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Catcalling be Criminalized?

Women assumed that catcalling would lead to sexual harassment that is why they necessarily avoid those

people who catcall. Men also experience this kind of catcall. On the other hand, gays also encountered this

issue, they tend to disrespect those catcallers because of their physical appearance. Being harassed was also

associated with negative emotions such as feeling embarrassed, unsafe, disgusted, objectified, and

frustrated. In line with the findings of Swim, Hyers, Cohen, and Ferguson (2001), we also found anger to

be common among the participants. People, especially women become so protective with their self because

of this harassment that they experience. No women would love this kind of catcalling. According to the

research, 88% of women in Canada and 85% of women in the United States report being street harassed for

the first time before the age of 17 (Livingston, Grillo, & Paluch, 2015). In the Philippines, most of the

people being empowered by street harassment. Even though women dress properly, catcallers do not care

on how you dress maybe it looks like body showing or you are covered with clothes. People in this

generation really seems so aggressive in this kind of issue. Street harassment leads women to not

participates actively in public sphere and it hinders their capability to do their daily routine.

(Ramakrishnan,2011). This issue should be implemented to have a better communication with the other

people, to be aware that street harassment is not just a compliment but rather an inappropriate act that leads

to emotional anger and uncomfortable of every action people did.

On the contrary, it should not be implemented because most people agree that it cannot harm

physically. It is just a compliment especially to women and women misunderstood it only. (Gardner, 1995).

People tend to catcall for many factors such choice of clothing, the time they travelled and how they act in

public sphere. (Dhillion and Bakaya, 2014). According to Ilahi (2009), street harassment may be partly

ignored by authorities because women do not usually report cases of harassment to the police. There are

reasons that it should not be implemented because when authority asked women who did this to her, they
did not the answer because in the first place they do not the people who did it and it really hard for the

authority to know it because they have no evidence that will be presented. According to Ramadan (2018),

street harassment has two kinds which is strangers and non-strangers it is based on how people catcall with

you and how you feel about it or what is the interpretation of the victim to the catcaller. It says that, if a

stranger catcall it is not okay to the victim but when non-stranger catcalls to the victim it considers as a

compliment. It is really a not so hard case because you may know when is the limit of the catcallers. It will

create a many case in the judicial that will make it very much in trouble.

Those good words that sometimes people take it as a compliment is somehow has behind meaning

of it. Women feel unsafe when they encounter such that issue. People experience a lot and most them agreed

that it should be implemented or criminalized to lessen those disrespectful catcallers and nympho. It is

improper to do this kind of thing because most of the time it is not really good specially when you do not

know the one who catcall. The researcher wants to be criminalized this issue to avoid those unwanted

actions that sometimes lead to unpleasing movements and gestures to the victim. No people would like to

be catcall. Even some men being catcall and they do not want it to make as hobby or a play time. It would

be better to implement because it will let people to behave properly and accordingly to others. It may hard

on the first but it really helps in the community. It would be criminalized as long as you do not know the

person or you know the person and they abuse your well-being. It is not how the women dress because they

still disrespect even if they dress properly it is on the attitude of the people because people are really

uneducated when it talks about respect.

This research position paper persuades reader to be aware that our country needs to be taught on how

to deal properly towards other. it is the main problem of the country to discipline the people. In this way,

people would be benefited if it would be implemented because the country would lessen those ill-mannered

people. This research is aim to be implemented for all people not only for women even though we all know

that most of the time women are being abused. In this simple way, we can help the country to be productive
and discipline because people will be aware that respecting people’s well-being plays a crucial role in our

society.
REFERENCES

Bakaya, S., Dhillion, M. (2014). Street Harassment: A Qualitative Study of the Experiences of Young

Women in Delhi.

Bowman, C. G. (1993). Street harassment and the informal ghettoization of women. Harvard Law Review,

106, 517.

Davidson, M. M., Butchko, M. S., Robbins, K., Sherd, L. W., & Gervais, S. J. (2016). The mediating role

of perceived safety on street harassment and anxiety. Psychology of Violence. doi:10.1037/a0039970

Davidson, M. M., Gervais, S. J., & Sherd, L. W. (2013). The ripple effects of stranger harassment on

objectification of self and others. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 39(1), 53-66.

doi:10.1177/0361684313514371

Fairchild, K., & Rudman, L. (2008). Everyday stranger harassment and women's objectification. Social

Justice Research, 21(3), 338-357. doi:10.1007/s11211-008-0073-0

Fisher, S., Lindner, D., Ferguson, C. J. (2017). The Effects of Exposure to Catcalling on Women’s State

Self-Objectification and Body Image.

Gardner, C. B. (1995). Passing by: Gender and public harassment. Berkeley: University of California

Press.
Ilahi, N. (2009). Gendered contestations: An analysis of street harassment in Cairo and its implications for

women’s access to public spaces. Retrieved from http://www.auc-egypt.edu/gapp/

igws/gradcent/documents/surfacing_vol2n-o1_05ilahi.pdf

Livingston, B., Grillo, M., & Paluch, R. (2015, May). Cornell International Survey on Street Harassment.

Retrieved June 28, 2017, from https://www.ihollaback.org/cornell-international-survey-on-street-

harassment/

MacMillan, R., Nierobisz, A., & Welsh, S. (2000). Experiencing the streets: Harassment and perceptions

of safety among women. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 37, 306–322

Ramadan, Z. F. (2018). Catcalls or compliments: men’s attitudes on street and Sexual harassment in relation

to their personality.

Ramakrishnan, K. B. (2011). Inconsistent legal treatment of unwanted sexual advances: A study of the

homosexual advance defense, street harassment, and sexual harassment in the workplace. Berkeley Journal

of Gender, Law & Justice, 26(2), 291.

Swim, J. K., Hyers, L. L., Cohen, L. L., & Ferguson, M. J. (2001). African American college students’

experiences with everyday racism: Characteristics of and responses to these incidents.

Journal of Black Psychology, 29, 38-67.

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