I cannot begin to tell you how very un-charmed I am at your slightly abrasive words. There I am, walking down the street, quietly trying to mind my own business - and you shout something at me from across the road. I am more shocked than anything, considering that I do not know you, and you do not know me. My first instinct is to look down at my feet and quicken my pace. No part of me wants to stay within 10, 20, even 50 feet of you. All I want to do in that moment is get to wherever I am going and forget that you even exist. My next instinct is to stop in my tracks and slap you in your face for thinking that you have any right to call out to anyone in the manner that you did. Often times that desire is followed by the burning passion to tell you off.

I want to look you in the eyes and tell you that I am, in no way, complimented by your comment. Your words have absolutely no positive effect on me and I do not, in fact, want to sleep with you any more than I would have a few moments ago. Actually, if I'm being honest, I want to sleep with you a lot less now. Not because you might be unattractive or I'm not interested (though it's definitely because I'm not interested), but because you have just managed to show me that you have zero respect for me. And there is no bigger turn off in the world than having no respect for me.

You see, I have a lot of respect for myself. I am aware that I am a wonderful human being, one who is intelligent and ambitious and hard working. A human being who is so much more than my body, and I want that to be acknowledged by anyone who might even be slightly interested in me romantically or sexually. And by you shouting out your creepy, inappropriate comments just isn't doing it for me. Any charm that you may have actually had is stomped out by your disrespect and objectification of my body. Now when I look at you, I do not feel safe or respected or in the least bit sexy or beautiful. In fact, you have done the complete opposite. I will now spend the remainder of my walk appalled, slightly embarrassed, and wondering if I'm even going to make it back to my house. I will finally get home and then vow to myself never to walk around town by myself, or at least without some sort of protection. And when I talk to my friends and family, it will be with a sense of relief that I am even there - healthy, happy, and untouched by some strange man on the street.

The worst thing about this is that it is one of the most common occurrences that happen today. Women face the possibility of being catcalled at almost any point in their day, no matter what they are doing or where they are going. And now that summer is rapidly approaching, it is becoming worse and worse. Wearing shorts and tank tops are becoming a risky venture because, god forbid, we wear something comfortable enough to save us from heat exhaustion. Walking outside in a skirt or a dress or anything form fitting is just a cry for some man to tell us how great our ass looks in those jeans or just how sexy they think those curves are.

News flash: I most definitely already know how great I look and no amount of you telling me that is going to make me want to sleep with you.

Catcallers, this message is for you: if you are going to catcall someone... don't. We do not find it charming or cute, we do not find it appealing in any way. You are disgusting and disrespectful. If you like the way that a woman looks, it might help if you try being nice to her, showing that you respect her as a person, and maybe, oh, I don't know, actually engaging in some polite conversation. Trust me, it will go over a lot better than that whistle you were planning on trying.