Well, turns out I was wrong.
Sexual harassment is not just a problem for Ines Sainz | Holly Kearl | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk
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Last weekend, when Mexican television reporter Ines Sainz and her male colleagues entered the New York Jets football players' locker room to conduct interviews, several players whistled and catcalled at her. After the incident became public, the Jets owner appropriately apologised, but a number of commentators, bloggers and individuals discussing it on and offline are defending the Jets players' behaviour.
Like most people in our society, they still think it is fine and socially acceptable for men to whistle at female strangers, especially if they are conventionally attractive and especially if their male friends are watching, condoning it. As someone who has been the target of scores of whistles from male strangers, and as a researcher of whistles and catcalls, I argue that it isn't fine, it shouldn't be social acceptable, and that it must end.
Why? Because most women, like Sainz, who said it made her feel "very uncomfortable", do not like it.
In a 2008 informal international survey I conducted for my book, most of the women were very clear on this. Only 8% of the 811 participants felt flattered, while 25% felt insulted, 40% felt angry, and 62% felt annoyed.
Context, of course, contributes to the variation in how women feel, as do several other factors. According to my study, some of these factors included the number of times men had whistled at women (the more it happened, the angrier women were), the level of risk harassers posed (women were more likely to be flattered if they felt safe), and whether the woman was a survivor of assault or a bad harassment experience (survivors did not like it). Additionally, women who support conforming to traditional gender roles are more likely to feel flattered by whistling, while women who support women's rights usually feel it is demeaning, according to sociologist Carol Brooks Gardner's research.
Regardless of these differences, whistling not only needlessly breaks all women's train of thought and can make them pause to evaluate their safety; it could contribute to long-term body image and mental health issues. A 2008 study conducted by psychologists at Rutgers University in New Jersey found that young women who experienced high volumes of whistling and catcalls engaged in self-objectification and were consequently susceptible to eating disorders, low self-esteem and depression. Clearly, these are undesirable outcomes.
And while movies, music videos and even stock photos would lead you to believe that whistling and catcalls are something that only happens to "hot" women like Sainz, it's a near-universal experience for women. One hundred percent of women surveyed in studies conducted in Indianapolis and the California Bay Area reported experiencing public harassment by men, with whistling being a common form. In my 2008 survey, 94% of the 811 women had experienced whistling and over one third said they experience it monthly. Its commonality is invisible in part because most women don't talk about it.
One reason women don't talk about it is because so many people blame the incidence on a specific style of dress. A woman might chastise herself, as certain commentators have criticised Sainz, for being guilty of wearing tight-fitting, provocative clothing. But harassers are men who whistle at women no matter how they dress. Studies conducted in Yemen and Egypt showed that, regardless of dressing modestly or wearing a veil, a majority of women had experienced whistles, catcalls and worse from men in public spaces. As women around the world know, even school uniforms, work clothes and winter coats do not stop all whistles and catcalls.
But wait, you may be saying, whistling and catcalls are just compliments. Really?
In the documentary War Zone, when men who whistled or catcalled women were asked how they would feel if male strangers did that to their sisters, daughters, mothers, girlfriends and wives, nearly all were upset by the idea. They did not want women they respected treated that way.
Masculinity scholars, including Michael Kimmel, Jackson Katz and Hugo Schwyzer, have found that many men who whistle at women do it to impress their male friends and to prove their masculinity, not to pay a compliment to the woman. The woman is simply an interchangeable pawn; it's not about her.
I wonder, had Sainz entered a locker room where only one man was present, would he have whistled at her?
Additionally, Martha Langelan, Cheryl Benard and Edith Schlaffer, researchers of sexual harassment, found that some men whistle or catcall women as a form of intimidation to remind women they are on men's turf – whether that is the street or the locker room – and men can treat women however they want.
What's a guy supposed to do to grab a woman's attention? Almost every female in my survey said interactions like a hello, smile or small talk about non-sexual topics made them feel happy, flattered or neutral. You'll find it's surprisingly easy to make that first step toward making the world a more respectful place.
If you're like me and want the next generation of girls to grow up in a society where they are valued and respected, routine blatant objectification of women from male strangers – including whistling – must end.
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Well, this is where I abandon feminism.
If you take the idea of someone making noises at you that seriously then I don't think you're ready for equality. My advice would be to return to the kitchen, where you'll never again hear anything that might bother your delicate sensibilities.
Fuck yall and goodnight.
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