About a year and a half ago, I bumped into an article on Thought Catalog called "What If I Actually WANT To Be Cat Called?", and a lot was going through my head when I read through the article. I wanted to say something along the lines of "how could a girl think this!?", but I couldn't. I didn't have the heart to think about that, mainly because I don't have the heart to put the author (or any other woman) down for this. There are two massive reasons why I (as a feminist woman) would never put down a girl that actually wants to be catcalled.
Feminism is about building women up, not putting them down.
There were some parts of the article that were pretty cynical and I would have most definitely would have reworded those parts if I was the author, but the last part of the article made me think the most: "What if that is something I wanted? Why can't I be free to want what I want?" To be completely honest, that particular part is right. Why can't any woman be free to want what they want? There are many women who would not want this, and it is completely okay too.
There have been parts of the article saying "why can't you just be grateful for what you have?", which is super cynical and defeats the purpose of the last sentence, which is why I would have personally reworded it. Excluding that part of the article, my point about it still stands. Supporting and building up women includes building up women who are still trying to love themselves. These women are still trying to love themselves, but don't necessarily yet, so putting them down would not help them love themselves or build up their confidence.
For quite a while, I was one of those women.
It may be kind of surprising to those who know me personally, but when I was younger, I was one of those women who wanted to be catcalled. I did not grow up with weight issues, nor did I necessarily have an "ugly" face growing up, but I would still often be ignored and would not get any male attention because I was considered to be "weird" in school. This would hinder my self-esteem and for the longest time, I thought I was not worth anyone's time or any male attention.
Building confidence and learning to love me was a process, and many women are still in that process right now, so putting them down would be hypocritical of me to do. I knew what it was like to be in that position and to be in those women's shoes, so I would think to myself, "how would I feel if someone put me down for something like this?" I was always one to build other women up and help them build confidence so they can love themselves, so I know that putting them down will make things worse.
