Catcalls are Never a Compliment

Some people have the idea that whistling, catcalling and making inappropriate/sexual gestures at women on the street are ways of expressing male sexuality or showing appreciation for the woman's looks. Well... I'm afraid that's not true. And Emily Hill at Feminspire.com has written about her experiences with catcalling men and explained why it's not okay. In fact, she explains why it's NEVER okay.

Image source

I was driving to work alone in my Smart Car, casually rocking out to Demi Lovato on the radio. I had only been driving for about five minutes when I noticed some movement out my left window when I was waiting at a stoplight. Against my better judgment as a woman driving alone in a car at night, I made the mistake of looking to see what it was.

It was two men, one driving the beat-up muscle car while the other hung out off his window making obscene gestures at me. You know, the usual.

I turned away and cranked my music, thinking that I could ignore them until we went on separate paths. This is usually a tactic that works for me, as I try to avoid flipping aggressive men off unless it’s a last resort.

Usually this tactic works. But this time, they followed me.

Now, let me be clear: I don’t know if they were purposely following me with the intent of scaring me. Maybe we just happened to be going the same direction and they targeted me; I have no idea. But I drove for 15 minutes with them pursuing my exact path, occasionally catching up to me and matching my pace while making gestures from their car. Fifteen minutes of being irritated, upset, and afraid. Fifteen minutes of trying to decide if I should keep going to work or change my route so they couldn’t find out where I was going. Fifteen minutes of going through all of the escape-from-vehicular-stalker tactics that they taught young women in driver’s ed. Fifteen minutes of wondering what would happen if they followed me until I got out of my car.

Read the rest here!