Men just absolutely cannot get over the whole “women don’t find them attractive” thing?

Genuinely curious. I’ve been married to same person for 20 years, have kids, don’t work, you know, the whole shebang. I go to the gym almost every day and I get a lot of attention while I’m there. I like to think I’m pretty attractive for a mom, especially since I just turned 40. BUT, every time I go to the gym, there are at least 5-7 men who literally stop dead in their tracks and stare at me while I’m working out. If I give them eye contact, they continue to stare, sometimes even smile and wave or even approach, but if I ignore them and continue to focus on my workout, they continue to stare. <br><br>I’m not trying to sound conceited AT ALL, but these men genuinely just sit there on the machines across from me (I usually do a lot of leg press and chest press machines, and there are ALWAYS men around) and stare at me. <br><br>I had a pretty shit childhood and adolescence, so this is the kind of thing that really does help my confidence a lot, even if it is the random (older) dudes at my gym. <br><br>The thing is, I do the same thing to men that I think are attractive. We all do, right? But I feel like women just don’t care as much about being noticed if we are attractive or not. Men practically stake their whole existence on whether or not they are attractive to women. Do they think we don’t notice them? Do they think we can’t tell when they are working out just for the sake of being seen? I just don’t get it.