You want to get really angry?

[conuly]

Go read the comments to this article.

The article itself isn't that bad, about a somewhat ridiculous and tone-deaf approach to "Pardon our appearance during construction" sign. But hoo-boy, the comments! It's like everything out of a bad book on feminism in the 70s!

I've been taking the novel approach of attempting to educate people about why catcallling = bad instead of simply pointing out that there's a reason they can't get laid (because they're jackasses - and yes, if some of them could post their names and photos I'd very much appreciate it for reference purposes), not that it's likely to do any good. But still, last week I managed to explain to some internet commenter why it's inappropriate to TALK IN ALL CAPS ALL THE TIME!!!! so I'm just buoyed with my own success now. There's still a (admittedly very slim) possibility that I could convince somebody. Just one person.

(Yeah, I know, not gonna happen. Comments on articles are so useless, but they're something to do, anyway.)

Dug up this link and posted it to, in the comments, which proves the point. Some people don't want to listen, and others are trolls, and... and... okay, this is depressing. Don't click the link, it'll only upset you.

Comments

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

LOL, you were so right; I clicked the link and it only upset me. Sheesh, frickin' clueless victim-culture 'feminists'; it's chicks like that who caused so many women who don't want to be Victims to give up on feminism.

Cat-calls are not nice. Men with sense are doing their sons, brothers, nephews, grandsons and friends that cat-calling and personal remarks make them look like stupid losers who'll never get laid unless they pay for it, because obviously they know nothing about women. Men with honor are standing up for their mothers, sisters, lovers, wives, daughters, grand-daughters and friends when they treat a guy who cat-calls like he just shit his pants. Praise and kudos to every guy who's ever told some asshole to shut his fat mouth or have it shut for him - and there are more guys like that around than one might think.

However: there is a huge difference between "not nice" and "rape". Catcalls are obnoxious and irritating; they're a form of bullying, and they engender resentment, anxiety and distrust in women, which naturally gets generalized to all men. This is another reason why intelligent men ought to be coming down hard on the catcallers, who are screwing things up for everybody. Catcalls may be a 'testing behavior before physical assault, like the way a shark bumps before it bites, which is why a lady needs to keep her wits about her and not act like a fucking victim when it happens. However, most people intending crime prefer to be quiet about it.

That "half-smile withour eye contact" thing? WRONG! If one is going to look at them at all, and not, as Miss Manners advises, "learn to walk with your nose in the air without falling off the curb", it's full-on eye-contact, cold Vulcan face, that obvious little scan that says "your description is being noted". If one has to say anything at all, it's "Get away from me and leave me alone" in a loud threatening voice. I roleplayed this with my daughter a lot in her clearwater years, which is something you may wish to do with the nieces - it does take some practice, especially for the naturally soft-spoken.

Now my daughter's in Seattle, she talks on her cellphone all the time as she walks home from work, to make it clear she is already occupied and not interested in talking to any Occupados or other street persons. Of course, she's also got her higher-than-police-strength 20-foot pepper spray in her pocket, and her finger on the safety, and 911 on speed-dial, she walks fast and tall (even though she's actually rather short), she stays alert to her surroundings, and she acts oblivious to the people around her, like they weren't even there, which is correct social behavior in cities.

*shrugs* I don't. I do none of those things. I'm no longer the hot young thang, and it's gotta be embarrassing to catcall someone older than yer Mom, ewwww! and also I live in a small conservative town of affluent retirees, so there is not much catcalling going on. But decades ago I learned what my own unique masher-deterrent was, which I have used to great effect: my +3 Aspie super-power of being 'Stranger Than Snake Shoes'.

ROFL, guys always think alien babes are so smokin'' on Star Trek and whatnot, but watch 'em back right off when one starts, er, assuming one's true form. Or a facsimile of the true form of someone else who's weirder, if one's own has lost its edge from too much 'passing'. But the main thing is, don't be prey. The woman in that cartoon is a textbook illustration of body-language that says "spit on me"; she needs to swap it for some that says "make my day" or - better still - "don't even go there".

Erratum

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

"Men with sense are doing their sons, brothers, nephews, grandsons and friends that cat-calling.." was supposed to be "Men with sense are doing their sons, brothers, nephews, grandsons and friends a service by teaching them that cat-calling..."