For those not familiar with the term, to catcall is to whistle, shout or make a comment of a sexual nature to a person passing by. In general, the term is used when the person being harassed is a woman, but men can also be subject to such harassment.
Back in 2014, a video documenting a woman’s 10 hours of being catcalled as she walked New York City, garnered considerable attention. In between 2014 and today there was the #MeToo movement and some pushback against the patriarchy. With the triumph of Trump, the patriarchy of idiots pushed back hard, and I almost expect a presidential medal of misogyny to be awarded at some point. But there is the question of why some men catcall.
Some men seem to think they have a right to catcall. As one man put it back in 2014, “if you have a beautiful body, why can’t I say something?” This view has two parts. The first (“you have a beautiful body”) seems to suggest that the woman is responsible for the response because of her beautiful body. It is reasonable to accept that beauty, be it in a person or painting, can evoke a response from a viewer. The problem is that a catcall is not a proper response to beauty and certainly not a proper response to a person. Also, while a woman’s appearance might cause a reaction, the verbal response chosen by the man (or boy) is his responsibility.
The second part (“why can’t I say something?”) suggests a presumptive right to catcall. This seems to assume the burden of proving that men should not catcall rests on women and it should be assumed that a man has such a right. While the moral right to free speech does entail than men have a right to express their views, there is also the matter of whether it is right to engage in such catcalling. I would argue that it does not on the grounds that the harm done to women by catcalling outweighs the harm that would be done to men if they did not catcall. While I am wary of laws that infringe on free expression, men should not (in the moral sense) behave this way.
This question also shows a sense of entitlement—that the man seeing the woman as beautiful entitles him to harass her. This seems similar to believing that seeing someone as unattractive warrants saying derogatory things about them. Again, while people do have freedom of expression, there are things that are unethical to express.
Some men also claim that the way a woman dresses warrants their behavior. As one young man said back in 2014, “If a girl comes out in tight leggings, and you can see something back there… I’m saying something.” This is just an expression of the horrible view that a woman invites or deserves the actions of men by her choice of clothing. This is best known as a “defense” for rape—the idea that the woman was “asking for it” because she was dressed in provocative clothing. However, a woman’s mode of dress does not justify her being catcalled or attacked. After all, if a man was wearing an expensive Rolex watch and was robbed, it would not be said that he was provocative or was “asking for it” by displaying such an expensive timepiece. Or if a corporation has beautiful databases of information, few would argue that it was asking to be hacked. Naturally, it might be a bad idea to dress a certain way or wear an expensive watch when going certain places, but this does not justify catcalling or robbery.
There has been some speculation that catcalling, like everything else, is the result of natural selection. One might say that if the theory of evolution is correct and human behavior is determined (rather than free), then this could be be true. This is because all human behavior would be the result of such selection and determining factors. In this case, one cannot really say that the behavior would be wrong, at least if something being immoral requires that the person engaging in the behavior could do otherwise. If a person cannot do otherwise, placing blame or praise on the person would be pointless—like praising or blaming water for boiling at a certain temperature and pressure. Looking at it another way, it might be useful to consider the alleged evolutionary forces that might lead to the behavior.
One possible “just so” story is that males would call out to passing females as a form of mating display (like how birds display for each other). Some of the females would respond positively and thus the catcalling genes would be passed on to future generations of men who would in turn catcall women to attract a mate.
One reason to accept this view is that some forms of what could be seen as catcalling do seem to work. Having been on college campuses for decades, I have seen a vast amount of catcalling in various forms. Some women respond by ignoring it, some respond with hostility, and some respond positively. While the positive response rate seems low, it is a low effort “fishing trip” and hence the cost to the male is rather small. Like fishing, a person might cast hundreds of times to catch a single fish.
One reason to reject this view is that many of the guys who use it will obviously never get a positive response. However, they might think they will—they are casting away like mad, not realizing it will never work. After all, they might have seen it work for other guys and think they have a chance.
Moving away from evolution, one stock explanation for catcalling is that men do it as an expression of power over women. A man might be an unfit, ugly, overweight, graceless, unemployed slob but he can make a fit, beautiful, intelligent and successful woman feel afraid and awful by screeching at her about her body. Of course, catcalling is not limited to such men, though the power motive would still seem to hold. This is morally reprehensible because of the harm it does to women. Even if the woman is not afraid of the man, having to hear such things is unpleasant. While I am a man, I do understand what it is like to have stupid and hateful remarks yelled at me. When I was young and running was not as accepted as it is now, it was rare for me to go for a run without someone saying something stupid or hateful to me. Or throwing things. Being a reasonably large male, I did not feel afraid (most of those yelling did so from the safety of passing automobiles). However, such remarks did bother me—much in the way that being bitten by mosquitoes bothers me. The harassment made running less pleasant. As such, I have sympathy for women who are catcalled, especially since the harassment would be far worse for them since they need to worry that the catcaller might attack them.
In my youth, I was even “catcalled” by women—but I am sure it was not the same sort of experience that women face when catcalled by men. After all, the women who have catcalled me are probably just kidding (perhaps even being ironic) and, even if they are not, they almost certainly harbored no hostile intentions and presented no real threat. As an example, when a young woman yelled “nice ass” from her SUV as I ran through the FSU campus was a weird sort of compliment rather than a threat. Though it was still weird. In contrast, when men engage in such behavior it seems overtly predatory and threatening. So, we men should refrain from catcalling women. I have mixed feeling about women praising my butt while I run, but honesty compels me to admit that part of my aging brain (and butt) would welcome it. Which is probably wrong.
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