I was walking to class the other day like I normally do, headphones in and in a complete daze focused on my music. All of a sudden a car full of men pulled up next to me, stopped, rolled the windows down, and proceeded to make noises and yell sexual advances at me. I did what any normal girl would do and ignored them as I sped up my walking and tried to get away from the car as fast as possible. Irritated by the unwanted interruption, I took to twitter to express how awful it feels to get stopped on the street in hopes that other people shared my anger for the act. I received a lot of support (mostly women, shocking!) but low and behold on my walk back home, the same thing happened again twice, once by a group of men walking beside me that I had to deal with face to face. It seemed like I had almost jinxed myself and was having shit luck that day, because in the short span of a few hours, I had been stopped three times while trying to go about my normal day. It became shockingly clear that cat calling has become a huge problem that has been overlooked and underestimated in the midst of all the social and political issues we currently face today.

To put this into perspective, I'm a 4'11 20-year-old woman. You can assume by my size that I look far from someone in their twenties, but regardless of my age or appearance I absolutely despise being cat called like any other woman. As kids, we're taught to fear strangers coming up to us, and as a girl, I grew up being fearful of being abducted or assaulted by anyone bigger or stronger than me at any given moment. And when grown men or even guys my own age stop me on the street to stare or comment on my body I feel beyond uncomfortable and helpless. My initial reaction is to get angry and want to curse them out or put them in their place, but instead, I have to put my head down and walk faster and pretend like I'm not upset, out of fear of possible retaliation if I were to speak up for myself. And the sad truth is that happens way too often to people everywhere.

We've all learned that there are more than enough crazy and violent people out there, and we never really know what anyone is capable of. I'm scared that if I flip a guy off for making weird sexual comments at me, it's very possible he could get out of the car or walk up to me and hurt me or follow me home and put me in danger. Either way, we are terrified that our safety will be put at risk because some asshole wasn't taught to respect women enough to keep his comments to himself. In the past, I've even had to report men at my gym for harassing me while I worked out. I've vented to my dad over and over asking him why people do this to each other, and for a father, it must be heartbreaking to hear that he can't always protect his kids from the outside world. Can you imagine not being able to go to the gym or walk down the street because a man old enough to be your dad is drooling over your body as if you were a piece of meat? As a man, could you imagine your daughter or mother or sister feeling that unsafe or unprotected wherever she goes?

There have been countless arguments about the subject of cat calling, and I'm sure it will continue to be a debate between the sexes for as long as we live in a world where sexism and gender bias exists. But what's really disheartening and downright frightening is how many people truly believe cat calling should be considered a "compliment" or simply just an overly vocal way of hitting on a woman passing by. But I'm here to tell you that is not the case, and that way of thinking is completely ass backward. A compliment is supposed to make someone genuinely feel good, not scared or creeped out. I'm truly sorry for all the people that were never taught how to talk to others the right way, with respect and kindness. But with that being said, I think it's up to our generation to teach each other, our friends and family, and more importantly our future kids that cat calling is in fact harassment and it's just straight up terrifying sometimes. I'd love to live in a world where I can walk or squat freely without wanting to punch anyone in the face, and I really don't think that's too much to ask for.