 feet tall). I was in the grass off the side of these steps, such that a person walking up/down the steps would pass behind the planter and would be temporarily hidden from my view.
I noticed an attractive, fit, blonde woman, college-aged, wearing a light lime green athletic top jogging up the stairs. I was mostly focused on my kids and so I wasn't paying super close attention, but I'm also a heterosexual man and I did take note and definitely did not mistake what I was seeing. She passed behind the large planter and out of my sight and I'm sure I turned away and back to my kids.
When I looked back at her, I instead saw an attractive, fit, college-aged blonde MAN wearing a light lime green athletic top jogging away from the planter. He was a perfect male version of the woman I'd seen a second ago and was wearing the exact same unusual green color, though his was just a t-shirt and hers was a tank top.
He was definitely a man. No woman matching that description in sight. But I definitely didn't mistake him for a woman initially. Again (male gaze, I'm sorry), even though I only saw her for a few seconds, I definitely took note and would not have mistaken her for him.
The logical explanation is definitely that I'd seen the woman jog by a few minutes prior and then when her boyfriend followed wearing the matching top, I compressed the time in my mind and perceived the entire thing having taken place in the seconds it took her to pass behind the large planter. But it definitely didn't feel like that at the time...
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