Summer is coming quickly, and as the days get longer and the weather gets warmer, catcallers seem to come out of hibernation. So here’s a letter to anyone thinking about participating in such activities this summer:
Dear Catcallers,
Summer is a time when people are supposed to enjoy the outdoors. People decide instead of eating in the school dining hall, they’ll have a picnic on the quad instead. Maybe instead of driving to class, they’ll enjoy a walk through town to get there. Maybe instead of hitting the gym they’ll enjoy a nice jog through the neighborhoods that surround their school. However, this all becomes difficult when the fear of encountering a catcaller is always in the back of a girl’s head.
While you may think your catcalling is a compliment, it’s actually an insult. An insult that instills fear in every girl as they go on with their day. Almost every girl that I have talked to has been catcalled, and all of the ones who’ve been catcalled don’t like it. Why would they? No one wants to be yelled at in a derogatory manner as she goes on with their busy day. Between school, work and everything else a girl deals with, catcallers just add unnecessary stress.
The potential stress that catcalling adds is just another problem added to the burdens women already have to deal with. I’ve personally have had to stop using certain jogging routes just because the amount of cars honking and men yelling out of their windows had become unbearable. I’ve had to change my route to sports practice because once I found myself alone in a parking lot with a group of guys yelling at me to come over to their car. And I’m not the only girl with stories like that. I’ve asked multiple friends and they’ve all been able to reproduce similar instances:
“My brother asked me last week if I had ever been catcalled, and I told him it basically happened every time I went out in shorts or a tank top in the city, and I was floored at his surprise. It really put the idea of gender differences in perspective for me as a young woman who has grown up in a big city.”
“I go on runs just trying to get fit, not bothering anyone. I am constantly honked at by immature boys in their cars yelling things like,’“YEAAA,’ ‘Call me,’ ‘Dammmmnnn’ and so forth. Ask any women, ‘Have you ever yelled out the window to a man getting his exercise?’ NO! I really don’t understand the reason for yelling things at a girl out the window. My mom thinks they are just trying to give compliments, but that’s not a compliment, that’s rude!”
“In high school one weekend, I was walking home late at night, and on my block there was a man sitting there. I tried not to make eye contact, but as I started walking by, he began walking toward me, and I could tell he was speaking to me, but I was blocking out what he was saying. Eventually I turned around and addressed him, but it turned out he was just asking for some food. I gave him a granola bar and continued on my way home. I realized, though, that this kind of harassment has been so normalized, that we as women have learned to assume that if someone speaks to us, it is most likely going to be inappropriate and sexualized. This type of habituation should not ever be allowed to happen.”
So catcallers, the next time you have the sudden urge to holler at a girl from across the street, just don’t. There are other ways to compliment a girl. Maybe next time politely approach her and give a sincere compliment that doesn’t sexualize her. I’ve personally never been offended by someone approaching me and saying they like my shoes or complimenting me on the book I’m reading and giving me other reading suggestions.