Cat Calling Experiences

i was in prague; the men are much more outspoken in europe.

"everyone has experienced this at some point in their life."

a creepy man whistled the tune to "blow my whistle" at my friends and me.. needless to say we were creeped out and i've never been able to think of the song the same way again!

some girls and i were walking down the street from our hotel looking for a place to eat when a truck full of men parked across the street from us started blaring their horn and whistling at us. they were calling out to us, and it was night; we were in an unfamiliar area, there were four of us, and we didn't know how many of them there were. it was uncomfortable and nerve-wracking.

i think it was probably either when a guy yelled at me to "get it wet" while i was jogging, or when i was walking home through downtown late one night and a guy verbally noted that i was alone and then even pretended to move towards me just to scare me.

born and raised in nyc but still not used to rudeness. uncomfortable and tense.

while walking to cvs, someone yelled that i had beautiful hair from their stopped van. i was uncomfortable only because the man looked very creepy and was a stranger to me. i'm usually flattered when someone compliments me, but the situation freaked me out and i ended up running across the street.

i once was walking back to my dorm from a dance in haas and was catcalled by a group of several guys. they were saying things like "where are you going, beautiful?", and "hey gorgeous, wanna walk with me somewhere?", and things like that. however, there was one guy in the group who didn't say anything to me but instead turned to his friends and said "hey, don't talk to her like that, give her the respect she deserves!". he said it in a very serious (not joking) way, and the other guys quieted down after he said that. i thought it was so great that he had the courage to stand up to his friends in such a way, and i definitely appreciated it. i oftentimes wish more people would say something when people treat others this way.

this literally happens all the time, regardless of who i'm with. friends, check. parents, definitely. grandparents, without a doubt. it's embarrassing, degrading, and all around unpleasant. i don't know who decided that publicly calling out to girls was acceptable, or that maybe they wanted to hear it, because it's really no fun and makes everyone involved feel uncomfortable and incredibly self-conscious.

this is not a specific incident of catcalling, but i thought i should share what i overheard the other day. i heard a girl say that she felt bad about herself because she had never been catcalled. how upsetting is that? she thought she was too ugly to be harassed.