A car horn blares as it zips past me and my friend while we stand at a bus stop.
“Hey, you got a boyfriend?” A man shouted as he flew down the hill on his bicycle.
“Dang, that’s a fi-i-i-i-ine white girl,” another said as he walked past.
All three of these audible blasts collided with my ears in a 24-hour period this weekend. While the above experiences vary in severity, each one made my blood boil.
Women should not have to tolerate abrasive, abrupt insults that are supposedly compliments. Catcalls are obnoxious, rude, sexist and objectifying.
First, catcalls are obnoxious and rude by nature. One moment, a woman is walking from point A to point B.
The next moment she has to hear a complete stranger publicly address her physical appearance in passing.
Whether this is something slightly more flattering and less sexual like “Do you have a boyfriend?,” catcalls cross a verbal barrier and violate personal space.
The jeering remarks are frustrating and unsettling.
Often, I want to yell back in retaliation. However, this can be unnerving because once someone has verbally objectified me, it makes me wary of how they may return any protestation.
Furthermore, catcalls are sexist.
While catcalls can apply to men or women in any combination, in my personal experience, women seem to always be on the receiving end of catcalls.
These inappropriate remarks harass females. Whether a woman is wearing a full-length coat or a bathing suit, the statements are always inappropriate.
Men who catcall are claiming dominance and authority over complete strangers simply because they’re female.
Asserting an opinion on physical appearance implies dominance because the speaker assumes he has the right to commentate.
Finally, catcalls objectify women. When a man catcalls, he makes a woman an object for visual enjoyment and nothing more.
These unwelcome statements are dehumanizing because they disregard everything except appearance, devaluing personality, interests and everything else that make a woman who she is.
Catcalls have made me feel like I am just my sex or my race, not an actual person.
As a side note, being attracted to someone is acceptable.
However, there are appropriate ways to show this attraction. Compliments like, “You look nice today” and jeering remarks shouted from a car window are different things.
In addition, there is a difference between looking and leering. Leering is like the silent form of a catcall.
Finding someone nice to look at is understandable. Look. Be pleasantly surprised by the good fortune of encountering a lovely human being. Do not stare. This goes for guys as well as girls.
In high school, I went to a restaurant with some girl friends.
When we went to the register at the front, two men seated by the register stared at us while we paid the cashier.
As we walked out the door, they swiveled on their bar stools to watch us leave the establishment. I felt violated and was disgusted.
Leering after someone no longer compliments him or her like a flirtatious glance from across a room might.
The intent behind a look or a statement is the deciding factor in the compliment or catcall debate.
Compliments from people who are not strangers, respectful interested glances and other forms of expressing attraction can be very appropriate and helpful for communicating interest.
Outright catcalls, however, are never appropriate.
To conclude – catcalls startle, demean and objectify. They suggest a woman is just a body.
It is not OK that women have to face harassment with a this-is-just-something-I-have-to-deal-with mindset.
Women should be able to walk, skip, jog, run or strut down a street without having to deal with unwanted attention. Catcalls need to be silenced.
Lindsay Alexander is a journalism sophomore. Her columns usually appear on Wednesdays.
[The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the Alligator]
[A version of this story ran on page 7 on 11/4/2014]
