It's happened on the worst of days and it's happened on the best of days. I'm walking down the street and I hear from behind me, "Aye, Lil Momma, you look like you've got money." *Cue the anger dripping through my body*
What? Excuse me? Did you HONESTLY think that line would evoke a response from me? Sorry hun, you are SADLY mistaken.
Nothing about the sentence you just said to me is attractive. Nothing about the sentence you just said to me is a compliment. I honestly do not even know why you would say that to another human being. But hey, you just go right on ahead and keep striking out. Your disrespectfulness will no longer affect my life once I put enough distance between us.
I think what is most frustrating about cat calling is that you can never get away from it. As long as you are in public, a creeper can poke out at any time and basically ruin your day. Just last night, as my best friends and I walked out of a gas station, a random dude yelled out of his truck to my friend, "hey girl, I like those freckles." While it does not seem like a demeaning line, it was an uninvited comment from a stranger who had no intention of having an actual conversation with my friend.
What I want boys to realize is girls do not enjoy aggressive attention. What you think is coming off as a compliment is really just making someone really uncomfortable. I seriously wonder if the boys (because you are not a man if you degrade women) think they are being beneficial or if they just say these things for their own enjoyment.
An article by The Daily Dot discusses that men aren't even catcalling with the intention of getting to know a woman, but just to show that they are dominant and they can do whatever they want. Excuse me, but I can think of better things to do with your time than to assert your dominance over women by RUINING their days. Because understand boys, that is EXACTLY what you are doing.
A whistle from across the street or a "hey beautiful" from a passing car is not a compliment and it DOES NOT make a female feel good about herself. In my personal experience, any day I get catcalled it just sits in the back of my mind and just puts a little gloom over what I'm doing.
Next time you want to get a girls attention, approach her. Give her a genuine compliment. It will get you much further than any catcalling ever will.
