While on my way to work in the middle of the day in any area of my city, I get catcalled by a variety of men on the street. If I walk home from work at dusk, the comments only intensify. Old men, young men. Creepy men, adolescent boys. Whoever. They might say something fairly “benign,” such as, “You have very beautiful eyes” or they might say something very frightening, such as (approximately), “I want to bang you, b*tch.” Or just make some utterly degrading animal sound, laughing and giving their buddies a round of high-fives. Or, worst of all, pull over (nice car, beat up car—any class of men has its bottom-feeders), making such sounds from their car, then driving away, laughing maniacally.
I do not appreciate these comments AT ALL. If you think I have beautiful eyes, then appreciate them from afar instead of whispering a comment in my ear while I’m walking past you. I don’t care what your ‘complimentary’ intentions are. I’m trying to get to my job or to walk home or to run some errands, or maybe I’m just enjoying the day. There’s nothing that will wipe the smile off of my face faster than these comments. My policy is to ignore any comments, although somehow I can’t help looking painfully shocked by a remark/drive-by yell. Additionally, sometimes these comments rattle me and I can’t do my job as well as I’d like. From an anonymous poster on the blog.
Stop Street Harassment (2009)
Abstract
The current research suggests that perceptions of stranger harassment experiences (i.e., experiencing unwanted sexual attention in public) are altered by the context of the situation. Study one investigated which elements of the situation (context) might be most influential in increasing fear and enjoyment of the catcalling experience. Attractiveness and age of the perpetrator, time of day, and whether the victim was alone or with friends were some of the categories that were selected as influencing both fear and enjoyment. Study two used a perspective taking methodology to ask women to predict a target character’s emotions, fears, and behaviors in harassment situations that varied by context. Results mirror the sexual harassment literature and suggest that harassment by younger and attractive men is viewed as less harassing. Exploratory analyses were also conducted with women’s personal experiences with stranger harassment as well as gender differences in perceptions. Context plays a vital role in interpretation of stranger harassment.
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Notes
It is important to note that most of the sexual harassment research focuses on the perception of harassment from the standpoint of an outside observer. The perceptions of outside observers of harassment have important legal ramifications for sexual harassers. It is the human resources department at a company or even a jury in a legal case that determine whether harassment has occurred and how it should be handled. While the victim needs to identify it as harassment to herself in order to file a complaint, it is the outside observer who has the power of instituting penalties for harassing behavior. Therefore, the sexual harassment literature focuses on understanding how observers interpret situations of sexual harassment. In the current investigation of context effects and stranger harassment, it is the victim’s perception that is sought through a perspective taking study because legal consequences are not typically a result of stranger harassment.
This presentation format has been shown by Granello and Weaton (2004) to be successful in attaining high completion rates. It is likely that more participants were retained in the current study by the use of a meter or gauge letting the participants know how many questions remained.
Due to an error in the survey administration, the severity/threat question did not appear for all participants. A total of 232 participants responded to the severity question. Importantly, no participants in trial 7 (Angie walking with two girlfriends) received the severity question.
The fear of harassment questions were not assessed for all male participants and thus removed from the analyses.
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Fairchild, K. Context Effects on Women’s Perceptions of Stranger Harassment. Sexuality & Culture 14, 191–216 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-010-9070-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-010-9070-1