Originally Posted by
FryingMan
Well, if we're talking about how things sound, that sounds entirely loony. You were on a *date* for heaven's sake, and we're talking about *holding hands*, and you jump all the way to "sexism" and "rape!" If you were in a situation with absolutely no cause for any expectation of even the tiniest amount of intimacy, like, say, *anything but a date* (work, school, the bus stop, any *non date* thing), then yes touches meant to foster small intimacy would be creepy and inappropriate. Note, however, that there are cultures where little nudges and touches are considered part of normal discourse (even [or especially!] between men). Notions of "personal space" vary greatly between people and cultures.
And it's not like he was mashing your chest or groin or anything. He was trying to get close to you in a very slow, delicate way, trying to judge your interest, and he got his answer big time.
Note the critical subtle importance here: it is not that he has the "right" to touch you and get all over you aggressively, but that on a date, yes, there is an implicit approval for tentative, more or less "friendly" initiation of contact, with the expectation that your date partner will not go crazy about it.
In other words, what you seemed to miss, was that he *was* asking, just not with words.