Catcalling is Not a Compliment

Happy November, friends!
As I mentally prepare myself and my stomach for the upcoming feast of tradition that will be upon us in t-minus 18 days.
Speaking of traditions, one of my all-time favorite hobbies/procrastination tools are BuzzFeed quizzes. Let's not lie to ourselves...we are probably more entertained with these quizzes than we should be. But BuzzFeed is clearly doing this on purpose as it is one of the most successful ways they attract more traffic to their website.
Another way BuzzFeed has been gaining more attention is through certain videos, specifically their recent  videos on catcalling. The BuzzFeed staff has put out three videos in the past few months concerning humorous takes on this otherwise not humorous societal situation. Check them all out below for a laugh.







Now, although these are all extremely laughable, we need to recognize why these videos are so funny to us. Basically these videos mock what happens in real life, which is most often the catcalling of women walking down the street minding their own business. While women also may catcall men in a real-life situation, gender inequality means that the power dynamics at play, frequency of it in demographic comparisons, and the impact on the receiver of the catcalls is rarely comparable in these situations. In short, catcalling is a way of asserting dominance in a space and is often used as intimidation...something it is much more difficult to achieve for a woman in a male-dominated, patriarchal society.

First to be clear though, I probably shouldn't be using the term "catcalling" because it doesn't convey the problem behind the seriousness of the issue, which is street harassment. Just so we're all on the same page here, street harassment is defined as any action or comment between strangers in public that is disrespectful, unwelcome, threatening, and/or harassing and is motivated by gender or sexual orientation or gender expression.
And I use this definition to combat the defense of street harassment I so often here, which is, "It's just a person greeting another person. Can we not say hello anymore to one another?" I also hear "It's a compliment and they (meaning the receiver) should be flattered and thank them (them being the harasser)." The BuzzFeed video "If Dudes Catcalled Dudes" actually mentions these specifically...by pointing out how ridiculous they are.

It is ignorant to think that because one is commenting on another person's body in a "positive" way that it is a compliment. Especially when it is a stranger. Yelling it at them as they walk by avoiding eye contact and shutting themselves off to any type of "friendly" advances.
Sexual harassment, street harassment, is not a funny issue at all. But hopefully through videos like the ones BuzzFeed has put out, will contribute to the conversation about why it should be taken as the ridiculous way of asserting male dominance that it actually is.