I’ve just turned 17, but remember being catcalled since I was 14. It’s nothing major, nothing dangerous, but it happens with such frequency that it’s really starting to get to me. I feel so dehumanised, and it really shatters my confidence for the day, in a sociey where a teen girls confidence is already borderline sacred. All my female friends who I’ve spoken to feel exactly the same way. The most recent example of this was just this afternoon, when my dad gave me a lift to the local shops to pick up some cream for a cake I was making. We drove up, and I jumped out, picked up the cream and started making my way back. Now, I should mention at this point that my dad drives a big white van, the kind, as much as I hate to stereotype, that us women are so used to begin catcalled out of. Anyway, as I was walking back to the van, and my waiting dad, I had to walk past a large group of teenage boys, who must have been about 16/17- the same age as me. Before I even passed them I knew it was going to happen, and sure enough, one of them whistled loudly at me, nudging his friends who all started laughing. Turning round I gave them the finger, then jogged back to the van. I told my dad what had happened, who was outraged (“I didn’t think people even did that anymore” was his shocked response.) Quickly he started the engine, rolled down the window and we drove alongside them. “Go f**k yourselves” I yelled out of the window at them, and they stood, absolutely silent, mouths hanging open, stunned. It was pure poetic justice- the boys being harassed by a teenage girl out of a white van. It was such an empowering moment, and I pray they see the irony in it, as I do, although I doubt they will. It has reminded me that I shouldn’t put up with catcalling, and to make a stand whenever I can, whenever I feel safe. But most of all, I hope that the male half of my generation find the respect within themselves, otherwise, we’re just going to have to teach them a lesson…
