I don't think anyone has ever been branded a sexual harasser simply for complimenting a dress or someone's looks. If you're not adult enough or self-aware enough to understand how to speak to other people without making them uneasy -- then keep your mouth shut. The same applies to most situations in life actually.

Good: "Hey Shelly, that's a cool outfit"
// you're into her - and have an inkling that it's reciprocal
Good: "Hey Shelly, that's a really pretty outfit, your eyes almost sparkle when you're wearing it."
Bad: "You look really sexy in that outfit", "Your tits look amazing in that shirt", "damn you look fine"

But hey, does communication with the opposite sex only have to occur when objectifying?

Better: "Shelly, that was a really nice bit of code you wrote for the indexer last week. I saw the check-in and liked that you improved the response time by 3ms!"

It's so much better to simply treat people as ... people. You talk to someone you like as a person and you know what.. you'll gain their trust, grow to respect each other, and maybe you ask them out when you're off work at a shared interest event (that you've learned about.. by talking to them). It's honestly not that hard to be normal and not stalker-y. All that nonsense in the comments about how tough the struggle is to control your sexual impulses is about the stupidest thing I've read today. It's on par with "baby, we need to do this or I'll get blue balls" -- and I've used that line myself in my early years. The implication is that the same or opposite sex are in some way responsible for relieving or satiating this desire. Go squeeze one out and get over yourself. For the record, that line never worked for me and I usually felt stupid later.

True maturity is treating the people around you as actual human beings. You tend to form healthy and meaningful relationships that way.

Below is the link to the more recent study: http://www.pewforum.org/religi...