Woman Uses Hidden GoPro to Illustrate Street Harassment in NYC

[Dee]

I'm sure quite a few of you have already seen this video or heard something about it. I've been reading a lot of comments surrounding what happened from all sides of the issue, and many of them are extreme, others are mild and neutral. I was curious about your guys' thoughts on the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1XGPvbWn0A​

This week, a video appeared online that shows a young woman dressed in a black t-shirt and jeans walking down the street in New York City. It was filmed over the course of 10 hours, both during the day and at night. Throughout the video, men on the street catcall and verbally harass her. At the end of the video, the text says she experienced more than 100 instances of verbal street harassment.

Source

 

[seasidemike]

a bit of a backlash happening on this from another direction now, it seems that from her 10 hr walk, with the editing of the video to the final product all comments made to her by white guys were edited out leaving it to mostly blacks and Hispanics in her final product.

 

[Dee]

I agree that we should be able to see the entire video; however, this entire world is subjective and there are going to be opinions on either ends of the spectrum and everywhere in between. I can only speak to this as a woman and myself in general, and I know that I have experienced this quite often from men of all races. It's just something that happens when you are moderately attractive if not a gorgeous bombshell. These things happens and the reactions and emotional responses will vary between women.

 

[WHO IS SERAFIN]

This is silly.First hello it is new York! Second there only seemed to be a couple of creepy guys and that aint bad for 10 hours of walking around New York. Another fail for a radical feminist out to make men look bad.

 

[Dee]

I read a comment on Reddit that says what I believe about this situation:

[–]HateSoup 211 points 1 day ago*
I think something a lot of guys have trouble with is understanding the effect of being leered at when you go out. Catching someone checking you out can be flattering in some contexts sure, but for women walking down a crowded street its not the quick look away with a coy smile they are seeing. It's more like seeing a hungry animal eyeing a fresh kill. That may seem too dramatic a metaphor, but that's how it feels.

Full disclosure, I'm a man, but that's how it has been described to me by female friends and once you start paying attention you see it everywhere. Sure maybe the majority of those cat calling and leering plan no further harm, but seeing it so often in some settings is going to have an affect on you, and you always have to be on guard that one might be actually violent or psycho.

Some times I'll be downtown with a group of friends and we all go to the gay bar so they can dance (I can't dance ). It's usually just fine and a lot of fun but there are times when there's that creepy guy who wants to talk to me long after I told him im straight and just here with friends. You get some leering too. Sure I'm not necessarily in any danger or anything, but it just makes you feel differently. You can see the gears turning in their heads and you are the object. I can't say it's pleasant. Some of these dudes are big too. Times like that I always think, if this is what women feel like all the time it really depresses me.

 

[Bluezone777]

I think the issue is how people are seeing this video. One side looks at each comment individually and therefore sees most of the comments as harmless. The other side of this sees all of the comments collectively as harassment due to the volume of the comments being made.

It's not really fair to accuse most of the men in this video as harassing her because they aren't. I think the right conclusion to make is by looking at each comment made because no one is responsible for what other people do. Why should a man who makes an innocent comment be accused of harassment because the recipient of said comments has been pelted with such comments all day long?

 

[Nebulous]

I read a comment on Reddit that says what I believe about this situation:

[–]HateSoup 211 points 1 day ago*
I think something a lot of guys have trouble with is understanding the effect of being leered at when you go out. Catching someone checking you out can be flattering in some contexts sure, but for women walking down a crowded street its not the quick look away with a coy smile they are seeing. It's more like seeing a hungry animal eyeing a fresh kill. That may seem too dramatic a metaphor, but that's how it feels.

Full disclosure, I'm a man, but that's how it has been described to me by female friends and once you start paying attention you see it everywhere. Sure maybe the majority of those cat calling and leering plan no further harm, but seeing it so often in some settings is going to have an affect on you, and you always have to be on guard that one might be actually violent or psycho.

Some times I'll be downtown with a group of friends and we all go to the gay bar so they can dance (I can't dance ). It's usually just fine and a lot of fun but there are times when there's that creepy guy who wants to talk to me long after I told him im straight and just here with friends. You get some leering too. Sure I'm not necessarily in any danger or anything, but it just makes you feel differently. You can see the gears turning in their heads and you are the object. I can't say it's pleasant. Some of these dudes are big too. Times like that I always think, if this is what women feel like all the time it really depresses me.

I think he's on to something there.

 

[Dee]

I read a comment on Reddit that says what I believe about this situation:

[–]HateSoup 211 points 1 day ago*
I think something a lot of guys have trouble with is understanding the effect of being leered at when you go out. Catching someone checking you out can be flattering in some contexts sure, but for women walking down a crowded street its not the quick look away with a coy smile they are seeing. It's more like seeing a hungry animal eyeing a fresh kill. That may seem too dramatic a metaphor, but that's how it feels.

Full disclosure, I'm a man, but that's how it has been described to me by female friends and once you start paying attention you see it everywhere. Sure maybe the majority of those cat calling and leering plan no further harm, but seeing it so often in some settings is going to have an affect on you, and you always have to be on guard that one might be actually violent or psycho.

Some times I'll be downtown with a group of friends and we all go to the gay bar so they can dance (I can't dance ). It's usually just fine and a lot of fun but there are times when there's that creepy guy who wants to talk to me long after I told him im straight and just here with friends. You get some leering too. Sure I'm not necessarily in any danger or anything, but it just makes you feel differently. You can see the gears turning in their heads and you are the object. I can't say it's pleasant. Some of these dudes are big too. Times like that I always think, if this is what women feel like all the time it really depresses me.

I think he's on to something there.

I have to agree that a lot of the comments on the video were harmless, but a lot of them were sexually charged. When you go through your life (as a woman) experiencing these instances over and over again, you truly do begin to wonder who is the one who will make that move, that disturbing, creepy, frightening move where they push too hard and too fast. That thread on Reddit has a lot of interesting responses and I wish I could find it, but I can't at the moment. There are comments from all types of people, men and women, and many of them seem to understand that this is a problem.

Of COURSE not all men are like this. No one is saying that. What happened in this video was a woman filmed herself walking down the street saying nothing to anyone, and there were several instances caught on camera of men saying very harmless things and men saying very weird and pushy and sexual things to a complete stranger. I think what should be taken away from this, if anything, is to pick and choose your battles. Sure, it's fine to say "hi" to a woman or "good day", but that wasn't the only thing that happened here. There was a lot of "Damn, baby!" and "good lord mami", obvious stuff that indicated the only thing the men were paying attention to was the outside: her ass, her tits, her legs, her hair, her face--a sexual object for their pleasure.

I can tell you that most women--at least most women I know--don't want that kind of attention when they're walking down the street, minding their own business, and quite obviously going somewhere. Whether it be running errands, catching the bus, picking something up, meeting a friend/family member, or even spending time outside with significant others (the thread had members posting that their girlfriend's got hit on despite being out with their boyfriend's), please, PLEASE think about the consequences of your words and your actions. Don't automatically assume a woman is going to be flattered by a complete stranger by pointing out that she is good looking.

I can only speak for myself, but I know I HATE it when men cat call or hit on me outside. Just don't do it. If I were at a bar or a club hanging out in a public area, watching people, talking, smiling, having a fun time in a place I knew I could possibly meet someone, that would be different. But cat-calling on the street is offensive and could cause more harm than good.

 

[WHO IS SERAFIN]

Myself I never have or would I cat call a woman or make a comment of any kind except hello. Except my wife on a regular basis.

My wife being a regular runner and with most women they wear those skin tight running pants that show just how ample everything is on a body. I don't know if it's a ethnic thing but I have noticed white women seem to find it offensive more often then not. Where I find Spanish women take it as a compliment and only pretend it offends them. My wife will give a sly smile if she gets horns honked at her or a looking good babe when I am with her or she tells me about it. Which sometimes makes me want to hunt them down!! But she works so hard with running and doing the insanity program's it gives her inspiration I believe that it is working that other people notice besides me no matter how strangers choose to express it.

But calling cat calling offensive or could hurt someone I think is over the top.