Cat Calling in the Street - Good Clean Fun or Sexual Harrassment ?

This American study suggests that catcalling can be seriously damaging to women's emotional health -

LINK TO REPORT ON STUDY

Abby O'Reillly

It also says that most men have no idea that they might be doing any harm.

Most women apparently ignore, when they are shouted at in the street. Some women have started to take photos and post them on websites.

Normally I ignore, but once or twice I have used the camera ploy - this is particularly funny when the perps are lined up on a scaffold with their bosses name on it. Swift evasion action usually follows. On a bad day, have been known to throw icecream (aim pretty good) and on a bold day, to approach perp and demand maintenance payment: " you sit there on that wall yelling at wimmin and I haven't had a cheque for months".

Oh, and the study says the phenomenon is weather related - men hang out, and women wear less.

Any thoughts or experiences, one way or another?

Well while it may not be intended as anything other than a bit of fun, the test of it being sexual harrassment or not is how it's recieved by the recipient.

I was whooped and whistled at walking through St Stephen's Green one day. Those Loreto girls are hussies!
Anyway I went bright read and in my embarrassment fell over those low black railing things they have at the edges of the paths.

MORTO.

I don't think it's done with any harm, and unless it's particularly gratuitous shouldn't be taken as such but I won't be a fan of it myself.

MMmm - I know what you mean about those Loreto girls. They show no mercy.

cactus flower wrote:

MMmm - I know what you mean about those Loreto girls. They show no mercy.

There were like 8 or them or something and I has just one friend with me, who broke her heart laughing when I fell. Evil wenches! I could feel them undressing me with their eyes...

Do women not feel at all flattered when the get wolf whistled?

[quote="Auditor #9"]Do women not feel at all flattered when the get wolf whistled?

maybe -

If they know you
If you are not drunk
If you like them
If not done to show off to friends
If they are over 25
If you think they're are sexy
If you are Humphrey Bogard.

Wow that ad has aged.

So if we do it Bogart style is it ok to grab a woman's bottom and call her "toots" too?

Get yourself a copy of Mozilla and you'll be fine - you broke nothing.

Your criteria seem to be quite comprehensive above but let's mix 'em for a second; what if they know you and you are drunk?

Auditor #9 wrote:

Get yourself a copy of Mozilla and you'll be fine - you broke nothing.

Your criteria seem to be quite comprehensive above but let's mix 'em for a second; what if they know you and you are drunk?

Somebody ends up pregnant.

According to your article the reporter noticed this phenomenon happening in April - the cruellest month eh? Must be a breeding mating thing... The world wouldn't go around if there wasn't cat-calling you know - the stork would be put out of a job.

Well is it still broke?

Auditor #9 wrote:

Get yourself a copy of Mozilla and you'll be fine - you broke nothing.

Your criteria seem to be quite comprehensive above but let's mix 'em for a second; what if they know you and you are drunk?

If they know me and Im drunk I suppose it depends on whether I am Humphrey Bogard or if I like them. Or Humphrey Bogard.

I used to work with these two builders, and when we were driving around in their van if they saw a good looking girl they would lean out the window and actually shout to each other stuff like 'jesus, look at the tits on that thing'.
They wouldn't shout at the girl herself, they would be saying it to each other.
I suppose my big problem was the 'that thing' part.
I only worked with them for a week.

It depends on how it is done. If they behave as you describe, then that is horrible. I dont like it.

I hate it. I used to live in the south of France (very briefly), and it was awful. Guys would actually stop their cars in the streets to shout at us. I really can't stand it.

I guess some people might take it as a compliment, but most of the guys who do it aren't exactly discerning and will shout at anything, so it's a bit hard to be flattered.

Will anyone (male or female) own up to having done it?
Your candour may get you enough points to compensate for the original sin...

cactus flower wrote:

Will anyone (male or female) own up to having done it?
Your candour may get you enough points to compensate for the original sin...

I would have started doing it long ago if it was effective - what do building site wolf whistlers expect? That the girl/boy will come over to them and give them their telephone number? or better - ask them for a tour around the site Portacabin?

And can I ask what clothes you are wearing when the cat calling goes on? I'm as open-minded as the next but some revealing clothes on lassies can provoke that response viscerally like a knee-jerk... as I said it's ultimately to do with keeping the Stork in business and all that and some men are not as good at hiding their true feelings for a woman as others.

Cat calling by women is not unknown to happen either you know as cookiemonster has pointed out though it's less likely to happen to him now that he's 43...

Auditor #9 wrote:

cactus flower wrote:

Will anyone (male or female) own up to having done it?
Your candour may get you enough points to compensate for the original sin...

I would have started doing it long ago if it was effective - what do building site wolf whistlers expect? That the girl/boy will come over to them and give them their telephone number? or better - ask them for a tour around the site Portacabin?

And can I ask what clothes you are wearing when the cat calling goes on? I'm as open-minded as the next but some revealing clothes on lassies can provoke that response viscerally like a knee-jerk... as I said it's ultimately to do with keeping the Stork in business and all that and some men are not as good at hiding their true feelings for a woman as others.

Cat calling by women is not unknown to happen either you know as cookiemonster has pointed out though it's less likely to happen to him now that he's 43...

I knew I could rely on you Auditor #9. As you pointed out before, clothes (or the lack of them) do come into it. The summer weather brings out the cat callers and also brings out the bare flesh. On one occasion I remember a particularly flimsy summer outfit may have caused a bumper denting car incident. Another strange phenomenon I've noticed is a kind of Nora Batty thing going when a woman cleaning is seen as irresistably provocative - any girl who has cleaned a window or swept a garden path would vouch for that.

Unfortunately, the wimmin folk are quite likely baring the flesh for comfort rather than seduction purposes, and do not welcome being made a holy show of. The Stork, now that we are living in days of voluntary arrangements rather than clubbing over the head, would do well to find new approaches.

Hence, my new outfit for the summer of '08.

That's an extreme case there cactus - wimmen actually go around in that kind of attire in Saudi Arabia, Dubai (?) etc. and have no choice in it but that's an argument for another thread so let's keep on topic of trying to get that chica into the site portacabin.

Isn't there a sense of modesty and natural beautifulness about summer dresses though I'm sorry I don't know how to find relevant images on the internet - I thought 'Dresses for running through meadows' might get me something but I only got this but you might know better how to locate dresses on the net


Now wouldn't modest and functional and pretty summer dresses like that not give men a sense of shame if he were to wolf-whistle at a woman wearing it? It would be like whistling at Laura Ingolds Wilder i.e. the Universal Sister. Perhaps a re-run of LHOTP might educate the whistlers of today if they've lost the Laura respect.

On the other hand I've seen wimmen wearing such clothes (?) that if I was walking through a city enough during the day then I wouldn't need to have such an expensive subscription to one of my favourite sites
http://www.seymourpinkxxx.com
Only $12.99 for 4 months subscription.

It is a question of what ever turns a person on, Audi. You might look at the above and think "sister" and plenty of others would think "quick roll in the hay". And as other posters have said, it really doesn't make a lot of difference what you wear.

The Chador as an option is sometimes a choice by women. In the last days of the Shah it was a handy thing to hide your identity and your kalashnikov under.

It also can be thrown over your little Chanel suit, for discretion, and to avoid harrassment. I'm not saying I recommend it, just that it might not be as off-topic as you think.

At the end of the day, our climate is probably what keeps Irish women safe from the kind of behaviour The Bear described in France.

cactus flower wrote:

At the end of the day, our climate is probably what keeps Irish women safe from the kind of behaviour The Bear described in France.

Did you read Frank McNally's article about the Italians in yesterday's Irish Times? Berlesconi is making beautiful women cabinet ministers, largely it seems, on account of their looks.

905 wrote:

cactus flower wrote:

At the end of the day, our climate is probably what keeps Irish women safe from the kind of behaviour The Bear described in France.

Did you read Frank McNally's article about the Italians in yesterday's Irish Times? Berlesconi is making beautiful women cabinet ministers, largely it seems, on account of their looks.

Biffo certainly cannot be accused of that, nor, indeed, any of his predecessors.