As a female, I am often subjected to cat calling. For those of you who do not know, cat calling is a verb meaning to whistle, shout, or make a comment for sexual nature to a woman passing by. For letter is for you, cat callers.

For those of you who insist on giving women your opinion on how they look, give them a genuine compliment instead of shouting at them. When you cat call, it makes women feel insecure, scared, angry, unsafe. And most of the time it’s a combination of those four. But when you give a woman an actual compliment such as: “You look very nice today,” “I like your outfit,” or any other legitimate compliment, it makes them feel good and empowered.

Once I was walking to a restaurant in downtown with a friend of mine. As we were walking, we saw an elderly looking man smoking a cigarette. He then said, “Hey sexy! Aren’t you a tall glass of water!” I then looked at my friend with concern and she said, “It’s okay if they don’t start to follow you,” While it was important that he didn’t follow us, that was not okay in the slightest. This man looked to be in his 50s-60s and he said this to a 16-year-old. I have had strangers come up to me two or three times and pay me an actual compliment and I would rather have that than be cat called any day.

Some people cat call in front of their children; or in this case, grandchildren. I was standing in line at a CVS and this man walked in with a young girl (around 10) who I assumed was his granddaughter. I paid him no attention until he came an inch away from my face and creepily said, “I like me a tall girl.” I am 5’11” and understand that I am tall. So, that was unnecessary and I truly hope that his granddaughter, who saw that, does not think that that was acceptable for anyone to do.

The purpose of this letter was to get cat callers to understand how it makes women feel as well as share only a few of my personal experiences. Cat calling should never be normalized as it is never okay.

P.S. For the people who believe that it has to do with what the woman is wearing; I was once cat called while wearing sweats. Sometimes just having a vagina that makes you a subject to cat calling. Have a blessed day.