Sidewalk Politics

Show us your tits. Whore, bitch, slut.

Now I've got your attention---with the same words shouted at my friends and I this summer.

Any woman living in Eau Claire this summer has to have noticed that over the summer the cat-calling became just absurd. I would need more hands to count the number of times I was cat- called this summer, and women I know report similar experiences.

Cat- calling has, I suppose, existed forever and happens all over the world. And, while I don't think it's all right, in most cases I ignore it. If I'm “just” whistled or honked at, I keep walking and don't give it much thought. I have better things to worry about than Male X's lack of intellect, self-control, and knowledge of civilized human behavior.

But there are times when a certain line is crossed, and you begin to wonder. Such as, when, a few weeks ago I was waiting at a crosswalk at 10:00 p.m., and the men at the red light five feet away started hollering at me.

Another night, a friend and I were cat- called twice in five minutes while walking home from a movie. The same night, while driving home my friend was addressed with the words I list above, because she ignored the men in the car next to her at a stop light.

As a woman, I can only speculate about the conscious intent of these men, but I can tell you that as these incidents repeat themselves I begin to feel like I just don't want to be there, wherever I am when it happens. When someone honks at me one day and someone whistles the next I forget about it. But when someone yells something about my breasts another day not long after, I begin to get very tired of it. I want to remove myself from the situation. If other women feel at all the same, the larger message is that women shouldn't be there. It is a rejection of a woman's presence on the most fundamental level--her presence in a public area.

Men and women alike often write off feminism because they believe it's superfluous. The battle's already been won, men and women now have equal access. Not so. All too often women can't even have a piece of sidewalk in the same way as a man.

When a woman is verbally harassed there is no right way to respond. If she ignores the behavior her antagonists are angered, and if she responds they are encouraged.

Of course, any time a woman receives any unwanted attention, we wonder if she “asked for it,” by the way she dressed or acted. As if it's okay because she was wearing a halter top. But on the occasion when my friends and I were told to “Show us your tits,” we were downtown before dark in shirts with high necklines. Unwanted attention isn't contingent on any kind of behavior. A woman need only be present to solicit it.

Some will also no doubt suggest that cat-calls are harmless, funny, even a teasing kind of compliment. Maybe there was something funny about the first one, but like all lame jokes, this one becomes worse each time it's told, and we've been hearing it since the beginning of time. By now, the vulgarity overshadows anything that used to be funny.

I should note that, according to the most recent issue of the feminist magazine Bitch, most women who are raped or violently assaulted are attacked not while walking alone at night, but in familiar surroundings by someone they know.

Still, although it's unlikely that a cat-call or lewd remark will turn into an actual physical attack, it's still enough to unsettle women on the receiving end, which is more than enough.

Of course, that's not to say there aren't any risks for women or anyone walking alone. And because of this there are no obvious solutions, as much as I'd like to tell you to walk where you want wearing what you want. But neither should you stay inside, or trivialize the implications of this behavior. If someone is verbally harassing you, he isn't just being a guy. He's refusing to acknowledge your right to the space you occupy.

And in order for a woman to make any kind of change she has to be there.