What People Care About This Week: Catcalling PSA

Last week I saw a video featuring a woman named Shoshana Roberts that is an actress walking the streets of New York and being catcalled by a bunch of different guys. When I saw it I had a range of emotions and none of them were what would be called “surprised.” Dudes catcall. Here in L.A I have said for years that different races do it differently with Latino men being in the lead for most hardcore at it. They will physically move women with their gaze!

I had a lot of problems with this video. A lot of men I read commenting on this did as well but I don't have the angle that they're coming at it with. Just yesterday I had a guy catcalling me. He tried three times. Yes, I am a dude in case anyone is new here and puzzled. What you know about that West Hollywood Life? When I walked my cousin to her car and came back he whistled to me and said “Hey, brother? Look over here!” Of course I didn't because besides not being gay being whistled at will not get me to respond to you. I'm not a dog.

Later on when a friends father came by here comes this guy again whistling at me from across the street and trying to get my attention. Now, I know this isn't on the level of shit most women have to put up with. And since I have an alleged penis chances are I can fight him off better than a chick that is afraid to say “Back the fuck off, ya weirdo!”

Back to the video.

In this video Shoshana gets it from men left and right. But while watching I asked myself quite a few times “Is that catcalling?” Some of the guys just say “Hi” and “Bless you” or called her beautiful. I understand wanting no one to talk to you and no attention when you just don't wanna deal with humanity. I call that days that end with the letter “Y.” But she seemed to come across as rude. Does she have the right to not respond? Of course. We can do whatever we want as humans. Except breathe fire. Yet.

She is now getting death threats and shit from people because of this video that has almost 20 million views now. She said of making the video “I felt like crying and I have occurrences in my past of sexual assault, so I wasn't even aware necessarily of all the times people were saying things to me. I was just going over in my head and reliving, unfortunately, these memories while I was walking. I wanted to break down in tears.” At one point a creeper follows her for five minutes saying nothing. Someone needs to keep an eye on that guy for reals.

She doesn't need that shit. I know that when people write things online or post videos they want the fame and attention that comes with it. But people really need to realize that once you put yourself out there that you will catch hell. As far as some will see this is just a video with a poor little White girl being harassed by a bunch of Black men while she is just walking down the street. Speaking of the race issue...

There is almost nothing but Black guys fucking with this girl. During a Reddit Q&A the director and guy that filmed this via hidden camera Rob Bliss had to respond to people who pointed out the fact that he left out other races. Seriously, New York looked like Uganda according to this video.

“Honestly we did have a lot of white dudes in this video, but for whatever reason it worked out that they would be the ones to say something just in passing, or from a distance off camera. This made their screen time fairly short by comparison, but the numbers were relatively similar” Bliss said. Uh-huh. I'm sure he didn't take into account the fact that the area Shoshana walked for 10 hours are places she really does walk down and apparently neither did she. Attention! We needs all the attentions!

At the end of this video a non-profit organization called Hollaback! is mentioned and we are told how we can donate to them. I wondered how you can donate to stop catcalling so I went to their website to check it out. It seems like a lot of bullshit honestly. This is some KONY2012 shit. “Street harassment is one of the most pervasive forms of gender-based violence and one of the least legislated against. Comments from 'You'd look good on me' to groping, flashing and assault are a daily, global reality for women and LGBTQ individuals. But it is rarely reported, and it's culturally accepted as 'the price you pay' for being a woman or for being gay. At Hollaback!, we don't buy it.”

They responded to the backlash that the video got regarding the use of mostly Black men in the video saying “First, we regret the unintended racial bias in the editing of the video that over represents men of color. Although we appreciate Rob's support, we are committed to showing the complete picture. It is our hope and intention that this video will be the start of a series to demonstrate that the type of harassment we're concerned about is directed toward women of all races and ethnicities and conducted by an equally diverse population of men.”

Well played. Because according to that video all you need to do is stay away from guys that look like me and you are golden. I saw some comments and videos where guys said they wished women would talk to them the way this woman in the video was talked to.

No you don't.

When watching this video I did think to myself that I wish that a woman would compliment me once in a while. I get maybe two a year and those are from friends. I have had women eye-fuck me a few times in my life which seems to be something every woman has occur all the time. I bet some women that never get a tenth of the attention Shoshana got wishes they were in her shoes for one day.

I'm not bashing the creator of this video of the chick in it. I just need clarification on what the world considers catcalling. If telling someone they are attractive or saying hello is considered harassment then men are screwed. I actually don't compliment women because of the guys that take the shit too far. Even if they know I don't mean it in a creepy way I still keep it to myself. I have some really beautiful friends and meet pretty women and want to say “You look nice” but don't because I don't want it to be taken the wrong way. I also know that the way a guy looks that says this stuff goes a long way. Jon Hamm won't get sent to HR for saying your dress makes you look hot.

Or bringing up VPL.

I think guys that do what I consider catcalling are just assholes. I don't even have to use the “What if someone did that to you wife/girlfriend/daughter?” line. If you want to talk to a woman know your audience. When I see a hot woman I look for a moment and then I'm done. I don't need to have her look at me by whistling or saying some weird shit. Just tell guys to stop being creepy. This is the responsibility of guys that know guys that do this and women that suffer from them.

Oh, and for the ones saying she was wearing revealing clothing, welcome to now! Chicks wear tight pants, see through leggings, and turtlenecks where their cleavage comes out. If you can't handle that then leaving the house must drive you insane. She has a tight shirt and tight jeans. I feel like Moriarty in Sherlock.

In closing, stop talking to people. Period. You see someone that is attractive just keep your mouth shut and continue your day. Don't bless anyone. Even if they sneeze don't say shit. If your girlfriend asks for your opinion about an outfit just curl into a ball and punch yourself in the head. You don't want to end up in a viral video.

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