No more are the days of "innocent" catcalling from passerbys. This day and age, men -- and even women on occasions -- take catcalling a little too far. Not that catcalling has ever been flattering. It's a vulgar way to tell someone that you think they are attractive or that you're interested in them. Ten times out of ten it is not going to help you "get the girl." Even screaming something as simple as "Hey baby, how you doing?" is very unnecessary.
Very recently a friend of mine experienced one of these scary incidents with two boys, probably in their early 20's, when she was at Walmart of all places. She went to pick up a few things and as she was leaving these two boys started yelling at her, or "catcalling" her. It started out with just "Hey baby, you're hot" and "Do you go to SFA?" and out of fear she answered, "No" and that she goes to a nearby high school. Which should have clued the boys off that not only is she obviously not interested, but she is also too young for them and they should give up. I want to point out that this girl is 16 and she looks 16.
It quickly escalated to the boys telling her what they would do to her and one of them grabbing her arm; she quickly ran to her car and locked the doors and turned up the music really loud so she didn't have to hear them yelling at her. At this point the two boys are standing on either side of her car, and she looked over to see another boy in a truck parked next to her, and instead of helping, he just stood by and watched. As she was telling me the story she said, "I'm hoping he would have jumped out if it got bad," but what's considered "bad"? A boy physically grabbing a young girl's arm is not bad enough? You just have to think what would have happened if she hadn't gotten to her car quick enough.
Another lady was around when this girl was telling us what happened, and she had a story of her own. She was also at Walmart walking down an isle when two boys were walking down the isle and they also started yelling at her, "You are really good looking for an older lady" (that's in nice terms). Then one preceded to drop down to his knee and propose to her. I was baffled when I heard this; what on Earth were these boys thinking? This is neither funny nor charming. She said, "No thanks" and walked away as they were all laughing behind her. This woman is 65 years old; while she is beautiful, there was no reason for these boys to be doing what they did. She said that she continued shopping but that she was very nervous they were going to follow her. As she was checking out she saw the boys walking out of Walmart with no bags in hand, which means they were there to cause trouble.
Studies show that women may have their first experiences with cat-callers when they are as young as 11 years old. You just have to wonder if these men have daughters, or sisters. If they wouldn't want someone talking to their mother's that way, then they absolutely don't need to be saying it to other women. In no way do you want to answer to these men's remarks but you almost are scared not to. What if they get mad that you aren't answering them, then they grab you to get your attention or they attack you out of frustration. Do we really want the next generation growing up to think catcalling is okay? It's a scary thing that needs to be stopped.
