Dear Catcallers,
I know some of you out there think you’re actually giving us a complement when you shout at us, “Nice ass! Looking good!” when we walk down a street, or when we’re out on run, so I’ll try to be nice to you because you honestly don’t know you’re doing anything wrong. But the fact of the matter is that you are doing something wrong. You aren’t being as nice as you hoped. You’re boiling anyone that you are catcalling down to their looks. You are actually objectifying us, and it’s kind of creepy even if the things you say are nice because I don’t know you, and you don’t know me.
Most of the time I don’t even see your face, and we’ll never have another interaction, yet you still feel the need to point out hot I am for some supposed self-satisfaction from being “nice.” You don’t consider how your “compliments” actually make me feel. I don’t particularly like feeling like a piece of meat that people stare at because I have a nice body, but that’s how catcalling makes me feel. I’m not out on a run to please you. I am out on a run to please myself and do some self-reflection. So when you honk or shout, I start to feel like I should cover myself up or hide because I don’t want to be noticed while I’m running beyond you noticing me trying to cross the street you’re driving on. You never asked me if it’s OK to vocalize the fact that you do notice me, and that’s where the problem is: you don’t know that I actually don’t want your compliment. It makes me feel disrespected when you force them on me. But I presume you don’t realize this, so, I’ll ask you nicely to please stop.
But please, also, don’t assume that I am the only one who hates this; I’m not. Don’t respond with the fact that maybe some people do like being catcalled because not everyone does and as you shout out your car window you don’t know which type of person you are yelling at – someone that feels disrespected or someone who likes it (my bet is on you yelling at someone who hates it like me).
Now onto a certain sub-sect of catcallers.
To all the malicious souls out there that think it’s funny to call us horrible slurs just because you can, to those who hateful call out slurs and flip us off, and to those who know people don't like being catcalled but do it anyways, I have a question for you, "What makes you think you have the right to treat people like that? Seriously, do you ever consider the effect you have on that poor person you happen to be insulting, even if you are joking?"
Because it’s not funny, not even remotely, it is downright dehumanizing. And the big kicker is, that the person you’re yelling at has done absolutely nothing to you. So often, they have done nothing but mind their own business. If you hate it when a woman runs without a shirt, then I can ensure you they didn’t do it to insult you. They took off their shirt because it’s hot outside and they need to cool down. They never even processed you into their decision-making process, but you should’ve factored them in when you flipped them off or yelled slurs at them for your own amusement. That women is a person with just as much thoughts and feelings as you, and I’d bet that you would hate to be treated in this manner, so why do you do it to her? Please consider that she is just as human as you the next time you feeling like insulting some stranger that’s minding their own business.
