There is an old idiom that goes “everything is about sex except sex. That’s about power.”
Catcalling is about expressing power over someone else body and life. It’s a veiled threat, coached in sexual terms. No one doing it actually expects to have sex afterwards. Its about saying “i can force sex on you. I can take control of you. Your life belongs to me.”
A lot of the men engaging in it above are doing it because of peer pressure, normalized misogyny and the “thrill” of getting an acknowledgement of that power by scaring women. I dont think most of them want to attack women outright to begin with, but it normalizes mixing sex with violence and dehumanizing woman.
Catcalling ≠ Complimenting
Catcalling is about letting the other know, that you want to fuck or harass them.
Complimenting is about verbalising beauty without any other expectations towards the other person.
There is an old idiom that goes “everything is about sex except sex. That’s about power.”
Catcalling is about expressing power over someone else body and life. It’s a veiled threat, coached in sexual terms. No one doing it actually expects to have sex afterwards. Its about saying “i can force sex on you. I can take control of you. Your life belongs to me.”
A lot of the men engaging in it above are doing it because of peer pressure, normalized misogyny and the “thrill” of getting an acknowledgement of that power by scaring women. I dont think most of them want to attack women outright to begin with, but it normalizes mixing sex with violence and dehumanizing woman.