#HipHop4Her: Catcalls Are For Cats

It seems to me that men have gotten away with catcalls for years.  The “Ayo ma,” “Excuse me miss,” “Can I talk to you?” and the famous “Psst.” Women constantly wonder why men continue to use these methods to stop women in the street. The answer is simple; men continue to summon us this way because there are women dumb enough to respond. There are women who will actually stop and engage in conversation with the men who do this. However,there are women such as myself who roll their eyes, suck their teeth and just walk away as fast as possible. Of course during teenage years girls feed off that attention, smile and laugh as the young men gawk over you.  I think that as women grow up they begin to realize their worth and actually become annoyed and turned off by this. You would think these men would grow up too and approach us as such.

I don’t know what’s worse, calling a woman as if she is a house cat or touching a woman without her permission. It’s the lack of respect that men have for women when trying to approach them, this in turn make women more stand offish. I rather a man come up to me and say “Excuse me, my name is ________________.” What is so hard about that? Is there any man out there that actually does this? Growing up in New York City I have had both strange and disrespectful experiences. I think men are too eager to find someone to mess around with, and just don’t know when to call it quits.  I have had guys nearly follow me all the way home, stare at me on the train, grab my hand, and curse me out when I ignore them.  As if that’s anyway to get a girl to talk to them.

Women ignore men for three reasons: they’re not interested, they have a boyfriend, or they just feel disrespected. Because of this women get told to “smile,” or to “say thank you.” In the end it doesn’t help the guy, it makes the woman more annoyed. It’s no wonder that women killed chivalry! What woman wants to stop for a man, regardless if he’s being nice or not, when she’s encountered so many shitty men. We’d rather keep walking than to interfere with another jerk. It’s hard to understand what compels men to make certain comments. The line between catcalling and street harassment is so thin that men cross it almost every time. There is no reason to follow me or interrupt my music session. Why can’t women just go outside without having a man trying to know her name? Men don’t see women harassing them and staring at their penis prints all day.

I would like to say thank you (sarcastically) to the women who have actually been responsive to these types of men. You have subjected other women of days upon days of

discourtesy. What if the mothers of these men were being harassed or summoned by cat calls in the street? How exactly would they respond? Hopefully it will just make them all stop and women can walk out in the streets uninterrupted.