If you are a young woman, you have likely been cat-called, at one point or another. You may have even experienced this as a man. The stares, whistles, and shouts are uncomfortable. They make you feel like an object or just a body, instead of a human being. Cat-calls are belittling.

I live off campus in a city. I have to cross that street to get to campus every single day. I cannot tell you the number of times some man, or even a group of teenage boys has shouted something at me -- Hey, nice butt! Hey! Pretty legs. Why don't you come over here? Oh, look at her! It doesn't matter if I'm in a dress and heels, or my workout clothes, I will still get cat-called. It happens when I'm alone, with girlfriends, or even when I'm with guys.

This article is not me trying to talk about how great I must look because I get cat-called all the time. This is about how we need to end the current culture in which it is acceptable to publicly objectify women. You could argue that I'm just not able to take a compliment, but yelling to me while you drive away in a car, maintaining your anonymity, is far from a compliment. It is harassment.

And just in case you didn't know, the legal definition of harassment includes unsolicited words that are threatening. How is cat-calling threatening? When I get cat-called, I know that strangers are looking at my body and feel bold enough to say something about it. What if some night one of those strangers encounters me on the street? I have every right to feel threatened by a person who has yelled sexual comments out a window and even more fear if they happen to be walking the same street.

Society makes excuses for men all the time. Oh, a woman was raped? Well she must have been wearing revealing clothing. Or she really wanted it. People say the same thing about cat-calling. They'll say, "Come on baby, just take a compliment." I want to put this into a new perspective. I may be an adult, but I am still my parents' daughter. When you have a daughter, whether you are a man or a woman, how will you feel when unknown men yell "compliments" about her body? How will that make you feel?

You'll feel disgusted. You'll want to shield your daughter from that harassment. You'll want to tell her that she doesn't need to stand for that kind of treatment. You'll teach her that a man or woman should respect her. She should be appreciated for her brain or personality. Women are more than just a body. But what good does teaching your daughters to be confident if the cat-calling and harassment will continue? This is where we need to teach young boys that women are more than objects.

I have a friend who, the other day, came up to me and said she just got cat-called by six men. They were seven-year-olds. She asked, "What does that say about me if young boys try to hit on me?" My friend should not feel like she is at fault. She has done nothing to provoke these young boys into approaching her to pick-up a college girl. The only crime she has committed is being a young woman.

I just want to clarify that I know cat-calling is not a one-sided offense. Women cat-call men as well, but I am a woman, so I cannot identify on the same level with men as I can with women on this type of harassment. This article in no way is meant to perpetuate gender issues. I aim to argue that cat-calling as a whole needs to be outlawed by society and used my experience as a young woman as an example.