If you were on the internet at all
last week, then you almost certainly saw or read about the viral “catcalling
video” that amassed an astounding 32 million views online and sparked a
firestorm of discussion. But while it definitely raised awareness about the
unwanted attention women endure when on the street, it sparked little sympathy,
much less outrage.
The video was a hidden-camera
recording of an attractive young woman walking the streets of New York for ten
hours to document what the video’s sponsors described as “sustained catcalls
and harassment” from men she passed. The video, edited down to a couple of
minutes of highlights, claimed that the woman was on the receiving end of 100
instances of verbal harassment in those ten hours.
It was sponsored by Hollaback, “a
movement to end street harassment powered by a network of local activists
around the world.” Hollaback is vague about how exactly it will achieve the
eradication of catcalling, apart from encouraging women to document their
stories online, which might embarrass some guys. But the organization also
hints at a more controversial solution when it describes street harassment as “one
of the most pervasive forms of gender-based violence and one of the least legislated against.” [emphasis added]
This suggests that they expect to
curb the misbehavior by criminalizing it, which would be not only an
infringement on free speech but also absurdly impractical. How would such
legislation be enforced? Are cops going to write up or arrest losers merely for
being desperate for female attention? And where is the line of verbal
harassment drawn? Some of the men in the video simply wished her a nice day. Should
that be a criminal offense?
For that reason and others, the
video drew swift criticism from everyone from National Review to Slate.
It was accused of
racism for not featuring enough white men. It was accused of classism for
not featuring enough affluent men. It was accused of ignoring the fact that
such behavior is comparatively rare outside of bad neighborhoods in major urban
areas. Perhaps most damning, it was accused of making a mountain out of a
molehill.
It quickly spawned parodies. In one,
a white
man walks the streets of New York a
là the original and is “accosted” by comments like “Hey, wanna network with
me?” and “Want a Starbucks gift card? Yeah, you like that.” In another, a
New York Jets fan walks the streets of Manhattan and gets berated for his
Jets gear: “You should be ashamed.” Similar takeoffs feature, among others, a female character in the Skyrim video game, a drag queen in Los Angeles,
a
guy wearing a horse head mask, and my personal favorite, a hipster
in Austin.
The fact that the original video
has proven so ripe for ridicule and criticism says two important things: one,
that America hasn’t entirely lost its sense of humor; and two, that the
original video failed to prove its point. One hundred instances of verbal abuse
and the worst they could present was guys mostly wishing the woman a nice day
and calling her beautiful?
This is not to say that the video
reveals no legitimate harassment. At one point for example, a man kept pace
alongside the young woman for a full five minutes, which was at best creepy and
at worst potentially threatening. And though some critics argued that most of
the men in the video were simply being friendly, this is disingenuous; there’s
no doubt that those men were hoping to strike up a conversation with a pretty
girl who wouldn’t ordinarily give them the time of day. Had she given any of
them an inch, they would have taken a mile.
No matter how legitimate a problem
such harassment may be, though, it pales into insignificance in a world in
which women get the worst of real horrors such as domestic violence, sexual
assault, honor killings, sex trafficking and slavery, and forced abortions (in
China and India). The video unfortunately made complaints about street
harassment seem petty and insignificant by comparison.
Well-meaning though it might be, Hollaback’s
vision of a world without street harassment is a utopian fantasy. This isn’t
the same as ridding the workplace of sexual harassment; the streets cannot be
policed in the same way. No amount of social condemnation or legislation will
end all men acting unchivalrously. The rude, like the poor, will always be with
us.
The best way to curb street
harassment is by reviving the moribund ideal of chivalry and raising young men
to treat women more honorably and courteously. Sadly, the feminists who now
claim that men aren’t chivalrous enough on the streets are responsible for
demonizing chivalry so thoroughly among both women and men that it’s comatose. They have very nearly snuffed out the one
masculine ideal that is necessary to make the world a safer and more respectful
place for women.
(This article originally appeared here on Acculturated, 11/11/14)
