Cat Calling Experiences

While walking to CVS, someone yelled that I had beautiful hair from their stopped van. I was uncomfortable only because the man was very creepy looking and a stranger to me. I'm typically flattered when someone compliments me, but the situation made 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 its really no fun and makes everyone involved feel uncomfortable and incredibly self conscious.

This is not a specific incidence 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.

I was walking to CVS and got catcalled by someone from their car. In broad daylight. No one asks to be harassed, no one should have to monitor what they wear to feel protected, no Wheaton student should have to feel unsafe just STEPS off of their campus, and I shouldn’t have to feel compelled to carry my keys in my hand as a potential weapon at one o’ clock in the afternoon.

My most memorable experience is definitely my first. I was 16 and headed back from the beach with my mom and sister, sitting in the back seat of my mom's convertible and driving with the top down. I had decided to just put on my shorts over my one-piece bathing suit, leaving the top part of it to function as a "shirt". It was relatively low-cut, but nothing risqué. We stopped at a red light under two men drinking on the balcony of their apartment (it was Saint Patrick's Day and the police were turning a blind eye to public drunkenness). They began yelling at me to "show tits" and calle me a slut and a whore. My mother told me to just go with it, not to yell back or show that I was upset. I was ashamed, furious, and self-conscious for months. I couldn't wear the bathing suit again until well after a year later. That sort of thing wouldn't phase me anymore-- harassment has become an everyday part of my life. When boys bark like dogs at my my friends and me as we walk to Walgreens, I've learned to not even turn my head.

confident yet objectified

Personally, I don't really get cat called at a lot, so when it does happen, it boosts my confidence (depending on who it is) haha. On time I was in Guatemala for our 8th grade trip, and a 30yr old man started whistling at me, at that was just creepy because our our huge age difference.