There is really no way for me to do justice to this Molly Powell piece in favor of catcalls at the National Review Online, at least, not in the allotted time remaining to me in the universe. The article itself goes so far as to argue that women who have Alzheimer’s disease are extremely horny and would most definitely appreciate a catcall despite being “fat and gray-haired and hav[ing] three chins and cankels.” It goes even further and details a time in Ms. Powell’s youth when a Frenchman gratified himself on a train while “while leering and grunting at” her. It asserts that attractive women who dress attractively “bear at least some of the responsibility” for being “treated like pieces of meat,” while in the very next sentence saying that “this is not to say that we deserve to be harassed if we are naturally alluring or if we wear sexy clothing.”
The thing is, the article is nothing compared to the comments.
She seems like a woman who would enjoy being appreciated by strange men on the street more often. There are, of course, degrees and styles of catcalling. Some are flattering and not at all intimidating calls for attention. A guy on the street yelling, “Hey girl, you’re beautiful,” is not very different from a man sitting next to you at a bar and offering to buy you a drink. In both cases, the man is seeking an introduction and a woman has the choice to keep on walking or turn away. Or she can call back, “You’re not bad looking yourself,” and let the guy approach or say, “Thank you, I’ll have another wine spritzer.” If she allows contact, she is not inviting rape.
However, a man yelling, “Hey sexy bitch, I wanna squeeze your tits,” and moving toward you with grabby hand gestures is NOT flattering and warrants walking away as fast as you can with an eye over your shoulder in case you need to pivot and mace him. Approaching a group of men who leer, “Hubba-hubba,” and rub their genitals is cause for running away screaming for help.
Bearing some of the responsibility for being attractive-looking is totally whack. The entire responsibility lies with the man. He is the one who decides to open his mouth in the first place. He chooses to be flattering or abusive, friendly or frightening. No women under any circumstances deserve to be “treated like pieces of meat” even topless dancers or prostitutes prowling for johns and catcalling, “Hey honey, wanna have a good time?”
I would hate for there to be laws that prevent men and women from speaking to each other without first having a formal introduction at a church social. Verbal abuse is a prelude to physical abuse because it implies a failure to recognize another person’s humanity.
We live in a sad sick world…
Don’t. A guy on the street yelling, “Hey girl, you’re beautiful,”… is still discomforting to many woman. We ladies know that men look and in the company of other men do comment, but don’t want to hear about it.
It goes even further and details a time in Ms. Powell’s youth when a Frenchman gratified himself on a train while “while leering and grunting at” her.
Wait a second. Powell approvingly notes the above captioned? She enjoyed seeing that? So gross.
No, no, she says she did find it distasteful. She just wants us to know that it didn’t traumatize her. She never thinks about it at all, except she obviously thinks about it a lot.
It’s really difficult to fathom the degree of self-hatred required to be a conservative woman or a conservative person of color.
Here’s an off-the-cuff formula for determining how much someone is willing to sell themselves for to be a messenger for an established authority.
If:
LoI x APL
______ < $X
CD
Where:
LoI = Lack of Integrity
APL = Ability to project onto Liberals
CD = Cognitive Dissonance
X = Amount payed to be an owned asset.
Plug in a value for $X and you’ll find out how cheap the person is to buy.
I was going to post that this article validates the view that conservatism is a mental illness … but yes, it is especially so for Michelle Malkin (non-white, non-male) conservatives.
Welcome to the 18th Century!
In its current form, may be 20th century and may be American. Seems to have originated in the 16th century among theater goers as a way to express disapproval of the performance. May have migrated to approving whistles for can-can dancers in the 19th century when they lifted their skirts to display their stocking clad legs.
Women out in public and not accompanied by a man and dressed in flattering and somewhat revealing clothes is barely a hundred years old. Although it’s possible that the catcalls first began to emerge when women adopted bloomers, but as bloomers were associated with feminists, whistles of that time may have been a mix of approval and disapproval.
Yes, weren’t dresses all floor length and buttoned at the neck? All that’s needed is a wimple, gloves and veils to be the equivalent of a burka.
About as comfortable as a burqa (or possibly less so), but basically the same idea except western women could add foofaraw if the budget permitted.
Wouldn’t include buttoned at the neck as an element of ugly dress for women. The Ao Dai is most beautiful.
Uncomfortable in summer without A/C most places in the USA. Of course, Florida is uncomfortable in summer with bare skin.
IMHO, catcalls cross the line. They’re boorish. And any woman that experiences them as validation that she looks good is desperately seeking male approval.
Seems like a description of most conservative grifters and shills of either sex.
Not limited to grifters. Not limited to conservatives.
So the cesspool is still a cesspool, eh?
Powell isn’t even original. Almost two weeks earlier, Lewak published her in praise of catcalls article. Powell, of course, didn’t bother to cite Lewak’s article.
Marcotte at Slate answers Lewak in To All My Catcallers: An Apology
This is all about “lookism” or something along those lines; where every female is being assessed 100% of the time as a sexual object for or by whomever. it’s part of selling whatever and undermining females 100% of the time. cure for this: something about humans, including females, being considered something more than sexual objects, and human relationships to include more than just the sexual
In the same way that I find it remarkable that the NRA and their even more radical acolytes have actually broadened gun rights in the wake of Sandy Hook, my jaw drops in astonishment that the Pick-Up Artist and other retrograde, female-hating communities have women who rush to defend PUA types. Despicable.
This goes in that fat file of evidence showing that the top priority for conservatives is to say things that piss off liberals.