Courtney is a real woman. Hope she didn't mind my staring. LOL

Similar but perhaps not exactly the same as "antiquated eye touching" is the belief in the evil eye.

[en.wikipedia.org]

Many predators use vision to attack their prey. The eye is one part of the body that can't be camouflaged so it undoubtedly is a good idea for prey to look for eyes everywhere. Some species have even evolved exaggerated "eyes" as a defense. "There are many butterfly and moth species that have developed what appear to be extra eyes. These distinct wing markings are often referred to as eyespots, false eyes or false eyespots and come in a wide variety of colours and sizes."

[nhm.ac.uk]

The ability to "read" eyes is a useful adaptation. Eye contact can sometimes intimidate predators or comfort members of your own species. Lying eyes is a concept that evokes the image of a highly deceptive and devious individual. Many social species will avoid eye contact with a potentially dangerous member of their group. The point is that the instincts involved are ancient, somewhat universal, and potent.

In primates females often use sexual signals to deescalate tension with potentially dangerous encounters with males. Since instincts are by definition subconscious humans females are only vaguely aware of the signals they send and males only vaguely aware of what the female is signaling. While in our closest relatives sex is engaged in like any other social interaction without concern for consequence, in humans it is a serious matter. Some potential consequences are unwanted pregnancy, physical harm, social alienation and loss of status. The signals are the same but they have to be interrupted through a more complex lens. This leads to considerable confusion on both the part of females and males. A human female may send sexually infused signals without even knowing it because of the presence of a "dangerous" male.

The simple and time honored solution is to develop a virtuous population. The traditional virtues would serve us well.

Chastity or Purity and abstinence as opposed to lust or Luxuria. Temperance or Humanity, equanimity as opposed to Gluttony or Gula. Charity or Will, benevolence, generosity, sacrifice as opposed to Greed or Avaritia. Diligence or Persistence, effortfulness, ethics as opposed to Sloth or Acedia. Patience or Forgiveness, mercy as opposed to Wrath or Ira. Kindness or Satisfaction, compassion as opposed to Envy or Invidia. Humility or Bravery, modesty, reverence as opposed to Pride.

Unfortunately today people feel they are too sophisticated to bother with tradition. Worse still the intelligentsia has embraced "naturalism" primarily as a result of the power and influence of natural philosophy and determinism. Natural philosophy is not a philosophy you can live with. Nature is entirely amoral. You cannot have an advanced civilization based on natural ethics. Wild justice only works in the wild. For example females left to their own devices have demonstrated why monogamy was invented. Young females are increasingly promiscuous and follow their instincts for hypergamy. Our highly promiscuous females are having sex but 80 percent of it with 20 percent of the males. They are then confused why they are not good candidates for life long relationships with males in their social economic strata they could have a chance at a happy relationship with. For intelligent females their chances are even smaller because part of hypergamy is selecting for higher intelligence. Males select for signs of health or what we call beauty. It's a horrible mismatched in a civilized society.

You simply can't get wisdom from an amoral social system.

A lot of words to basically defend men gawking at women minding their business, basically blaming women for working out or doing other things in public.