Street Harassment

Hola

I think it's common knowledge that pretty much every woman of this generation has been cat-called at least once in their life. For those who aren't sure what cat-calling is, it's when a man or group of men, can be any age, make inappropriate, crude, sexual comments towards you on the street. This can also be manifested as beeping the horn and shouting "Oi!".

I have had countless encounters like this. A distinct memory I have was when I was 13, wearing shorts because it was summer, walking down the road. A man in a white van (the most common vehicle of harassers) wolf whistled as he was coming up behind me. I turned around, and as soon as he saw my face and probably noticed how young I was, he look mortified and sped off. So where do I begin. The fact that this man just assumed I was older and therefore that made it ok to wolf whistle? Or the fact he didn't notice my small, child like body and just went straight for sexualising the bare legs? I don't know.

Being harassed on the street can be a terrifying thing, imagine if a group of men who had shouted at you then started to follow you, you'd fear the worst. There's no way to know if they're just making a "harmless comment" or if they're going to act on it. A common reaction to cat-calling is that it's a "compliment" and you should be "grateful" for the "attention". No. Compliments are polite, relatively discreet and humbling. "You have a lovely smile" is a compliment. Not "cracking tits". Why do men do it? What are they trying to achieve? Are they expecting us to leap into their arms and say "take me, i'm yours"? Cos that aint gonna happen.

The thing I find extra weird is that I could be walking somewhere in jogging bottoms, a hoodie and no makeup on and still get harassed. Even though I look like a potato in pyjamas. The only conclusion I can come to, and I think this is for the younger men, is that it makes you look like a "lad" in front of your mates. It's funny to them. Or some men just like treating women like pieces of meat and reminding women that they should exist for men's pleasure. 

If you want ways to deal with cat-calling, a good old "fuck off" is quite effective sometimes. On www.everydaysexism.com people share their stories of street harassment and some of their retorts are hilarious. I remember reading that one women, in reply to a boy on a bike commenting on her breasts simply said "That doesn't make me want to have sex with you" and he cycled off in shame. You can read some more creative responses here. 

I like telling cat-calling stories to my male friends in hope that, in turn, it will prevent them from becoming street creeps and help them understand a bit more about sexism.