Catcalling: The worst part of being a woman

"Miss! Miss! Good morning, ganda! Cute!..." The worst part of being a woman is to feel anxious of being outside and walk the streets knowing that they would get catcalled.

For every Eve, walking the streets is a stressful and dangerous travail for her health. Not only does our streets witness robbery, violence and other related crimes, but what also makes it unsafe nowadays for every eve is sexual harassment - this is alarming.

Imagine and place yourself in this scenario: you are currently walking down a street, wearing clothes you are comfortable in. When a strange mocking whistle is heard from the background, as you try to look where this came from you suddenly felt anxious, threatened and would rather be at home after seeing men staring and smiling maliciously at you, calling you names or giving unwanted comments. Sadly, this scenario could not only be built around our imaginations, but we could actually experience and witness it happening in the streets, as it is an everyday reality for women all over the world

The regular experience of a BA Communication Research student and victim of catcalling, Jaslyn Samantha Nicolas, is what pushed her to be an advocate of catcalling. "I get catcalled a lot. Not a day passes by that I don’t get catcalled. Sometimes it would happen up to 10 times a day, excluding lewd stares. It’s one of the things that really pushed me to advocate against street harassment."

Catcalling is in no way a compliment, not with the way most women receive it. It makes a victim feel myriad of emotions. For Maxine Liwanag, a victim of catcalling who had a viral post in Facebook of her experience, “Anger towards the harasser, shame that you got harassed, confusion on why it was you in particular who got harassed, and fear when put in a situation.”

In my experience I have always had second thoughts on whether to be outside because of my invariable preparedness of getting catcalled. I even learned to look tough, mad, and ugly whenever I am alone in the streets hoping not to see men giving me lewd stares or shouting "Hi baby girl" or "Hi ganda" or "Sexy" at me. What is worst aside from them not shouting or whispering it to my ears as they pass by is my heightened fear of rape.

Humankind has not always looked at male bodies equally to that of the female, perhaps the presence of sexism could be a reason for empowerment and inequality. Nicolas believes satisfaction is one of the reason why it occurs "Catcalling happens because the harassers take pleasure in witnessing the discomfort of the harassed,”.

A woman alone is not a woman looking for a man’s attention, Nicolas on her observation “I never get catcalled when I am with a male friend or my boyfriend. They respect that I’m “another man’s property”, but on my own, they do not respect me. One of the reasons catcalling happens is because we fail to realize that women can be their own person.

However, the admin of the popular Facebook page Catcalled in the Philippines and ally to the Stop Street Harassment movement, Kenneth Yu, states that catcalling occurs because men wants to boast their manhood in order to demand a woman's attention. "Theories differ. I've heard people say that it's about macho posturing - A man catcalling a woman is simply expressing his fellow men that "Hey, I'm a MAN, and I have a LIBIDO. Watch this."

Yu shared his significant findings as an admin of their Facebook page who receives a lot of private messages and feedbacks from victims and advocates. "Many women report constant catcalling, a significant number of victims "freeze up" in shock during harassment situations. Which is a common and understandable response. And reports where bystanders intervened to prevent harassment by talking to the woman being harassed, checking if she was okay, or sitting between her and the harasser."

As a victim of catcalling, there are several questions that passes through my mind such as when would I be able to walk the streets without fear? What are the authorities doing to make it a much safer place to walk? or a much better question, are some of the authorities aware that the law is involved when it comes to catcalling?

One of my most disappointing experiences is getting catcalled by policemen and security guards. The fact that I have huge respect for them believing that they are in-charge for imposing sanctions against harassers may not be the case all the time. Seems like they tend to be the one leading such disgusting action.

A best and recent example for my experience is the two Quezon City police who were charged for catcalling a woman along Katipunan Avenue, Yu shares "An investigation of the QCPD into their cops catcalled a woman on November 2, 2017, have been identified and sanctioned. I'm bothered that policemen did it in the first place, considering Quezon City actually has laws against catcalling, but the disciplinary action is appreciated,"

Earlier this year Sen. Risa Hontiveros filed a bill seeking to protect women and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community from harassment in public places. Under Senate Bill No. 1326 or the "Safe Streets and Public Spaces Act of 2017," includes catcalling in public spaces will be penalized. The bill complements the Anti-Sexual Harassment Law of 1995 which is only limited to the workplace and to superior-subordinate relationships.

As with most complex problems this has to be viewed in different perspectives to successfully resolve Yu says "Legal sanctions and proper enforcement helps. Authorities must be properly trained to handle these incidents. Empower women to speak out and get the law involved. This obviously doesn't solve the root of the problem (the harasser), but helps prevent symptoms. Most important, is educating people-- men and women-- the importance of gender equality, and why our current method causes so much pain. And change society's core attitudes about how every gender relate to one another, that's the only way to really get lasting change."

Yu advises voiceless victims to do what they think is righteous. "People are going to tell you that you should have fought back. That you should have done this, or that, that you should have worn something else, that this was somehow your fault. Please-- do NOT listen to them. Freezing up in response to danger or harassment is a natural response. It's not a desirable one, but it's absolutely natural-- even trained fighters can freeze. None of this is your fault,"

A safer street for women will only be achieved when an attitudinal change in society is acquired, women should be granted equal respect to that of men, as well as dignity and fairness. Remember that we no longer live where a feudal outlook should exist and be a hindrance of equality as well as refusing women to grant an equal say in matters such as their safety, dress code and social interactions. Therefore, every woman should not be prevented from fighting back as well as deprived from being informed of their legal rights against harassment.