OA

Many social interactions between male and female strangers consist of a male, or a group of males, addressing a female, or a group of females, with dehumanizing and sexual comments. . It is sometimes referred to as “catcalling,” and it is usually a casual form of male bonding that is unwelcomed from the female victim(s). I decided to commit a gender-role violating act by performing this type of action, as a female, to males. Two fellow females and I went to a mall and stood outside of a store waiting for a male to walk by. We would only address males who weren’t with females. Examples of comments we made loudly towards them were: “Damn baby, you fine,” “Take a look at that ass,” “Aww, smile baby.” We made sure to look their bodies up and down as we said these types of statements. Some men did not seem to hear us, possibly because they did not realize they were being addressed. Most of the men, however, seemed confused and surprised. I expected more men to enjoy this experience because men are stereotypically the gender that has a higher desire for sex, but surprisingly, they did not find much pleasure in being spoken to in sexual ways by women. We received some uncomfortable laughs from men, who must have thought we were joking or playing some game. Above all, the most consistent reaction was one of confusion. This reaction shows how little, if ever, this happens to men. And it is, and should be, a normal reaction to when a stranger addresses another in such a way. Most women do not blink an eye when it happens to them because it is nothing out of the ordinary.
This act is outrageous and gender role violating because it’s going against the societal norm of men being able to address strange women, but not the other way around. We felt dumb saying these types of comments to men because it was uncomfortable for us, as females, to shout things at people we do not know. It is an act that when, done by males, other people in the vicinity are oblivious to, but when done by females, have those same people turning around in shock to look at who these girls are speaking to in such a derogatory way. This act not only made the men we were speaking to uncomfortable, but made other shoppers in the mall give us strange, sometimes angry, looks. That uneasy, uncomfortable feeling we had while we were taking part in the act is how everyone should feel when they are saying similar things because people should not be allowed to address strangers in this way. I could not help feeling like I was doing something wrong, something I was not permitted to do. Somehow, men do not get this feeling because in our society they are allowed, and even, expected to behave in such a way. The instinctive rule of respect strangers have to give each other is bent for men so they can treat random women, as most females refer to it, “as animals” or as “less than human”.