Women and Gender

Smith: Standing up against catcalling can help end the problem

Shouting out a window, whistling and honking finally received the response it has been trying to get from women for years.  On Aug. 18, the New York Post ran an article by Doree Lewak where she declared that catcalling is not only natural, but a great way to validate self-worth. Lewak described the experience as “ego soaring” and “exhilarating.”

Though many questioned if Lewak’s article was satirical, this is detrimental for the women who are fighting to prove that catcalling is not a compliment, because the article captures how some men and even worse, women, actually view catcalling. This street harassment has led women to record their perpetrators, create organizations, blogs and sassy cards to fight back this summer.

Pushing to end public harassment through education and documentation, the non-profit organization Stop Street Harassment found that 65 percent of women had experienced street harassment.  That’s an overwhelming majority putting up with these remarks, and of those 65 percent, almost a quarter said they have been sexually touched and 9 percent were forced to do something sexual.

Another non-profit organization, Hollaback!, fights to end street harassment by allowing women to share their experiences with catcalling and its negative effects. The site also offers a pledge to “become a better bystander,” and gives users the option to create a local Hollaback! community for fighting street harassment. Having a network of people who pledge to become better bystanders is a step in the right direction.

Though catcallers are individual people, the problem is also a cultural one. Non-profit organizations are taking steps to make sure influential companies are held to the same standards as a catcaller on the street. The Stop Street Harassment organization has a list of companies who contribute to the catcalling mindset and they have influenced some companies to change their message.



In 2013, the label on Say Yes to Carrots, a natural beauty product company, read, “Yes to whistling (and getting whistled at!)” Stop Street Harassment quickly deplored the company for assuming whistles were a compliment to women.  Through Twitter, the organization and Hollaback! asked Say Yes to Carrots to change its packaging.  Apologizing, the company tweeted back, “We’re sorry about this offending statement. We’re 100 percent going to change this, we only want to be positive!Now, they’re going after Snickers candy bar, after it ran an ad suggesting men can’t help the fact that they call out to women on the street.

Rallying together and calling out offending companies is a great way to start, but it’s also important to stand up for yourself in the moment. This June, a 28-year-old woman’s campaign against street harassment went viral. The woman created “Cards Against Harassment” and handed them out to the men who shouted at her as she passed by. The cards have simple sayings like, “Keep it to yourself,” and “Just say Hello.”It’s difficult to say if printable cards are the catcall solution, but it certainly beats walking by speechless without having the last word.

We all must be better bystanders and not tolerate this harassment.  Banding together, calling out large corporations and making it clear that catcalling is never a compliment can help bring an end to this long-standing problem.

 Julia Smith is a junior newspaper and online journalism and sociology dual major. Her column appears weekly. She can reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @jcsmith711.





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