I was walking behind a woman for five minutes and she got catcalled three times.
I usually walk everywhere with my headphones on, but I had them in my bag and I was reading a book on my phone instead (I do that when the foot traffic is light). Ā A young Latina was coming down the street as I was coming up the avenue, and when she got to the corner a few paces ahead of me, she turned to walk in the direction I was going. Ā We were traveling at the same speed, but since she was like ten paces ahead and itās bright outside in the middle of the day, I didnāt feel the need to fall back or slow down to give her more space. At night, I try not to walk too close behind women just so they donāt feel like Iām any sort of threat.
We got to a corner and this dude standing outside of the bodega was like, āSlow down mama where you goin? You donāt have to work today, you can stop and speak.ā
She didnāt break her stride. āIām going to the gym.ā Ā The Walk sign was on, so I didnāt break mine either. Ā
A block later, a young guy was coming toward us on the sidewalk riding his bike.
āWhatās good shorty?ā
āWell you was lookin, you can say something, stuck up bitch.ā
In the middle of the next block, an older man was walking toward us and he put on a friendly smile and said, āSmile young lady, itās a beautiful day.ā
I donāt know if she smiled, but we kept walking. She went into the gym and I kept on toward where I was going thinking about how that was just five minutes of her day. Ā How many other blocks of five minutes are just like that? Ā
Only one of them was truly aggressive. The other two guys seemed nice enough and it felt more like a pleasant compliment. It felt like the kind of thing a guy says who argues with women online about catcalling. āWeāre not all bad guys. We canāt even compliment women? We canāt even say something nice?ā
No. Ā You really canāt. Ā I was annoyed in that five minutes and I just happened to be walking behind her with no headphones on. Ā Can you imagine those five minutes over and over every day of your life? Ā Nobody wants to be spoken to by strangers day in and day out forever regardless of what theyāre saying. Ā
So no. Ā You canāt say anything. The quality of your life has not decreased because you arenāt allowed to say nice things to strange women on the sidewalk, but your silence greatly increases the quality of hers. Ā So just be quiet, and let her go where sheās going.
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