“Cigarettes?!” She claimed gesticulating her fingers in a Victory-symbol to and fro her wrinkled lips.
“No cigarettes!” The Bengali coffee vendor simply responded in morse English to make sure the Hispanic woman who spoke no English understood. He saw me approaching from the entrance of the subway stop.
“Cigarettes no good!” He repeated, now speaking partially to the woman who now hesitatively stepped away from the cart, and me.
“Good point!” I smiled.
“Smoking is no good for women. For men it is okay, but not for women, you know what I mean.”

That’s not a question of repressive tolerance, but
rather a simple matter of respect.