What 10 hours of street harassment in NYC looks like

[skylizard]

Has anyone seen this? I thought it was an interesting snapshot of what some women go through. Thoughts?


http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/28/living/hollaback-10-hours-walking-in-nyc/index.html

 

[Earstou]

Yup, that's pretty accurate. Gets scary when they start walking with you cause you aren't sure what's going to happen.

Oh, I should add, my dd is now experiencing this as she walks to work.

 

[HM]

That's ridiculous.
I don't live in a city and rarely visit one.
I had no idea that people were so bold, on a whole.
Creepy when put together like that.

 

[skylizard]

The really scary part is that ever since the video was posted on youtube she's been receiving death threats as well as people threatening to rape her. So horrible!

 

[goofyintoronto]

The really scary part is that ever since the video was posted on youtube she's been receiving death threats as well as people threatening to rape her. So horrible!

I saw this yesterday. And yep, its pretty accurate!!

But wow, she's been receiving death/rape threats? what the hell is wrong with people?!

 

[suzannen]

That's ridiculous.
I don't live in a city and rarely visit one.
I had no idea that people were so bold, on a whole.
Creepy when put together like that.

It's certainly not limited to cities. I live in NYC now, but grew up in a smaller college town in the South and would get comments constantly. Just walking across campus to class, guys sitting outside their fraternities would hold up ratings card of 1 to 10 for every female walking by, as well as shouting graphic comments to them. I saw quite a few women burst into tears.

During that time, I researched and wrote a paper on female body image. Many of the women I interviewed would mention how hurtful, and sometimes threatening some stranger's comment on the street could be.

 

[Jennasis]

I have to wonder...has cat calling or oggling a woman in this manner EVER worked?? Has a women ever stopped and turned to one of these prince charmings and just been like "SWOOOON! THIS is what I've been looking for!"

Gross. I've had this kind of "attention" thrown my way and it is unnerving at best and in some cases very threatening.

 

[swanmom]

I saw the best response to this 'catcalling' one day in New York. There was a construction site and the guys were making rude comments and hassling most of the women who walked by. A woman ahead of me tried very hard to ignore them but this only escalated their abuse. Finally, one guy yelled "Whatsa matter? We don't bite!" She whipped around and yelled back "No biting! Congratulations! I guess now you can move on to potty training."

There was complete silence from the construction site!

 

[wdwmom2]

I may be the only one, but "have a nice evening", "how are you this morning", and a few others, I personally do not consider this harassment. Sure, you may not want to hear anything from anyone, but harassment Sure, these sentences may lead to more that could be considered harrassment (by me), but those sentences themselves would not bother me.

So, is no one supposed to say anything to anyone anymore???? (That's a lot of "anys" )

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Just walking across campus to class, guys sitting outside their fraternities would hold up ratings card of 1 to 10 for every female walking by, as well as shouting graphic comments to them. I saw quite a few women burst into tears.

That's pretty messed up.

 

[ashley0139]

I've certainly been cat-called in my time (happened just yesterday - in the 2 minute walk from my car to my office), but when I lived in NYC it definitely did not happen that frequently, and I walked everywhere. Even if someone just says "hey beautiful, have a nice day" it makes me very uncomfortable. It makes me feel unsafe. Do I say thank you? Are they going to get belligerent if I ignore them? (That has happened before) There is no reason AT ALL to cat-call someone. A woman is not going to turn around and decide to sleep with someone from that. There's no reason for it.

 

[goofyintoronto]

I have to wonder...has cat calling or oggling a woman in this manner EVER worked?? Has a women ever stopped and turned to one of these prince charmings and just been like "SWOOOON! THIS is what I've been looking for!"


Gross. I've had this kind of "attention" thrown my way and it is unnerving at best and in some cases very threatening.

men know this crap doesnt work. yet they still try. persistent buggers!


I find it very uncomfortable, but I just ignore. Thats all you can do. shouting back doesnt help at all. I have a friend who did that, and they got into a yelling match. Waste of time and energy if you ask me.

 

[okeydokey]

I may be the only one, but "have a nice evening", "how are you this morning", and a few others, I personally do not consider this harassment. Sure, you may not want to hear anything from anyone, but harassment Sure, these sentences may lead to more that could be considered harrassment (by me), but those sentences themselves would not bother me.

So, is no one supposed to say anything to anyone anymore???? (That's a lot of "anys" )

Do they say the same thing to men passing by?

They are not trying to be kind and friendly, they are trying to be intrusive and creepy. It's amazing that a woman can't walk down a street and be left alone.

 

[CaoilinnsMom]

I watched this video. I did see some guys just trying to be friendly, but there was a lot of rudeness and some encounters were even scary. What most guys don't realize is that having a man feel like he has the right to tell you to smile and then say something negative when you don't is very offensive. it is judging and condescending. I am sure most guys have never had that experience, because people don't do that to men.

 

[JamesMom]

I remember in my 20s walking from Port Authority bus to Penn Station to catch a train and this guy walking along side me and chatting me up the whole way. I didn't say anything and kept calm, but I was inwardly freaking out and I grew up on Long Island.
This also happened to me in Paris in 2001 while walking through a park to the Musee d'Orsay. Some guy speaking good english siding right up beside me to practically the front door.
Good luck trying to stop it. If you are a young woman, this is what you should expect. Not right, but it's the way of the world.
Interesting video. Thanks for posting.

 

[okeydokey]

I watched this video. I did see some guys just trying to be friendly, but there was a lot of rudeness and some encounters were even scary. What most guys don't realize is that having a man feel like he has the right to tell you to smile and then say something negative when you don't is very offensive. it is judging and condescending. I am sure most guys have never had that experience, because people don't do that to men.

And then when you ignore them, some call you a lesbian. Because of course the reason you don't react positively to their "compliment" has to be because of you, and nothing to do with the fact that they are gross.

 

[VAfamily1998]

I may be the only one, but "have a nice evening", "how are you this morning", and a few others, I personally do not consider this harassment. Sure, you may not want to hear anything from anyone, but harassment Sure, these sentences may lead to more that could be considered harrassment (by me), but those sentences themselves would not bother me.

So, is no one supposed to say anything to anyone anymore???? (That's a lot of "anys" )

I agree with you. I am a female, and get those kind of comments a lot. I just look them in the eye, smile, and say "you too!" or "I'm great, how are you?" No harm.

 

[JanaDee]

I may be the only one, but "have a nice evening", "how are you this morning", and a few others, I personally do not consider this harassment. Sure, you may not want to hear anything from anyone, but harassment Sure, these sentences may lead to more that could be considered harrassment (by me), but those sentences themselves would not bother me.

So, is no one supposed to say anything to anyone anymore???? (That's a lot of "anys" )

I agree with you.

 

[wdwmom2]

Do they say the same thing to men passing by?

They are not trying to be kind and friendly, they are trying to be intrusive and creepy. It's amazing that a woman can't walk down a street and be left alone.

Do they say the same to a man??? Don't know, I wasn't there.

Would it be harassment be said if it was an older, grey-haired lady saying it?

They can try to be intrusive and creepy all they want, but the sentences I quoted would not bother me. Now, inappropriate innuendos (inappropriate to me) would be very unwelcome.

 

[RadioNate]

I may be the only one, but "have a nice evening", "how are you this morning", and a few others, I personally do not consider this harassment. Sure, you may not want to hear anything from anyone, but harassment Sure, these sentences may lead to more that could be considered harrassment (by me), but those sentences themselves would not bother me.

So, is no one supposed to say anything to anyone anymore???? (That's a lot of "anys" )

The thing is, it's constant. I work in a business where occasionally I need to be at a bar/club for a show. In that setting, I can't even walk to the bathroom with someone saying something to me. It's irritating.

In the course of just walking on the sidewalk, this woman was 'harassed" once every six minutes. She wasn't (gag) dressed for attention. Just a nice looking, average female, minding her own business.

Men aren't saying this stuff to other men. They don't walk down the street asking other dudes "how are you this morning?"

And if anyone doubts the rape culture of male entitlement in this country all you have to do is look at the video comments, by men.

This is what I said yesterday about the video (and I'm going to let the filter do it's job!)

It doesn't generally bother me if someone says "have a good night" or even pays a complement without being creepy. However, once you watch the video the comments really illustrate the problem of male entitlement and rape culture in America. She's repeatedly called a *****, told to "**** off," told this is a "first world problem," that she should "get a job," that she shouldn't show off her "magnificent ***," that she should be glad she isn't ugly, all before being called a hypocrite. I didn't even have to scroll to see those. It is sad. And as is COMMON, she's gotten rape threats via twitter.

I know men will disagree but I do think these is a large population of men in America who have some deep seeded hatred of women. And as a woman, that is scary.