The Warsaw High School Times

Graphic by Rita Pasiewicz

Article edited by Marine Rambault

Have you ever been catcalled?

“Hey sweetie, give me a smile!” Does hearing that make you feel confident, incredible or smart? On the contrary, I’d say it causes discomfort, fear and annoyance. Catcalling, believe it or not counts as a form of sexual harassment, in the form of shouting or whistling, or most commonly sexually suggestive, objectifying, offensive and degrading comments.

What is catcalling?

Catcalling is usually associated with a man shouting something rude at a woman who is “dressed for attention”. However that is a very stereotypical and shallow minded way of looking at this serious struggle people unfortunately have to face (in the majority of cases women). The remarks can be of all sorts: “Hey hot stuff”, “Hey, is that for me!?”, *Wolf whistle*; but they aren’t respectful compliments that bring smiles to people’s faces.

Teenagers and catcalling

Data shows that the age group most exposed to catcalling is 12 and 24, which is not only absolutely disgusting but also extremely concerning, given that the majority of victims are minors. Let’s not forget the power that words have on younger minds, some can cut very deep and leave us spiraling in hopes of understanding the meaning behind them.

Having carried out a survey with people between the ages of 13-18, there was a visible predominance of cases when girls as young as 12 were catcalled next to building sites.

It is important to keep in mind that what the cat-caller sees as compliments, the victim sees as a threatening and uncomfortable experience they will remember. Getting catcalled impacts the victim’s mental health, sometimes negligible, other times important.This all depends on the situation the individual goes through. Catcalling sexualises and completely degrades people, it narrows a person down to their body and appearance, which can increase self objectification, body-image insecurity, and overall negative self-evaluation.

Teenagers are very fragile and vulnerable, the biological and mental changes they go through make their daily life hard enough, and it doesn’t help that they are the most targeted age group. Having to face catcalling at such a young age makes them prone to damaging themselves internally and externally just because of “a slight inconvenience” which in reality is a traumatizing event they are taught to ignore and not worry about.

Why do people do it and think it is ok?

It is inevitable that we ask ourselves the question of why things like these even happen: catcalling culture, rape culture… It’s simple, we are all human and we have the freedom to express ourselves and vocalize our thoughts (to a certain extent). Nonetheless this does not mean that we necessarily should. Catcallers, as mentioned earlier see catcalling as a way of “flirting” and expressing interest in the “target”, in hope of getting attention in return. However, we, in our 21st century society, should be capable of understanding and seeing how wrong this is. Interpersonal bonds rely on trust, and there is no trust if initiating a conversation with an individual you are interested in starts through harassment.

With this being said, there is absolutely nothing in catcalling that can be considered acceptable and normal, so victims of catcalling shouldn’t be told to brush it off. Their experience shouldn’t be diminished or normalized.

The sad truth

If you research what one should do to avoid or stop getting catcalled, the response is “ignore it”. Realistically, can we even dream of a future where catcalling, rape and inequality are absent? The answer to that isn’t so easy: we can all agree on how morally wrong catcalling is, yet some of us still chose to do it.

Can you really “ignore it” and continue living as if nothing happened? Some definitely can, whereas others will continue coming back to that moment in their life, because, at the end of the day such events impact everyone in unique and individual ways. So next time, before you say anything, think twice about if it’ll sound like genuine compliment that might spark the person interest in you; or if you are about to make said person very uncomfortable.