Many women have had to learn to tune out everyday harassment. It's become so routine for us women to be interrupted by some leering man as we go about our day that we don't think twice when we're greeted with some overtly sexual remark on our morning commute. And so we unconsciously alter our routes to work and the grocery store, deliberately veering away from building sites where we know workers will catcall and yelp. Or if we are forced to confront the lecherous male gaze, we avert our eyes and self-consciously adjust our clothing in the hope that they will just leave us alone, this once.
While men don't often experience this phenomenon, it does occasionally happen, and out of interest, I wanted to see how they feel about it. This is what I discovered:
1. Some men see it as a compliment
2. It's apparently a "confidence booster"
3. This guy thinks catcalling requires confidence
4. And this one just ignores it
5. This dude, on the other hand, wants to apologise to every girl who's ever been catcalled
6. This man's anxiety makes catcalling pretty unbearable for him
7. At least he acknowledges that catcalling is "creepy"
8. "It's awful"
9. Oftentimes people don't know how to respond...
10. The novelty will soon wear off, I'm sure
11. "Harassment needs to stop, from both genders"
12. It can be unnerving
13. To each their own...
14. Pretty much
While it seems that the majority of men feel flattered by being catcalled, we can only assume this is a result of it not happening to them on a near-daily basis. I'm sure the novelty would quickly wear off if they experienced it as much as women do.
