Imagine being harassed everywhere that you went, that as you’re walking down the street, there are people following you, trying to get your attention and even threatening you when you refuse to acknowledge their presence.
Imagine this in an empty parking lot, at the mall, at a red light, when you’re pumping gas, when you’re home and think that you’re finally safe, but you open your phone just to see the same type of harassment in your notifications. This is the reality of more than 3 out of 4 women who have been verbally harassed, according to, NPR.org.
In a survey conducted by the Stop Street Harassment founder, which consisted of 811 female respondents, over 99 percent of female respondents said that they had experienced some form of street harassment.
Some of the harassment includes excessive staring, honking and whistling, sexist or sexually explicit comments, vulgar gestures, following or having their path blocked, having strangers masturbate in front of them, sexual touching or grabbing and lastly, assault. Some forms of harassment were even recorded as a monthly occurrence by some respondents.
It is not surprising after seeing the statistics, but still very unfortunate to say that almost every woman has a cat-calling story. Most women either have never forgotten the first time that they were cat-called because of how traumatic it was for them, or it has happened so many times that the first time that it happened is now a distant and foggy memory.
As for myself, I can’t remember the first time that I was cat called but I remember being sexualized by men long before I had even hit puberty. Unfortunately, this is also common as according to the GirlScouts.Org website, a study showed that one in ten girls in America will have experienced cat-calling before her 11th birthday.
If you’re someone who’s reading this and thinking, “I can’t imagine who would cat-call a child.” Ask yourself if you’ve ever told a child, or have agreed with someone telling a child that they need to change the way that they are dressed, or to cover up certain parts of their body that are “too-developed” or that make them look more mature.
If you have, you are engaging in the same damaging behavior that fuels cat-calling. You may not be cat-calling, but you are sexualizing a child in the same way that a cat-caller would, just in a different way.
Usually, when people say these kinds of things to a child, they think that they are trying to protect them, but in actuality, they are damaging the child’s view of themselves and the child’s view of how others perceive them. When a little girl is told to cover up, she is also being told that she is no longer just a little girl, but a threat to herself, something that men will attack if she isn’t careful.
This is the same thought-process that leads victims to believe that maybe something they did or failed to do, led to them being abused or harassed. But the truth is, it doesn’t matter what age or gender a victim is, where they were or how they were dressed, anyone can be a victim of sexual assault or harassment regardless of what the circumstances are.
The one thing that remains the same is the thought process that society has about victims. Unlearn this thought process, advocate for and listen to victims and speak up against injustices, big and small. Sexual assault and harassment of any kind is never ok under any circumstances and not a single thing about a victim could ever warrant that kind of behavior.
For Cabrini students who may know someone, or have been victims of sexual assault or harassment themselves, anonymous reporting and other resources can be found here:
https://www.cabrini.edu/about/departments/policies/sexual-misconduct-and-sexual-harassment-policy
You are not alone.
