Dear Abbey...
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Dazzled
  • About

Catcalling: Irritating, Harassment, and Not a Compliment

7/18/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
My friends and I alone can recount several times being on the receiving end of some sort of catcall. My one friend and her mother were once whistled at by a much older man on the street. I was catcalled by several middle school boys one day (middle school boys!!!), and one lovely evening with my friends was once interrupted by a group of young guys driving by catcalling us collectively. My mother wasn't catcalled per se, but was once groped in a store by some random creep. It's something that really aggravates me, and one time, when I expressed this aggravation to my sister, she said that it's really no big deal and that I should take it as a compliment. A compliment? Really?
No. It's not a compliment to be catcalled. Firstly, it's flat-out annoying. It's annoying to have strange men whistling at you, saying things like, "hey, baby, nice ass", and possibly even following you.
Secondly, it's sexual harassment. No, it doesn't usually happen in the workplace, but it still falls under that category. Sexual harassment includes "unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature." (US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission). Also, according to the blog Catcalled, many women and girls have mentioned that they become less inclined to dress how they want out of fear of wearing something sexy that may provoke catcalling, and that men have occasionally become aggressive after the women they catcall ignore their remarks (as if they feel they deserved to get attention from the woman and would use aggression to get it if the initial catcall failed to work).
Also, it is psychologically upsetting to women. Women have reported feeling degraded, vulnerable, terrified, and objectified. They don't feel this way because they can't take a compliment, they feel this way because that's what catcalling does. It allows men to think they can view innocent women as being nothing but a mere sex object, and for them to think that they deserve attention from women just because they want it. And the fact that I have been catcalled by several boys who were probably no older than 12 just goes to show that boys are taught at a young age that public objectification of women is okay when it's actually anything but. I hope that the boys and men that catcall women and girls grow up eventually, and realize that what they're doing is not a compliment.

~Abbey xoxo

0 Comments

    Author

    Abbey...
    High School student.
    Feminist.
    Book Nerd.
    Movie Lover.
    Thespian.

    Archives

    January 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014

    Categories

    All
    1940s
    1960s
    2015
    30 Rock
    Adolescence
    Amy Poehler
    Andy Botwin
    Angela Chase
    Anne Frank
    Annie Hall
    AP
    Art
    Awareness
    Beauty
    Beauty Standards
    Beckie0
    Beyonce
    Bikini Kill
    Blogilates
    Body Focused Repetitive Behavior
    Books
    Bottle Rocket
    Calculus
    Carrie Hope Fletcher
    Catcalling
    Catholic Church
    Celebrities
    Charli XCX
    College
    Compliments
    Confidence
    Conformity
    Constrained Writing
    Cramps
    Creativity
    Crushes
    Daria
    David Sedaris
    Dazzled
    Diary
    Disorders
    Doctor Who
    Drama Club
    Driving
    Driving Lessons
    Email
    Emma Simons-Araya
    Existential Crisis
    Eyebrows
    Eyeliner
    Fandoms
    Fangirl
    Fantastic Mr. Fox
    Fashion
    Female Empowerment
    Feminism
    Fiction
    Film
    Freaks And Geeks
    Friends
    Games
    Gender Equality
    Gender Roles
    Gestalt
    Ghost World
    God
    Hair
    Harry Potter
    Heartbreak
    History
    Humanity
    Identity
    Individuality
    Inferiority
    Internet
    Janeane Garofalo
    Jane McGonigal
    Jenji Kohan
    Jersey Shore
    Jill Sobule
    John Oliver
    Judaism
    Julia Sweeney
    Kathleen Hanna
    Laci Green
    Lana Del Rey
    Lesley Gore
    Leslie Knope
    Life
    Lipogram
    Liz Lemon
    Make-unders
    Makeup
    Malvina Reynolds
    Math
    Max Fischer
    Mental Health
    Michael Shermer
    Miss Literati
    Moonrise Kingdom
    Music
    My So-Called Life
    N+7
    Nancy Botwin
    Netflix
    Nostalgia
    Nuclear Physics
    Objectification
    Open Letter
    Orange Is The New Black
    Parks And Recreation
    Playlist
    Poetry
    Pop Culture
    Protest Songs
    Psychology
    Punk Rock
    Rachael Ray
    Realistic Fiction
    Relationships
    Religion
    Riot Grrrl
    Rolling Stones
    Rookie
    Ruby Wax
    Rushmore
    Satire
    Seneca Falls Convention
    Senior Year
    Sex+
    Sexism
    Sexual Harassment
    Sexuality
    Sherlock
    Snooki
    Squaresville
    Stage Management
    Stephen Colbert
    Stereotypes
    Stevie Nicks
    Sucker
    Supervenus
    Tavi Gevinson
    TED Talks
    Television
    The Darjeeling Limited
    The Grand Budapest Hotel
    The Great Gatsby
    The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou
    The Lizzie Bennet Diaries
    The Royal Tenenbaums
    Tina Fey
    To-do List
    Trichotillomania
    Tumblr
    Twitter
    Uncertainty
    Unitarianism
    Univocalic
    Unrequited Love
    Vietnam War
    Vi Hart
    Weeds
    Wes Anderson
    Winged Eyeliner
    Woman Suffrage
    Women
    Woody Allen
    Writer's Block
    Writing
    WWII
    Yoga
    YouTube

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.