I was catcalled the other day even though I wasn’t doing anything “sexy”. I was squatting down to give my dog a drink of water as we went for a walk. Somehow, some men interpreted my stance as an invitation to yell and whistle with their heads sticking out of their window, and to give their horn multiple honks to try and get my attention. It caught me off guard. After I realized what was happening, I sprang up, scowled, and waved my middle finger high above my head. Unfortunately they were unable to view their parting gift because the stoplight turned green. The rest of my journey home I was slightly on edge, and did not try to hold eye contact with anyone.

While I do not doubt that some women perceive this action as a compliment, many women perceive it as an insult. As I learned in my Gender and Communications course this past semester, catcalling (street harassment) is a form of gender intimidation. Gender intimidation “occurs when members of one sex are treated in ways that make them feel humiliated, unsafe, inferior”. If you have never been catcalled I can reassure you that you are not missing out on anything fun. You do in fact feel inferior, like you did something wrong, or you end up feeling embarrassed for having the body parts and shape you acquired once puberty began and ended its course.

I can recall my sister and I being catcalled at the age of 15 while walking to cheer practice in Soffee shorts and a t-shirt in the middle of summer. Bless my sister for being outspoken and yelling an obscenity in their direction and giving them the finger. I can remember gasping, trying to pull her arm down, and asking what she was doing. She turned to me and said sternly, “They don’t have any right to be doing that to us! We’re teenagers and they’re grown men.” I don’t say this often but she was right, and from that moment on my mentality changed. I am no longer a teenager but being older still does not give men the right to peg me as a sex object. I will gladly raise my middle in the air to let them know how I feel about their words. The downside to a woman or girl for fighting back is that she can get hurt. There have been numerous cases where women have rejected being catcalled, or men’s advances, and paid the price for it. The “lucky” women were only beaten severely while the unlucky women ended up dead for standing up for themselves.

Unfortunately there is a problem with catcallers. The problem is that they do not get it. They do not understand that they are causing young girls and women to feel bad about their bodies. They do not understand that they are causing immense uncomfortability, making young girls and women to fear their surroundings. I wonder if these gross men have wives, sisters, daughters, nieces, or female cousins. Sometimes I wish that a female family member they are close with gets catcalled one day and shares with him, how complete strangers were able to make her feel inferior. I have this wish just so they can hear that what they have done is a problem, not an amusing game. However, at the same time I want to take back my wish because no one deserves to be put down by words.

Some people have been fighting back. The website ihollaback.org is a movement fighting against street harassment and allows anyone to share their experiences and offer support. Though this a step in the right direction, until the day that a majority of people view catcalling as a serious problem, I will continue to salute vulgar men with my middle fingers.