By Jacqueline Sumano
It was a sunny day, I was heading home from school. Listening to music, while admiring mother nature. Looking at all the cars pass by. What a wonderful walk I thought. I soon start getting a bad vibe around me, it felt like I was being watched. A man with a bike gets close to me and tells me “you come here often?” I give him a “mad look”, he then asks me “can I take you home?”. From that second, fear came towards me.
According to a survey from www.mic.com, 2,000 people and conducted 10 focus groups, nearly two-thirds of women (65%) have experienced street harassment.
Street harassment is when unwelcome comments or contact of sexual nature is directed at a person by a stranger in a public place.
I myself have experienced street harassment or as many people know it by: “catcalling.” Heading home, constantly looking back to be sure no one is following. Having the fear that a man will come up to me or shout out something inappropriate.
As I seen, I get catcalled by hispanics that look like they could be older than 25. I walk home alone, since I come out early from school. It’s scary walking alone due to the dangerous surroundings.
One day there were these two hispanic men that were in a white truck. One of them pops out his head from the window and tells me in spanish, “que rica, te vez!”, (“you look so delicious!”).
It’s hard to see that my own race are the ones that are being disrespectful.
As I see this happening it makes me think about why men actually do this. Sometimes I feel like they didn’t have the right education
I interviewed a girl named Catalina who also has witnessed street harassment. She feels disappointed of her own race. “It makes me upset that my own race is doing this, I expect more from them”.
Catalina claims that when she gets catcalled, at first she doesn’t take it serious. “At first, I start laughing because I think it’s funny but when it’s on going, I put on my “mad face” and take it more serious”.
As I was walking through my apartments, I interviewed a teen named David. I asked him if he catcalls and if not why?. “I don’t catcall because I think that’s very disrespectful”.
I then asked him if he knew why men catcall. “Because they find the women attractive, the women that are pretty, the ones that have bigger features than other women, the ones that are younger, and maybe their preferred race”.
After interviewing Catalina and David, I decided to look for a man who catcalls or who has catcalled in the past.
Nate who has catcalled when he was younger tells us why he would do it.
“It was something I learned through maybe social media and like acceptable ways. For two, I was trying to show attention to women, letting them know that I would think they were cute”.
Nate recalls that every girl he would catcall would react differently. “Most of the time they’d ignore it, sometimes they would laugh, every girl would just have their own type of reaction”.
As I interviewed these three people’s experience, I asked Catalina how this situation impacts her. She claims that she is scared to go out on her own. She can’t trust anyone around her.
Being catcalled can make some one very uncomfortable, not being able to feel safe within their environment. This situation should be educated to young folks. The word should be out. Women should be telling guys how they really feel.
For those young women who are being treated this way, stay strong and keep your chin up. Don’t let the fear get to you. Stay safe around the streets, if anything is suspicious please contact someone for help.
For the men who do this type of thing, please understand that we don’t want to feel uncomfortable. We want to feel safe around our surroundings. Have some respect. Remember if you are catcalling a woman it’s like if you’re cat calling your own mother.
All people ever want is to get home safe. Listening to some jams and smelling the fresh scent of blooming flowers, without someone ruining their day by calling them out.
It was a sunny day, I was heading home from school. Listening to music, while admiring mother nature. Looking at all the cars pass by. What a wonderful walk I thought. I soon start getting a bad vibe around me, it felt like I was being watched. A man with a bike gets close to me and tells me “you come here often?” I give him a “mad look”, he then asks me “can I take you home?”. From that second, fear came towards me.
According to a survey from www.mic.com, 2,000 people and conducted 10 focus groups, nearly two-thirds of women (65%) have experienced street harassment.
Street harassment is when unwelcome comments or contact of sexual nature is directed at a person by a stranger in a public place.
I myself have experienced street harassment or as many people know it by: “catcalling.” Heading home, constantly looking back to be sure no one is following. Having the fear that a man will come up to me or shout out something inappropriate.
As I seen, I get catcalled by hispanics that look like they could be older than 25. I walk home alone, since I come out early from school. It’s scary walking alone due to the dangerous surroundings.
One day there were these two hispanic men that were in a white truck. One of them pops out his head from the window and tells me in spanish, “que rica, te vez!”, (“you look so delicious!”).
It’s hard to see that my own race are the ones that are being disrespectful.
As I see this happening it makes me think about why men actually do this. Sometimes I feel like they didn’t have the right education
I interviewed a girl named Catalina who also has witnessed street harassment. She feels disappointed of her own race. “It makes me upset that my own race is doing this, I expect more from them”.
Catalina claims that when she gets catcalled, at first she doesn’t take it serious. “At first, I start laughing because I think it’s funny but when it’s on going, I put on my “mad face” and take it more serious”.
As I was walking through my apartments, I interviewed a teen named David. I asked him if he catcalls and if not why?. “I don’t catcall because I think that’s very disrespectful”.
I then asked him if he knew why men catcall. “Because they find the women attractive, the women that are pretty, the ones that have bigger features than other women, the ones that are younger, and maybe their preferred race”.
After interviewing Catalina and David, I decided to look for a man who catcalls or who has catcalled in the past.
Nate who has catcalled when he was younger tells us why he would do it.
“It was something I learned through maybe social media and like acceptable ways. For two, I was trying to show attention to women, letting them know that I would think they were cute”.
Nate recalls that every girl he would catcall would react differently. “Most of the time they’d ignore it, sometimes they would laugh, every girl would just have their own type of reaction”.
As I interviewed these three people’s experience, I asked Catalina how this situation impacts her. She claims that she is scared to go out on her own. She can’t trust anyone around her.
Being catcalled can make some one very uncomfortable, not being able to feel safe within their environment. This situation should be educated to young folks. The word should be out. Women should be telling guys how they really feel.
For those young women who are being treated this way, stay strong and keep your chin up. Don’t let the fear get to you. Stay safe around the streets, if anything is suspicious please contact someone for help.
For the men who do this type of thing, please understand that we don’t want to feel uncomfortable. We want to feel safe around our surroundings. Have some respect. Remember if you are catcalling a woman it’s like if you’re cat calling your own mother.
All people ever want is to get home safe. Listening to some jams and smelling the fresh scent of blooming flowers, without someone ruining their day by calling them out.