Walking down the street, I am always alert.
I counted 6 different men who approached one or both of us, interrupting our conversation (often really rudely) to "compliment" us, one even going so far as to get in her face to say "hey, nice tits". She had previously asked if I objected to her getting back in the face of someone who did that, and I said no, and was delighted to see her tell him to piss off and that she wasn't asking him. He gave a half-hearted apology- I heard him later whining to some girls that he was "just complimenting her" and "why did she flip out?" As we walked to the theatre, another guy wolf whistled and another followed us to the theatre, asking where we were going and could be be invited.
I understand that it can be difficult to understand how threatening a seemingly harmless “Smile, beautiful!” can feel—but let’s get one thing straight. Go ask any woman in your life whom you respect—mother, sister, cousin, lover, or friend—how it makes her feel when she’s loudly and publicly objectified, the recipient of obscene comments like “suck my cock,” or followed down the street. I promise you that it doesn’t make her feel good or beautiful or respected.
Street harassment has a negative effect on us all. No single man wants the actions of a few to be attributed to his entire gender, but studies show that male harassers impact victims’ perception and reaction to men in general. Still, most street harassers aren’t “bad men”—they don’t fully realize why their actions are hurtful or disrespectful to the female population. Sometimes they don’t even realize they are harassing women at all....
...Men: would you find it complimentary if it were commonplace for other men to yell out “I’d like to take that home with me” or “Why the sad face? I’ll give you something to smile about” while following you down the street? Men who could, hypothetically, force you to go home with them if they wanted? Think about it. I suspect most of you would feel uncomfortable, threatened, even scared.
-A Good Man’s Guide to Catcalling, Katie J.M. Baker
It infuriates me to hear men defend this behaviour. Men I thought respected me, respected women generally. Men who know about sexual trauma. Men who have some social consciousness, I thought. It's a misogynistic thing to defend, dude. It's not ok behaviour, and if you aren't going to combat it, I have to seriously wonder if you support it.
"It’s not a compliment if the recipient’s response is anger or hurt" says a blog post on iHollaback. Please, guys, if you actually want to make the world a safer place for the women in your life, to support them and fight sexism (which I hope you do) please think before you open your mouth. Otherwise, expect hostility. If you want a positive response, treat women as human rather than shout at and intimidate them. I can't believe I have to say that but I obviously do. And we need to speak up about this a lot more- no more sitting quietly not wanting to cause a fuss.
It's fuss-causing time, and you'd best watch out.
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