"You Should Take It as a Compliment!"

Often when a woman complains about being catcalled on the street, her frustration is met by the same types of responses: "Just ignore it," "Why are you so upset?" "You should take it as a compliment!" While it is true that some women do in fact find unwarranted comments from men to be flattering (and that is a totally valid opinion for a woman to have), studies have shown that the majority of women do not consider this type of sexual harassment to be at all a compliment.

Before I get too far into this post, I would like to acknowledge that the subject of street harassment is a tricky one. What one woman deems as offensive could be perfectly fine to another woman. The interpretation of a comment is completely subjective, which is why this is such a controversial topic. Many people believe that any type of catcalling is wrong and derogatory towards women, while others think that women need to "get over it" and appreciate the compliment. I would like to say here that while I do not agree that catcalling is at all respectful or complimentary, it really is up to the woman being catcalled to decide how she chooses to interpret it.

To get a sense of this, Sonia Saraiya teamed up with 11 women living in New York and asked them to record "their experiences being objectified and sexually harassed on the city's streets." These experiences were compiled on the blog Catcalled and posted anonymously under Participant #1, 2, 3, etc. These women's opinions about catcalling ranged from "a whole new level of scary" to enjoying "the momentary respite of being an object." However, the main purpose of this project was to explain how "the culture of street harassment" affects women in their daily lives.

Most people assume that street harassment doesn't occur until girls get older, but according to an international study conducted by Hollaback! and Cornell University, the majority of women surveyed reported their first experience with street harassment occurred before the age of 17, with some citing ages as early as 10 and 11. Being exposed to this kind of objectification at such a young age makes it even harder for women to break out of the cycle of harassment. If a woman is brave enough to tell her cat-caller to stop, she is still likely to encounter a negative (and even sometimes dangerous) response.

The controversy surrounding catcalling isn't just about women not wanting to take a compliment either. The men who yell out comments to women on the street aren't simply trying to strike up a conversation or offer some kind words. Because these men who ask women to come home with them or tell them about the obscene things they'd like to them don't genuinely think that these women will take them up on their offer. This kind of harassment stems from wanting to make sure that women know their place in society, as objects and inferiors.

I want to take a step back here and make it clear that I don't think that every guy who offers a woman a compliment has some kind of agenda or that he is fueling the Patriarchy and promoting sexist propaganda. I do, however, think that there is a distinct line between complimenting someone and harassing them. Ignoring women who say that street harassment is not complimentary is invalidating and shows a lack of respect for their viewpoint. Despite the numerous experiences women have shared detailing harassment, some men are still of the opinion that they want to be catcalled. I have even heard men say that if women don't want to be catcalled, then we should simply stay at home. That women wouldn't try to look nice if we didn't want to be complimented on our appearance.

I personally don't accept the idea that someone has a right to harass a woman simply because she decided to leave her house that day. I think that catcalling is disempowering and disrespectful towards women and that we as a society shouldn't allow it to be passed off as complimentary.