Most women, at some point in their lives, have had catcalls. Most women ignore them. But contrary to what some men think, I would say the majority of women don’t like the unsolicited attention. It makes them uneasy as instinctively they know it is a fairly short step from wolf whistles and come-on comments, to possibly something much worse. Every woman has a right to feel safe walking down the street.
A 24-year-old aspiring actress has been filmed being catcalled 108 times as she strolled around New York City – even though she was wearing a plain T-shirt, jeans and sneakers.
Shoshana Roberts, a graduate of Kutztown University in Pennsylvania, was captured on a hidden camera by her friend, Rob Bliss, as she walked through the city’s streets.
Over a ten-hour period, she was pelted with dozens of unsolicited comments, including: ‘What’s up beautiful?’, ‘Hey baby’, ‘Smile’ and ‘Have a nice evening darling’.
She was even followed by some men for several minutes, with one repeatedly asking her: ‘You don’t wanna talk? Because I’m ugly?’ Others winked at her, whistled and made inappropriate noises.
The shocking video, filmed in August, was later posted on YouTube and Facebook by Miss Roberts, who describes herself as ‘a New York City-based actress with a black belt’.
She added: ‘Everyone has a right to feel safe.’
Mr Bliss, who captured the footage via a camera hidden in his backpack, said he was inspired to film Miss Roberts after his girlfriend, Kendal Pektas, complained of being catcalled by men.
Given, this young woman is beautiful… but what kind of personality eschews manners and civility for the crude overture of catcalls? What bothers me most are some of the comments after the article… some men claiming marriage comes from this type of attention. I have never seen that happen – I have known of women being physically attacked. Others saying she should be glad to get the comments, because when you get older they stop. That’s akin to telling her to ‘lay back and take it, honey’ because you know, you asked for it. There is no excuse for this pervasive behavior and it is just one more reason to not live in places such as New York City, where the predators roam freely and you are stripped of your second amendment rights.