Ladies, picture this - or simply think back to last Tuesday: You're walking down the street, minding your own business, and - sure enough - the catcalls start rolling in. Not difficult at all to imagine, right?
God forbid a construction site is in your path. (So cliché, but so true!) The moment we spot men in hard hats and orange vests, that feeling of dread takes over and we immediately want to run. Except don't. As we all know, nothing gets you more unwanted whistles and vulgar comments quite like bouncy lady parts.
Sometimes, it doesn't take much to make guys feel like they can verbally harass you. You can leave the house looking like s**t (no makeup, baggy clothes) and STILL get hollered at. Seriously. What the heck?
One woman, Shoshana B. Roberts, volunteered to expose what us girls go through in anti-harassment organization Hollaback!'s PSA that shows the New York-based actress walking around Manhattan for 10 hours as creative director Rob Bliss walks ahead of her with a GoPro camera attached to his back.
Shoshana experienced a whopping 108 instances of guys trying to get at her, NOT including the countless, non-verbal advances, such as winks and whistles. All of this, and the girl was just wearing a plain black crewneck T-shirt and a pair of black jeans. Had she expressed herself through her style and worn an outfit with a little bit more personality, who knows how many more it would have been.
One guy even walks right next to her for five minutes straight after he tries to get her attention. Scary!
It's important to note that Shoshana did not say a single word the entire time. That's another thing. If we respond to the catcalls, we risk leading them on and prolonging the harassment. But if we don't, it's likely they think we're a b**ch or stuck up. Either way, it's totally awkward, uncomfortable and unfair.
We hope the video will make men realize how unsafe and distressed catcalling actually makes us feel, and approach women in social settings, where we at least intend to meet and get to know new people.
Unfortunately, some guys may never understand. After releasing the video, Hollaback! tweeted that Shoshana is getting rape threats in the comments section of their YouTube channel. So sad.
Have you had any catcalling horror stories? What do your male friends have to say about the video?