Why Cat-Calling Really Is a Problem

National Review ^ | October 30, 2014 | Christine Sisto

[C19fan]

A new video about street harassment has gone viral and it proves that . . . how do I put this? It proves that I was right.

The video, released by the nonprofit anti-street-harassment organization Hollaback, features a moderately attractive woman, Shoshana Roberts, wearing jeans and a T-shirt, walking in silence through Manhattan for ten hours. The trek was recorded on a hidden video camera, carried by Roberts’s boyfriend, who walked in front of her. The camera picked up over 100 instances of street harassment in one day, according to the group, ranging in severity from men shouting “good morning,” and “how you doing today?” to men following her for several minutes, walking uncomfortably close.

[miss marmelstein]

These people have never walked behind a pretty girl in Rome! Mama Mia - the catcalls.

The most catcalls I’ve ever heard come from construction workers at construction sites. When I was a kid, I crossed the street rather than deal with their remarks.

Most of her “catcalls” were compliments. Wait until she turns 50 and the calls stop.

[OwenKellogg]

LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=237081005&authType=NAME_SEARCH&authToken=CnFW&locale=en_US&srchid=515907901414769807264&srchindex=1&srchtotal=1&trk=vsrp_people_res_name&trkInfo=VSRPsearchId%3A515907901414769807264%2CVSRPtargetId%3A237081005%2CVSRPcmpt%3Aprimary

“A vivacious, curly-haired actress with stage-combat training and a black-belt in Taekwondo.”

Bikini pics included.

[Gaffer]

Frankly, Caucasian men are not ‘protected’ by political and gender correctness. They have been the pariahs and bane of normal society for quite a while now.

They are ridiculed in their speech, dancing and sexual prowess by black comedians emulating a fake “white voice” and gesticulating dance moves, ridiculed by women in all manner of ways, and have become the poster boys for the politically correct white whipping boy.

To point out in ANY instance that any derisive behavior by [ooga booga] males isn’t a “white guy” habit is pure sexist and racist attitude, frankly.

For shame! :0)

[Gaffer]

I’d hit that. /s

[MeshugeMikey]

[CrazyIvan]

Several weeks ago I was in a fast food place and a stunningly beautiful young woman smiled and said hello to me. I am probably three times her age and wasn’t hot property when I was her age. I probably reminded her of her beloved grandfather. It sure was a wonderful feeling tho.

[Rebelbase]

A meme is born:

10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Man
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzzjfjyO52o

10 Hours of Walking in LA as a Drag Queen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3X9QbXbNZ-g

10 hours walking in Skyrim as a woman in skimpy armor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEAC7nl5n2g

10 Hours of Walking in Bangalore as a (Techie) Man
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hNCChvFNRI

Saw another one last night that I can’t locate now. It was was 10 hours of Mike Myers walking...being chased by girls the whole time.

[econjack]

A societal change is needed, one that can start with a guy not clapping his buddy on the back for telling some girl how much he enjoys her assets.

With terrorists lopping off heads of US citizens, this problem ranks pretty low on my list.

[Oatka]

Christine: a moderately attractive woman

MeeOwww.

[DBrow]

“If she walked around a major Latin American city there would be more than 108 “incidents”.”

Yes, if she were alone. In most Latin American places, she’d be with a man, or holding hands or arm-in-arm with another woman.

I frequently see Mexican young women doing this, or with a brother or two.

[DJ Taylor]

"Am I to understand that saying “good morning” is harassment?"

At one time in our distant past, freedom of speech was protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution.

[bramps]

I watched the video and most of the people were merely wishing her a good day. Yes there were some problematic people too, and they were clearly idiots.

There were not 108 instances of harassment.

One of the guys followed her for five minutes as she walked. He walked side by side with her.

So yes there is a problem, and no they are not exactly telling the truth when they sell or describe this video.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the actual number of problematic contacts was more like 20 out of the 108 instances. That being the case, there is a problem. I wish they would address it for what it is.
‘’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’

What would you do to stop these ‘problematic’ contacts? That even goes for the guy who walked next to her for five minutes. What law, ordinance, or whatever would you pass to stop his ‘problematic’ behavior?

[Chainmail]

The video creeps me out. Shows how far our collective culture has fallen. None of us go out into the public hoping that we’ll have unsolicited comments from strangers.

The best we can hope we can do is to train our children how to defend themselves from unwanted attention. It looks like we’re stuck with the low-lifes for good.

[Cowboy Bob]

I would say this whole thing was a hoax/set-up to demonstrate that there was a “war on women.”

[DoughtyOne]

Wow ten hours. I didn’t pick up on that.

Your points are solid. Yes, you would think there would be examples of much more crude comments wouldn’t you.

I’m sure they were trolling the worst types of places to prove their point too.

I agree that a simple thanks would have cut some of these guys off at the knees too. I think her point was that she didn’t do anything to draw any of this attention towards herself. I suppose that’s true, but so what. Many woman walk those same paths each day, and somehow they survive. In fact I’m sure they flourish.

Toughen up babe. And get a new boyfriend.

Thanks for the comments.

[Temujinshordes]

This is absolutely terrible. No one should be made to walk around Manhattan.

[oldbrowser]

Harassing women on the street is an Italian custom — adopted by Americans.

I wonder if she would try the same experiment in South America?
IIRC, Jayne Mansfield almost had her clothes torn off as she was walking.

[Sherman Logan]

I agree with you. These jerks are not being “friendly.” They are inappropriately sexualizing a casual meeting.

I think it is very much a cultural thing. Very, very common in Latin cultures, and I guess it’s been adopted by blacks, or possibly it’s always been so. I think in some of the cases it is racial antagonism intended to make the white lady feel uncomfortable and reinforce the new racial hierarchy.

I’ve never done such a thing in my life, and AFAIK nobody I have ever been with has done it either. It is simply not the way a gentleman behaves, and no matter how unfashionable it is, I try to behave like a gentleman towards ladies.

At least to my mind, this is not intended to be friendly at all. It is black/latino on white and/or male on female harassment intended to make the white lady uncomfortable.

At which it seems to work quite well. Any person who isn’t dressing or acting in a way to draw attention to themselves should be able to walk down the street without being singled out and harassed or approached by strangers.

I am sorry to see so many conservatives denying this, to me, obvious truth. I understand that it is because the groups promoting this cause are feminist, angry and “progressive.” But even stopped clocks and blind squirrels, and all that.

It should be noted that the same people decrying this catcalling spend the last 50 years denigrating the concept of gentleman. To a considerable they, and a lot of innocent bystanders, are reaping what they have sown.

[rockrr]

OMG! Caterpillars are eating her face!

LOL

[MrB]

Yep, that’s what needs to happen with all leftists -

RIDICULE